Marketing and Promoting Electronic Resources

Creating the E-Buzz!

Eleonora I. Dubicki, Eleonora I. Dubicki

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781317994077
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Library & Information Science
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Technological advances allow libraries to more readily serve patrons' needs. But how can a librarian effectively communicate what services libraries offer? Marketing and Promoting Electronic Resources: Creating the E-Buzz! explains the foundations of marketing and promotion, focusing on practical and creative techniques that have worked in academic, public, and special libraries. Respected authorities from various libraries offer their insights and advice for effective marketing strategies for electronic resources such as e-serials, databases, and e-books, helping library patrons to better understand the resources now available to them.This book provides librarians with practical suggestions on how to best let their patrons know about the available e-resources and instruct them on how to use them effectively. Librarians in any type of library setting, even if previously unschooled in marketing campaigns, can find fresh ideas to apply in their own setting. This invaluable tool discusses in detail how to develop a marketing plan, create and finance a promotional campaign, and how to use new technologies to reach out to your library patrons in the most effective way to promote your e-resources.

This material was published as a special issue of The Serials Librarian.

Introduction

 

One of the most significant trends that has occurred in libraries over the past two decades is the dramatic impact of technology and the resulting shift from print materials to electronic resources (e-resources) such as e-journals, aggregator databases, and ebooks. Technology and access to the Internet have changed the basic techniques for accessing information and conducting research. Furthermore, technology has also created new tools for libraries to communicate with users-e-mail, Web sites, blogs, instant messaging, and RSS feeds.

A trip to the library is no longer mandatory to conduct research. Users are increasingly accessing information from their homes, offices, or schools. Nancy Davenport states that “today's information-seekers get much of what they need electronically, often far from the physical library.”¹ As a result, users see libraries and librarians in a different perspective. Judith Siess suggests, “Information at the desktop is no longer necessarily connected to a library or librarian in the user's mind. We are becoming more and more ‘invisible.’”²

WHERE DO USERS GET INFORMATION?

According to a 2005 OCLC report, libraries are not the first place users turn to find information-”84% percent of information searches begin with a search engine.”³ In fact, most users are not aware if their libraries provide access to electronic journals and “the majority of information seekers are not making much use of the array of electronic re-sources (online magazines, databases and reference assistance, for example) libraries make available to their communities.”⁴ A 2006 PEW Internet and American Life Project survey found that 73% of Americans currently access the Internet.⁵ Library patrons are accustomed to the quick access to information provided by the Internet. Patron research habits have undergone dramatic changes-gone are the days when patrons came into the library to use print materials, including indexes to find citations, and then went to bound journals or microfilm to get the full-text copies of articles. Today's library patrons expect easy access to electronic information and are more likely to self-serve. However, conducting research can be overwhelming-thousands of items are retrieved from an Internet search. Resources that once had restricted access are now available electronically. Enter the librarian-an expert to train users to access the best information in an efficient manner. Librarians still strive to provide patrons with the “right” answers. Quality has always been important to us, and therefore the widespread access to Internet information, authoritative or not, has directed our efforts to teaching evaluation of sources and how to access the authoritativematerials libraries offer. With these changes in conducting research, libraries can no longer fully meet current patron needs with print-only materials and limited access hours-they need to offer e-resources. The library has now become widely accessible electronically, and the library's Web site serves as an additional entry point to the library and its resources. Patrons can access information remotely at anytime from anyplace.

EXPENDITURES

Libraries are spending more and more money on purchasing materials in electronic format. According to the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), the percentage of the average academic research library budget spent on e-resources increased from 3.6 percent in 1992–93 to 37 percent in 2004–2005. ARL university libraries reportedly spent almost $330 million on e-resources in 2004–2005.⁶

Public libraries and school media centers have also experienced growth in access to the Internet and e-resources. Results of a 2006 public library survey show that 98.9 percent of public libraries are connected to the Internet, and 36.7 percent offer wireless Internet access.⁷ The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) estimates that there were 170, 782 Internet terminals in public libraries, and e-resources usage levels reached 343 million in 2004.⁸ NCES also estimates that expenditures for collection materials in electronic format were one percent of the $8.6 billion total FY2004 operating expenditures for public libraries.⁹ School media centers are providing elementary and secondary school students with access to databases. Seventy-five percent of media centers provided access to databases, with 44 percent offering 1–3 databases, 14 percent offering 4–6 and 17 percent 7 or more.¹⁰d

Similar to increased costs for print materials, the costs for e-resources also continue to rise, and libraries must validate the expenditures for these products. The rapid growth in the number of e-resources calls for the library's commitment to promoting these resources and providing efficient access to these research tools.

CHALLENGES FOR LIBRARIES

How do users find out about e-resources? According to the OCLC study,¹¹ 61 percent of users learn about e-resources from friends. Links from Web sites of electronic information sources were used by 59 percent of users, and promotions and advertising led 39 percent of users to additional e-resources. Less than 20 percent of users discovered new e-resources from librarians or teachers. In fact, users are generally confident in their research skills and are happy to self serve-“Most library users say they have not asked for help using any library resources, either at the physical or the virtual library.”¹² Clearly, we are not doing an effective job of reaching out to patrons to inform them of the e-resources available from the library.

The challenge for librarians to is create an awareness about e-resources and to stimulate stronger usage. “A successful long-term library marketing campaign will be able to differentiate the library's focus and services from the variety of information services and electronic resources offered on the Web.”¹³ Librarians need to embrace marketing-understanding our patrons and their needs, and communicating to them the e-resources we offer to address those needs.

The focus of this book is developing effective marketing programs and promotional campaigns to create a buzz about e-resources. The chapters are written by librarians who have developed and implemented marketing and promotional campaigns in their libraries. The goal of this book is to provide libraries with proven marketing and promotion techniques which have been used successfully to improve awareness of e-resources and can serve as models for creating your own library's marketing program.

Eleonora Dubicki

REFERENCES

1. Nancy Davenport, “Place as Library?” Educause Review, 41 (January/February 2006): 12.

2. Judith A. Siess, The Visible Librarian Asserting Your Value with Marketing and Advocacy (Chicago: ALA, 2003), xiii.

3. OCLC, Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources, (Dublin, OH: OCLC Computer Library Center, Inc, 2005), 1–17. http://www.oclc.org/reports/2005perceptions.htm (accessed October 6, 2006).

4. Ibid, 6–4.

5. Mary Madden, “Internet Penetration and Impact” PEW Internet & Data Life Project, Data Memo, April 2006. http://www.pewintemet.org/pdfs/PIP_Intemet-Impact.pdf (accessed October 6, 2006).

6. Martha Kyrillidou and Mark Young, ARL Statistics 2004–2005, Association of Research Libraries, http://www.arl.org/stats/pubpdf/arlstat05.pdf (accessed November 21, 2006).

7. John Carlo Bertot and others. Public Libraries and the Internet 2006: Study Results and Findings. (Tallahassee, FL: Inforrnation Use Management and Policy Institute, Florida State University, 2006), 1. http://www.ii.fsu.edu/plintemetreports.cfm (accessed October 6, 2006).

8. Adrienne Chute and others, Public Libraries in the United States: Fiscal Year 2004 (NCES 2006-349) U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (Washington, DC:National Center for Education Statistics, 2006) http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2006/2006349.pdf (accessed October 6, 2006).

9. Ibid.

10. Leslie Scott, School Library Media Centers: Selected Results from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS.-2002 (LACES 2005–302). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office) http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2005/2005302.pdf (Accessed October 6, 2006).

11. OCLC, 1–19–1–20.

12. Ibid, 6–6.

13. Dennis Dillon, “Strategic Marketing of Electronic Resources,” The Acquisitions Librarian, 28 (2002) 133.

Basic Marketing and Promotion Concepts

Eleonora Dubicki

Libraries must embrace marketing and promotion in order to communicate with users regarding library products and services. Users associate libraries with books, but few patrons are aware of, or utilize the electronic resources (e-resources)-e-books, e-journals, and databases-that libraries also provide. With the ubiquity of the Web, most users rely on the electronic information they access over the Internet, whether it comes from authoritative sources or not. In order to ensure the continued success of libraries in meeting the evolving needs of our users, libraries must focus concerted efforts on marketing and promoting our eresources -educating our users and potential users on what libraries have to offer.

MARKETING DEFINED

Over the years there have been several adjustments to the definition of marketing. In 2004, the American Marketing Association (AMA) released a revised definition to reflect current practices: “Marketing is an organizational function and a set of...