Marketing of Library Products and
Services in Higher Education
Institutions in UAE
Introduction
➢ Libraries are being considered as treasures of knowledge.
➢ Libraries are service oriented institutions aimed to motivate the users to effectively use the resources and services.
➢ Library is like a marketing activity must use the latest technologies and tools to attract the users to effectively and efficiently utilize the available resources.
➢ In this digital environment, academic libraries are facing many challenges such as implementation of new technologies, infrastructure facilities, ongoing budget cuts and number of staffs, changes in internal and external environments and increased demands of users on their teaching and research needs.
➢ The digital era has expanded the library professional responsibilities to provide wide range of resources
and services to the users.
Marketing of Library Services
• Library is considered as service organization and an activity performed in the library is a teamwork.
• In order to meet the interests of the user needs, the library must perform a lead role for which the library staff should market their products and services.
• The basic purpose of marketing the products is to educate the students; research scholars and faculty members what are all the resources, services and facilities are available in the library and how effectively the resources and services can be utilized.
• Marketing procedure of companies and libraries are different. In the company, marketing is performed
to earn more money i.e., profit, whereas libraries are considered as non-profit organization meant for
providing service. Instead of profit, utilization of resources is considered important in library.
Need and importance of Marketing of Library Services
• The resources and services available in the library cannot be utilized unless and until what is available in the library is not known to the users.
• Library is spending huge amount for procuring resources for the academic and research community.
• These resources are being carefully collected and made available to the user community. Since huge amount is being invested for such resources, the utilization of the resources also should be high.
• Marketing helps to promote the use of available resources in the library by creating awareness, It helps to optimum utilization of the limited resources with limited manpower, Limited budget is another reason for marketing of library resources, services and facilities.
• To improve the image of the library, Information explosion, users‘ need of exact information for their
Skills required for marketing of library services
• Library professional should have sound knowledge for marketing the library/information services. In order to provide marketing services, librarians should first understand what are all the sources, services and facilities available in the library.
• As a librarian, he/she should understand the category of users and various needs (market segmentation)
• User survey is treated as one of the important studies which reveals the merits and demerits of the library.
• Periodic user survey enables the librarians to know the strengths and weakness of the library system so that the weakness can be converted as strengths.
• Teaching skills (Delivery of Information literacy sessions)
• In this digital environment, librarians should havegreat presentation skills as well astechnical knowledge of using internet, advance search techniques, applying various search strategies, designing of website for library, AI tools, Data analysis tools, and managing various social media account such as Facebook, Instagram, blogs, WhatsApp portal etc.
Marketing Strategies & practices in Academic Libraries
• At the present environment of higher education and research has been drastically changed with exponential growth due to the advent of internet and mobile communication technologies.
• Individual nations also had national portal of online educations such as Swayam in India were integrating large no of national universities and offering range of programs arts, sciences, engineering and medicine,
• so, all these were made lot of challenges to the librarians of higher education institutions to acquire, organize and disseminate knowledge resources for teaching and learning research practices to the stakeholders.
• it is imperative for the librarians to have well planned marketing strategies, such as Community surveys, innovations, publicity and public relations, advertising, communication skills, staff training and motivation, networking and pricing provision of use promotional and marketing practices to reach the user community.
Statement of the Problem
• The present study aimed at identifying the level of information literacy in the Higher Education institutions, the library resources access, information services offered in the study environment.
• Based on the study, librarians may evolve information and use promotional activities and marketing strategies using both conventional and technology enabled tools and methods.
Objectives of the study
The following objectives are framed for the present study
• To know and assess the library and information environment in higher educational institutions of UAE.
• To find out different types of promotional activities and strategies followed by the surveyed libraries to enhance the utilization of library resources and services.
• To identity the barriers faced by the librarians while marketing their information products and services.
• To know and understand the attitude of librarians towards use promotional strategies of library products and services in the higher education institutions of UAE.
• To evolve academic library marketing strategies and practices for surveyed UAE libraries as the outcome of the study
Literature Review
❖Orientation and Information Literacy were the best tool for
promoting library resources and services and among the different tools include university websites, student's portal, among others.
(Choi & Joo, 2018; Mu, 2007; Oyinloye, & Andrew, 2018)
❖Importance of marketing of library and information services and products in university libraries (Madhusudhan, 2008 ; Khalid, 2019)
❖Choshaly and Mirabolghasem (2018) found that Library satisfaction survey is an integral and the most important tool to understand the needs of the users and identify the strength and weakness of the library. This surveys plays a big role in developing marketing strategy for greater outreach and utilization of various library services and product.
❖Social media has emerged as the biggest tool of user interaction and more libraries are trying to capitalize on these and creating virtual library zones to promote the use of library services and products. It creates an unseamed user engagement and as such social media marketing is very instrumental in promoting library resources and services in a virtual environment (Anwar & Zhiwei, 2020; Jones &
Harvey, 2019; Lam, Ho & Chiu, 2023,
Literature Review
❖Libraries across the world are increasingly using social media tools and applications to promote various library services and products to users. More and more students at universities are engaging with social media and spending almost one third of their total time on them. Instagram have emerged as powerful tool for promoting library services (Besse, 2019; AlAwadhi & Al-Daihani, 2018; Horfall, 2020).
❖It is essential to develop a marketing plan which will help in promoting all digital and online library services and products
including electronic resources. For the effective marketing of library services and products, several libraries are using Instagram,
WhatsApp, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn etc (Harlow & Hill, 2020; Mehta & Wang, 2020).
Research Methodology
• This study is quantitative in nature and descriptive survey research design has been adopted. The researcher has used normative survey type method for collecting the data from the respondents.
• To collect data,the researcherhas used census methods for collecting the data from the library professionals.
• In order to collect the data,the researcherhas used structured questionnaire as data collection tool.
• The questionnaire has been designed in consultation with the experts in Library and Information Science discipline.
• The researcher has distributed 100 questionnaires to the library professionals working in higher educational institutions of UAE
• The researcherhas received 83 questionnaires from the library professionals
• Collected Questionnaire were examined for completeness of information asked.
Data Analysis
• Data collected from the respondents were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). Frequency, Percentage analysis, T-Test, ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) Test and Weighted Average Method (WAM) were carried out for analyzing the data. Weighted Average Method observed based on the 5-point Likert scale ratings assigned by the respondents.
• The findings Reveals perception and facts of library environment, particularly on marketing library products and Services.
The interpretation and interfaces were derived from table and graphical representation of the data.
Findings of the Study
Socio-Demographic profile.
Findings of the
study
AGE OF LIBRARY
SURVEYED
Findings of the study
TYPES OF THE INSTITUTIONS
Findings of the study
AWARENESS OF LIBRARY MARKETING PRODUCTS & SERVICES
Findings of the study
INFORMATION SERVICES OFFERED IN THE LIBRARY
Findings of the Study
NEED OF MARKETING STRATEGY
Findings of the Study
PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES
Findings of the Study
PRINT METHODS USED FOR LIBRARY MARKETING
Findings of the Study
VERBAL METHODS
Findings of the
Study
IT BASED METHODS
Findings of the Study
WEB METHODS
Findings of the Study
MARKETING STRATEGY
Findings of the Study
BARRIERS/CHALLENGES
FACED DURING LIBRARY
INFORMATION SERVICES
AND PRODUCT MARKETING
Findings of the Study
PERCEPTION OF AGE vs.
NEED OF MARKETING
STRATEGY: There was no
significant difference
found.
Findings of the Study
COMPARISON OF GENDER WITH BARRIERS FACED DURING LIBRARY AND INFORMATION PRODUCT
MARKETING:
There was no significant
difference found .
Recommendations of the study
❖ It is recommended that a formal common minimum standards for marketing library products and services for the Higher education institutions in UAE may be devised with the participation the institutional management and library professionals to have a consistency in user outreach and library
marketing programmes.
❖ It is recommended to have library marketing as one of the units in the library organizational chart with proper guidelines, budget provision as below half of the libraries did not have a separate marketing division.
❖ It is also recommended for the surveyed libraries to have pricing policy for library products and services that always provide importance for quality products and value recognition among the user community.
❖ The management can direct all the librarians to engage in these instructional and outreach programmes.
❖ Librarians need to further make aware the library newsletters, social networks, library websites to their user community as more than 60% of the users they are not learning library happening through marketing products.
❖ A greater number of information literacy programmes need to be offered in a classroom settings or included as a credit coursein the first year of
Conclusion
▪ Information literacy is always prominent in library and information environment, which is also advocated very well even before the computers started emanating for library management;
▪ A separate library outreach programs with a range of methods in conventional base using print resources and verbal methods have been followed in the present library environment of UAE higher education institutions as like reputed libraries across the globe.
▪ A good number of IT and web enabled library use promotional activities existed in the UAE higher education institutions.
▪ Half of the libraries in the surveyed environment do have marketing division in their organizational chart.
▪ User satisfaction in the surveyed UAE institutions on the library resources facilities and services were encouraging while the surveyed Higher education institutions need to have a greater number of updated scholarly information resources and services, particularly the research journals.
References
• AlAwadhi, S., & Al-Daihani, S. M. (2019). Marketing academic library information services using social media.Library Management,40(3/4), 228-239.
• Anwar, M., & Zhiwei, T. (2020). What is the relationship between marketing of library sources and services and social media? A literature review paper.Library Hi Tech News.
• Beese, N. (2019). Marketing the library using social media platforms: the experience of the University library Bochum, Germany.International information & library review,51(1), 36-41.
• Choshaly, S. H., & Mirabolghasemi, M. (2019). Using SEM-PLS to assess users satisfaction of library service quality: Evidence from Malaysia.Library Management,40(3/4), 240-250.
• Harlow, S., & Hill, K. (2020). Assessing library online patrons use of resources to improve outreach and marketing.The Serials Librarian,79(1-2), 200- 227.
• Horsfall, M. N. (2020). Marketing of library and information services in the digital age: challenges, strategies and implicat ions.Information Impact:
Journal of Information and Knowledge Management,11(2), 13-20.
• Jones, M. J., & Harvey, M. (2019). Library 2.0: The effectiveness of social media as a marketing tool for libraries in educat ional institutions.Journal of Librarianship and Information Science,51(1), 3-19.
• Khalid, S. J. M. (2019). Marketing of library and information services in university libraries: A case study of University of Malaya Central Library, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.The Eurasia Proceedings of Educational and Social Sciences,13, 50-59.
• Lam, A. H. C., Ho, K. K., & Chiu, D. K. (2022). Instagram for student learning and library promotions: a quantitative study using the 5E Instructional Model.Aslib Journal of Information Management, (ahead-of-print).
• Madhusudhan, M. (2008). Marketing of library and information services and products in university libraries: a case study of Goa universi ty library.Library Philosophy and practice,11.
• Mehta, D., & Wang, X. (2020). COVID-19 and digital library services–a case study of a university library.Digital library perspectives,36(4), 351-363.
