zone of Nigeria.
This was the first Research Question of the study and it was based on the 4Ps, 7Ps, 4Cs marketing theory and the SERVQUAL model. The research question on this theme sought to assess what resources and facilities were available to facilitate marketing resources and services in medical libraries. The question was asked of students and the heads of medical libraries. The 4Ps, 7Ps, 4Cs marketing theory and SERVQUAL model informed the research question. All the theories
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were appropriate because they have been adopted and used in many empirical research studies of marketing in library research, for example, by Rind and Mirjat (2020); Bamigbola (2013), Jarad (2020)and Hsu, Cummings and Wang (2014). The 4Ps and 7Ps marketing theory (1981) noted that products (resources, services and facilities) are the physical objects that offer substantial characteristics as well as a set of benefits that could meet customers’ (library users) needs. Similarly, the SERVQUAL model notes that tangibles (resources and facilities) are part of the specific standards that are used by clients in evaluating service quality (library services).
A series of questions were put to respondents to answer this research question.
The findings of the study show that books are the most abundantly available information resources in the libraries as indicated by most of the students: 252 (91%). This was followed by journals (194 or 70%), newspapers and magazines (180 or 65%) and reference resources (for examples encyclopaedias and dictionaries) (168 or 61%). Other information resources, such as audio-visual material (39 or 14%), posters (71 or26%), databases (62 or 22%) theses and dissertations (71 or 26%) were unknown to most students, as less than 40% agreed on their availability. Their responses were consistent with the views of all the heads of medical libraries interviewed from the four universities involved in the study. Their responses indicated that libraries had different forms of information resources, namely books, journals and some other printed resources.
Investigation into the resources by the researcher revealed that all the libraries of the study had some books which covered most of the subject areas taught by the universities even though they were inadequate, given the number of students enrolled in the various programmes. The researcher established that the libraries had quantified their materials availability as at the first quarter of 2018, as presented in section 5.6.7 of Chapter five.
The findings of this study support those of Abdulsalami and Salami (2013) on marketing information services in Polytechnics Libraries in Nigeria. They reported that books, journals, encyclopaedias, pamphlets, reports and tape recorders were generally available in all the polytechnic libraries involved in the study they conducted. Similarly, a study conducted by Upev, Akpe and Beetseh (2015)reported that marketable library information resources were predominantly books both in print and electronic forms, followed by magazines, newspapers and statistics. Others were internet, films, journals and so on. This indicates that there are numerous kinds of library information resources for marketing. The current findings are also in line with
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those of Aderibigbe and Farouk (2017), Shehu (2015).Busari, et al. (2015) and Adegoke (2015:3), who maintained that information resources were those materials which empower libraries to complete their role successfully and they can be in printed and non-printed formats, which include textbooks, journals, newspapers, magazines, indexes and abstracts, reports, CDROMS, databases, internet, email, videotapes/cassettes, diskettes, computers and microforms.
In contrast, a study by Okon and Umoh (2014) concluded that the relationship that exists between the marketing of the product or service and the nature of the service or product influences how these resources and services are being patronized. The resources available included-resources, online public access catalogues and books. Mollel (2013) asserts that libraries can deliver abstracts, summaries of information and bibliographic information. Other resources include books, journals, databases and bulletins and so on. Amina and Nwanne (2015) and Upev, et al.
(2015) observed that librarians at various Nigerian universities provide a collection of important information resources and services to the entire client body comprising of staff and students. The information resources offered included electronic resources and services, magazine articles, multimedia, blogs, personal experiences, expert opinions, encyclopaedias and web pages as some of the resources available for marketing in the library.
This means that the libraries should ensure that the resources needed by their clients are provided.
Also, a wide range of library information ought to be made accessible for marketing in medical libraries. The perception during the interviews with these four respondents was that their libraries lacked sufficient information resources. This lack of adequate information resources was associated with the particular Nigerian situation. This implies that Nigeria’s economic situation impacted negatively on the acquisition of adequate information resources in medical libraries.
The problem is not just the issue of marketing information resources and services in the libraries, but the inadequacy of what to be marketed. The inadequacy of these resources, as observed by the researcher, was accompanied by insufficient financing and to a certain degree there was a lack of involvement by some heads of medical libraries in the library acquisition process as well. The researcher’s efforts to obtain an acquisition policy from some of the libraries were unsuccessful. What is more, some of the available library guides did not discuss the acquisition policy of either the main library or branch libraries in detail. This explains why, when responding as to whether the medical library had an acquisition policy, participants B pointed out that there
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was an acquisition policy for the library, but she was not part of the process of deciding what resources got purchased. Requests for library resources are usually sent to the university Librarian’s office. This shows that library resources are processed and acquired from the central acquisition department. Thus, medical libraries just forward their requests to the acquisitions department.
Participants A interviewed concurred with the view that the acquisition policy requirement could only be complied with when funds were available in the library. This confirms that the implementation of the acquisition policy is determined by the funds available. Once there are enough funds, the medical library would acquire adequate resources as per the provisions of the policy.
These responses were corroborated by the researcher’s observations. A comprehensive library guide with an acquisition policy was found in one of the medical libraries. It stipulates that a minimum of two copies should be purchased in terms of books and journals, while one copy of audio-visual and e-resources should be purchased. According to the 4Ps and 7Ps marketing theory, a product has to be a physical object or service that offers a set of benefits that the marketer provides (Mollel 2013) This is consistent with the SERVQUAL theory, that quality service has to be tangible with the presence of physical facilities and materials for communication (Kiran 2010). This therefore indicates that the products and tangibles constructs affect marketing of information resources and services. The findings in the study proved that products and tangible attract users to patronize the library and its resources. Products could be physical objects, services or benefits that the marketer provides.
It is worthy of note that all the libraries had an acquisition policy, but not all the heads of medical libraries were fully aware of the acquisition process. This is because most policies operated from the central library, as the findings of this research indicate. The results are consistent with the findings of previous studies by studies by Bello (2015) and Amina and Nwanne (2015), who reported that the most significant challenge confronting marketing information resources in Nigeria is finance, that marketing, as should be obvious, is a cost-intensive activity. The implication is that the absence of adequate funds has a negative impact on the acquisition of information resources. Section 6.6 below discusses accessibility of information resources in the libraries.
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