Marketing library services to the Net Generation
| Pages | 411-422 |
| Date | 01 July 2006 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01435120610702404 |
| Published date | 01 July 2006 |
| Author | Jia Mi,Frederick Nesta |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
Marketing library services to the
Net Generation
Jia Mi
The College of New Jersey, Ewing, New Jersey, USA, and
Frederick Nesta
Lingnan University, Hong Kong, SAR China
Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to examine the role of marketing to new generations of library users.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews classical marketing texts and current user
studies for applicability to library service.
Findings – The paper finds that libraries can apply classic marketing principles to attract and better
serve new generations of users. Although libraries no longer have a monopoly on information sources,
libraries do offer value-added services.
Originality/value – By understanding the users and their contexts, the paper proposes various
strategies of value to market librarians and library resources.
Keywords Marketing strategy,Libraries, Information services,Students, Universities
Paper type Conceptual paper
Introduction
The 2005 OCLC study of the perceptions of the library users (De Rosa et al., 2005),
along with other surveys that show a majority of people using search engines in
preference to library resources has been a cause of some alarm among librarians who
see libraries in danger of losing their place as the primary information provider to
academics and the general public (Fialkoff, 2006). Fialkoff attributes part of the
problem to libraries being failures in marketing, and to a certain extent, she is correct.
Libraries do need to look to how they communicate with their audience, especially now
that their audience is being attracted to other services.
If you define marketing in the classical sense, defined by John B. McKitterick,
president of General Electric in the 1950s, as being a customer-oriented and integrated
system, you almost define library services. Marketing in the business sense has
profitability as its goal, while, for libraries, the goal is improved service, coupled with
increased efficiency, measured by increasing use. Marketing principles, as Kotler and
Levy (1969) demonstrated, are applicable to not-for-profits, or for any organization.
Kotler (1975) expanded on his and Levy’s work in his 1975 text and in his work on
social marketing, i.e. the use of marketing to change society or social behavior (Kotler
and Zaltman, 1971). While Kotler’s more recent work emphasizes the growth of social
marketing and the international aspects of marketing, his key point remains that
marketing is, as he and Levy said in 1969, absolutely critical to the success of any
non-profit. Non-profits must understand that marketing is not about selling, and not
about promotion, but about service and adding value and that to be successful in
marketing non-profits must understand marketing’s fundamental principles. Among
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0143-5124.htm
Marketing
library services
411
Received 29 May 2006
Revised 7 June 2006
Accepted 12 June 2006
Library Management
Vol. 27 No. 6/7, 2006
pp. 411-422
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0143-5124
DOI 10.1108/01435120610702404
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