3.1. Introduction
3.1.2. The Concepts, purpose and application of marketing in libraries
Marketing is an approach to sharing knowledge: it synthesizes information into a gift that your users can open and use immediately (Kennedy and LaGuardia 2017). This indicates that marketing simply means identifying and providing the information needed of a user. According to Olorunfemi and Ipadeola (2018) marketing is all about keeping in contact with users and keeping them aware of resources and services relevant to their needs. The effectiveness of marketing in university library depends mostly on persuading users that the databases are desirable; they should alert the users to become aware of the services and be excited about the benefit they provide. This in essence would attract users to come and make use of the library resources and services. Aderibigbe (2015) stated that marketing entails understanding the library's aims and investigating the market needs and the library ability to provide those needs.
It also involves promoting the library and its services and attracting users.
It entails the process of identifying user’s information needs. The process of knowing the users’
needs involves proper market survey and must be guided by the marketing objectives/goals of the library. The marketing goals of libraries, as identified by Bello (2015) may include attracting patrons or users by promising superior benefits and growing an already established patron’s base or users by delivering satisfaction. In the present study, therefore, marketing involves the process of identifying users and their information needs, with a view to meeting those needs. Olorunfemi and Ipadeola (2018) opined that marketing is all about figuring out what users want and creating strategies and services to meet those demands. As such, with the strategies in place users would be enlightened to know more about their information resource and service needs to support research, teaching, and learning. Mohapatra (2017) opined that the marketing of information resources and services consists of the following;
i. Knowing the aim/ reason for the library;
ii. Identifying the central occupation of the library;
iii. Understanding the dynamics connecting the library and its close and general surroundings;
iv. Knowing more about library clients to build a profound and symbiotic relationship together with;
v. Assessing and observing the client’s information needs intermittently;
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vi. Determining the information resources and services that should be adequately presented for the client’s information resources needs;
vii. Planning and designing recognizing resources also, services within the confinements of the existing resources;
viii. Creating consciousness between the clients on the presence and accessibility of resources and services;
ix. Monitoring the utilization of resources and services then; and x. Evaluating resources and services regularly.
The preceding argument by Mohapatra (2017) are deliberate efforts to ensure that the proper channel has been followed by the libraries so as to provide the appropriate information, using the right format, to be accessed by the right user and at the right time efficiently.
On the other hand, Kennedy and LaGuardia (2017) highlighted the benefit of marketing, which includes allowing libraries to demonstrate their value and communicate that they appreciate the value of the resources they have and disseminate that value to users. Ramadevi (2018) maintained that libraries can use marketing to increase user satisfaction, promote their image and compete for users, resources and services. Moreover, Abbas, Khalid and Hashmi (2016) added that marketing is essential in providing any service, since it creates a demand for the user to patronize the products. It increases the user rate and provides them with appropriate facilities, which are critical to the organization's success.
In the context of this study, medical libraries through marketing can create awareness among their users on the various library information resources and services offered that can fulfill the patron’s information needs. A few studies, such as Kutu and Olajide (2018), Lamba and Bhatt (2017) and Miracle (2018), found to be relevant areas that the current study is centred around because the study is on the marketing of information resources and services.
The need for a well-established marketing structure in the libraries to promote the use of resources and services efficiently is vital. Murugesan (2017) reiterated that there is a pressing need to market library resources and services because it is the library’s mandate to meet user’s requirements and get the information resources and services needs satisfied. Further, it assists in maintaining the status of the library and visibility as a valuable community resource for rising expectation of clients as well as the survival of libraries. This indicates that it is only when libraries engage in marketing their information resources and services, then they will be
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able to meet their objectives. Kutu and Olajide (2018) noted that information technology has opened up new avenues for the delivery of information services. The challenges of budget cuts, the rapid growth of resources, increasing user population, rising costs, networking requirements, database vendor’s competition and the complexity of information needs prompt information professionals to employ marketing to enhance the management of libraries and information centres. As such with the ICT in place, the medical libraries would be able complement what they lack in terms of resources and services and at the same time to reach out to their users regardless of their locations.
However, Bello (2015) added that the only way libraries could demonstrate their continued importance to society is to distinguish themselves from other information providers. In addition, the only way they can maintain funding agencies' support is to market their information resources and related information services vigorously. Before these developments, libraries were known to be the main information providers to the communities they were serving and were meeting their expectations based on the availability of resources within their reach. They provided censored, relevant and well-organized information, unlike the emerging information agencies whose resources are complex, cumbersome and full of unauthenticated sources or fake information (Bello 2015). Nonetheless, the emerging information agencies can complement the libraries, especially with regards to various authentic online information sources.
Medical libraries can equally grasp this opportunity to market their information resources and services to clients and attain the maximum use of the resources and services. The marketing must be undertaken in such a way that they combine both the conventional and new technology- based resources and services to attract the new generation of users, who are so attached to modern and enabling technology. The “Millennial,” “Next Generation” or “Generation Y” users have grown up in the midst of computers and several other electronic media, such as cell phones, CDs, DVDs and video games (Mclam, Storey and To 2006).
Moreover, IFLA’s position on the use of enabling technology in LIS marketing has underpinned this view. This was revealed at its (2011) annual general meeting and conference in Hague. The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) made a position in (2011) that Web 2.0. or use of social media on LIS marketing in libraries must be
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adhered to. This was contained in its recent publications in the proceedings of the 145 IFLA Publications of (2011), annual general meetings and conference that:
The use of social media for library marketing is a major concern for professionals. The IFLA marketing section believed that the time had come to bring together information professionals to deliberate the use and importance of web 2.0. tools for marketing the 21st century library and information organizations (Berard 2011).
Several papers written in English and French have been presented and discussed in the areas, such as:
Section i: Web 2.0. And marketing: general concepts: Deuff (2011) “The library 2.0. origins of the concept, evolutions, perceptions and realities”;
Section ii: Adopting web 2.0. Strategies: Moulaison and Corrado (2011) “Staying free from corporate marketing machines library policy for web 2.0. Tools”;
Section iii: Marketing with web 2.0. and the client: Dujol (2011) “Web 2.0: de nouveaux usages bibliotheque”;
Section: iv: Case studies: Singh (2011) “How tangible is your library in the digital environment? Implications of social media marketing in reinventing communities’
library experiences”;
Section: v: International perspectives: Samb (2011) “Web 2.0. Tools and the marketing of libraries: the case of Africa” and so on (Bernard 2011 and Gupta and Savard 2011 in Garoufallou, Siatri, Zafeiriou and Balampanidou 2012).
Therefore, it can be concluded that the present study is aligned with the IFLA stance of marketing through Web 2.0 as indicated, because Research Question number one focuses partly on Web 2.0 or social media as marketing tools. As a result, librarians ought to harmonize resources and services as well as expertise to ensure that the resources and services of the library that are relevant to the needs and aptitudes of these users have been marketed effectively to attract them to become regular users of the library. This is in tandem with the IFLA position on Web 2.0. Ahmed and Zia (2019) noted that Web 3.0 is referred to as the intelligent web which allows users to read, write and execute web. It provides an integrated web experience and at the same time enables the machine to comprehend and catalogue the data in a human fashion (Ahmed and Zia 2019). The next section discusses the literature review map.
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