Why Marketing?. THE EXPERIENCE OF MOI UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, KENYA
| Published date | 01 April 1993 |
| Pages | 43-47 |
| Date | 01 April 1993 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb054919 |
| Author | Tirong arap Tanui,Andrew S. Kitoi |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
VOLUME 14 NUMBER 4
1993
Why Marketing?
THE EXPERIENCE OF MOI UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, KENYA
Tirong
arap
Tanui
and Andrew S. Kitoi
Marketing is about the way in which an
organization matches its own human,
financial and physical resources to the wants
of its customers. The Institute of Marketing
defines marketing as "the management
process responsible for identifying,
anticipating and satisfying customer
requirements profitably"[l].
Many library professionals wonder why
most libraries face an uphill task to prosper
and survive. Why, as departments of larger
organizations, are libraries not attractive
investment ventures for financiers and policy
makers? Why do some users think that the
services being offered in the libraries are not
worth the money invested in them? Why do
librarians look timid and bland? And so
many other real and stereotyped whys.
The answers to all these whys lie in the
fact that, as library professionals, we have
done little to improve on the image of the
library. We have not given the users exactly
the kind of service they need. We assume
that users' needs are satisfied because they
come to use the library; and we often take
for granted that the library is the darling of
the parent organization and, therefore, the
users need us, the professionals and the
library. This kind of attitude has not
encouraged us at all to see the need to
market ourselves and our services.
The best remedy for this weakness is to
inject marketing concept strategies vigorously
into library service. Libraries have not been
imbued with a properly high public profile.
Until recently, emphasis has been on the
addition of more information resources to
the library, rather than on studying the users'
needs as customers of the service. The study
of the user needs and teaching of user
Library Management, Vol. 14 No. 4, 1993, pp. 43-47, © MCB University Press,
0143-5124
education is a good step to take, but will not
achieve much until a practical marketing
concept is well conceived.
THE EXPERIENCE AT MOI UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY
Moi University Library (MUL) exists to
support teaching, learning, research,
outreach, and consultancy activities of the
University. The objectives of the University
are clearly stated in the Presidential Working
Party report which established the
University[2].
Unfortunately, these objectives
have not been implemented, elaborated, and
emphasized as they ought to be. As a result,
the development of some academic
programmes of the University has been given
less weight, contrary to the initial stated
inspiration of the University. The real
intended objectives have somehow been
misdirected.
For example, the University library, as seen
by the administration officials, is merely a
collection of literature in a repository
organization, rather than a dynamic and live
organization which supports the academic
integral part of the university life. This is a
misconception of the real purpose of the
Library, and it prompts us to ask the
important question: Rather than expect lay
people to know and understand the
objectives of the University library, do we as
professionals actually know the nature of our
business in the University?
Some members of the University
community, including senior academic and
administrative
staff,
see the library as little
more than an ordinary university
administrative department. In theory, it is
widely accepted that the library service is an
essential service, because it is the heart of the
university academic programmes. Yet, little is
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