TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page…………………………………………………………………………………………………… i
Approval Page…………………………………………………………………………………………… ii
Certification Page……………………………………………………………………………………… iii
Dedication…………………………………………………………………………………………………. iv
Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………………… v
Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………………………. vi
List of Tables…………………………………………………………………………………………….. ix
List of Figures……………………………………………………………………………………………. x
Abstract-……………………………………………………………………………………………………. xi
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background
to the Study…………………………………………………………………… 1
Statement
of the Problem…………………………………………………………………… 10
Purpose of
the Study…………………………………………………………………………. 12
Research Questions…………………………………………………………………………… 13
Significance
of Study………………………………………………………………………… 13
Scope of
the Study……………………………………………………………………………. 15
CHAPTER TWO: Literature
Review
Conceptual
Framework…………………………………………………………………….. 16
Marketing…………………………………………………………………………………………. 16
Librarians Perceptions on marketing library services………………………. 29
Library Services
that require marketing……………………………………………. 31
Media for marketing
library services……………………………………………… 35 Need for
marketing library services……………………………………………………………………………….. 40
Constraints to marketing of Library
services……………………………………. 44
Theoretical
models for marketing……………………………………………………. 46
Empirical
studies…………………………………………………………………………….. 54
Commercial
Marketing………………………………………………………………… 55
Marketing of Educational Services ……………………………………………… 59
Marketing
of Library Services……………………………………………………… 62
Summary
of Literature review…………………………………………………………. 65
CHAPTER THREE: Research
methods
Research Design……………………………………………………………………………… 70
Area of
the Study……………………………………………………………………………. 70
Population
……………………………………………………………………………………… 70
Sample
and Sampling Technique……………………………………………………. 72
Instruments
for data collection……………………………………………………….. 72
Interview
Schedule…………………………………………………………………………. 73
Validation
of the Instrument…………………………………………………………… 74
Reliability
of the Instrument…………………………………………………………… 74
Procedure for Data Collection
…………………………………………………….. 75
Method
of Data Analysis………………………………………………………………… 77
CHAPTER FOUR: PRESENTATION
OF DATA…………………………………………. 77
CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION ……………………………….. 94
Discussion
of Findings…………………………………………………………………… 94
Implications of Study……………………………………………………………………… 111
Conclusion……………………………………………………………….. 112 Recommendations………………………………………………………………………….. 113
Suggestions for Further Research……………………………………………………. 114
Limitations……………………………………………………………………………………… 114
REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………………………… 115
APPENDICES
Appendix I: Letter of Introduction to the respondents……………………………. 123
Appendix II: Questionnaire……………………………………………………………………. 124
Appendix III: Interview Schedule…………………………………………………………… 132
Appendix IV: Evidence of Face Validation of the Questionnaire…………… 133
Appendix V: Computation of Reliability Coefficent …………………………….. 134
Appendix VI: Map of South-East Nigeria showing location of the Universities Studied………………………………………………… 138
Appendix VII: Data Analysis for Strategies for Marketing Library Services in Universities in South-East Nigeria in respect of Reserach Questions……… 139
LIST OF TABLES
Tables
- Distribution of library staff in the universities in South East Nigeria…………………………………………………………………….. 71
- Mean ratings of librarians and library officers on perceptions concerning marketing of library services in university libraries………………………………………………….. 78
- Mean ratings of librarians and library officers on services and the extent to which they are marketed in university libraries………………………………………………… 81
- Mean ratings of librarians and library officers on promotion methods and the extent to which they are used for marketing library services………………………………………………………………………….. 83
- Mean ratings of librarians and library officers on distribution channels and the extent to which they are used for marketing library services……………………………………………………….. 85
- Mean ratings of librarians and library officers on price considerations and the extent to which they are applied in marketing library services…………………………………………………….. 87
- Mean ratings of libarians and library officers on impediments to marketing
library services. 89
- Mean ratings of librarians and library officers on methods to
improve marketing library services……………………………………………. 91
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure
- Components and outcomes of the marketing concept. ……………… 21
- Services characteristics…………………………………………………………….. 51
- Planning cycle…………………………………………………………………………… 53
- Theoretical marketing Set-up…………………………………………………….. 54
Abstract
This study was designed to investigate the strategies for
marketing library services in universities in South-East Nigeria. The study
employed a descriptive survey research design. The population consisted of one
hundred and seventy four library staff, made up of one hundred and one academic
librarians and seventy three library officers in the chosen zone. A population
of these library staff was used for the study. Seven research questions guided
the study. Sixty- four item questionnaire was used as instrument for data
collecton. In addition structured interview was used for the Public Services
Librarians and Reference Librarians of the university libraries. Mean scores
were used to analyze the research questions. Responses obtained from the interview
were used in discussing the findings. The result of data analyzed revealed
that: Library services are marketed mainly to achieve high level of customer
satisfaction and to maintain library relevance.The library services that are
marketed most are online services and photocopying services.The most widely
used promotion methods are exhibitions and displays.The most commonly used
channels for distribution are newsletters and newspapers. Librarians mostly
consider the cost of providing services and the extent of competition with
other information service providers while fixing price in
marketing.Furthermore, the study showed that having no budget and having no
policy for marketing, are the greatest impediments to marketing library
services. Based on the findings, it was recomended that library administration
should have marketing policy and also budget for marketing of library services.
Librarians on their part should re-learn and re-tool and use other promotion
methods and other distribution channels available for the type of services they
need so as to gain competitive advantage.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
The
concept of library is changing with time and the mission and purpose are also
changing. Libraries according to Aguolu and Aguolu (2002) are social
institutions, created to conserve knowledge; preserve the cultural heritage;
provide information; under-gird and underpin education and research; and to
serve as fountains of recreation. Libraries exist in institutions or
establishments to assist in achieving the objectives of their parent
organizations. According to Fatoki (2004), libraries are the primary resource
for conducting academic research. University libraries, like other academic
libraries, exist to provide information resources from any part of the world
and information services to staff and students so as to further the university’s
mission of learning, teaching and research. Library services include provision
of materials for undergraduate instruction, term papers and projects as well as
supplementary reading; provision of materials in support of post graduate
research and materials in support of faculty, external and collaborative
researches. In addition university libraries provide expensive standard works,
especially in the professional disciplines, and materials for personal
development (Ifidon, 1999).
In
the recent past, the concept of library has expanded from a collection of books
and print materials to include digital library and virtual library resources. These refer to the vast collection of
information people gain access to over the internet, cable television, or some
other type of remote electronic connection. Libraries today are service agents
sharing much in common with other service providers (Heath and Cook, 2003), and
this has given rise to competition between libraries and other information
service providers. To stay in business
entails a continuous business transaction between a company and its various
customers (Agunta, 1996). Customer’s patronage is one of the major ingredients
for a company’s long term existence. Patronage from the customer is achieved
only when a company provides products and services that are able to satisfy the
needs of such customers.
With
the sporadic growth of new information providers such as cyber cafes, on-line
book dealers, the internet community, consultants and individual customers,
libraries cannot continue to assume that they are the only source of
information that people will consult. Librarians and other information
professionals have to adopt marketing as a tool if they are to exist in the
tomorrow environment (Kaane, 2006). The success of any library is dependent
upon numerous factors, among which are getting users to use the library and
making them aware of the library’s services. This exercise is library
marketing. Marketing is a management process used for identifying, anticipating
and supplying of customer requirements efficiently (Nicholas, 2003). Marketing
can also be viewed as a comprehensive term that describes all the processes and
interactions that result in satisfaction for users and revenue for the
information firm (Jestin and Parameswari, 2002). Marketing of information
products and services is a means for improving user satisfaction and promoting
the use of services by current and potential users. From the above definition,
marketing is planning and managing the organization’s exchange relations with its
clientele. It consists of studying the target market’s needs, designing
appropriate products and services, and using effective pricing, communication,
and distribution to inform, motivate, and serve the market.
The
reason for applying marketing in an organization is not just to improve profit,
but to achieve a high level of customer
satisfaction and to enhance the perceived value of the services and products.
The increased customer satisfaction will result in the increased willingness to
use and pay for the services offered, hence the marketing of such services and
products.
Previously,
the quality of a library tended to be judged on the size of its collections of
books, journals and other information materials. Such norms now do not normally
form the basis for quality because quality is customer-defined (Gupta and
Jambhekar, 2002). Libraries have begun to realize that staff competency is an
integral part of promoting marketing of library services such as reference
services, especially as a means of improving user satisfaction through
effective use of reference resources by current and potential users.
It
is the librarian who organizes and manages the library resources to achieve the
objectives of the library. The primary task of a librarian is to select from
the universe of records of human culture those that may be needed by the actual
and potential users of the library; to store them for future use; to organize
them by creating appropriate bibliographic access controls; to interpret their
contents through personalized services, and to disseminate information stored
in these records (Aguolu and Aguolu, 2002).
Weingand
(2002) observed that marketing should be viewed as part of a shifting paradigm,
a movement from:
- A
library as a building, a place, where customers must come physically in order
to avail themselves of library services, to a library as the sum of its
services, still accessed physically but also through mediated and electronic
connection;
- An
organization steeped in the tradition of what has always been done, focusing on
staff convenience, to an organization that focuses on customer`s needs and
convenience;
- An
overall presumption of goodness, where the library should be supported because
of its innate role, to an acknowledgement that support cannot be expected, but must be earned through
demonstration of benefits to the community served.
There
are two types of marketing: business marketing and non-profit organisation
marketing. Business marketing is the marketing of goods and services to individuals
and organisations for purposes other than personal consumption. For this study,
business marketing is the marketing of library services to the university
community so that the university will achieve its` teaching, learning, and
research purposes. A non-profit organisation is an organisation that exists to
achieve some goal other than the usual business goals of profit, market share,
or return on investment (Lamb, Hair, McDaniel, 2004). Library falls under the
category of a non-profit organisation. Library has to engage in marketing to
generate fund as a survival strategy. Non-profit organisation marketing is the
effort by non-profit organisations to bring about mutually satisfying exchanges
with target markets. For this work, non-profit organisation marketing is the
attempt of the library to work, not necessarily for profit towards satisfying
the library users Although these
organisations vary substantially in size and purpose and operate in different
environments, most perform the following marketing activities.
- Identify
the customers they wish to serve or attract
- Specify
objectives
- Develop
and manage services
- Decide
on prices to charge (although they use other terms such as fees, fines,
donations )
- Determine
where services will be offered
- Communicate
their availability through advertisement or signs or public service
announcements.
Often
the non-profit organisations that carry out these functions do not realize they
are engaged in marketing. Non-profit organisations do not seek to make a profit
for re-distribution to owners or stakeholders. Like their counterparts in
business organisations, non-profit managers develop marketing strategies to
bring about mutually satisfying exchanges with target markets. However,
marketing in non-profit organisations is unique in many ways – including the
setting of marketing objectives, the selection of target markets, and the
development of appropriate marketing mixes.
The
term marketing mix refers to a unique blend of product, distribution, promotion
and pricing strategies designed to produce mutually satisfying exchanges with a
target market. Distribution is sometimes referred to as place, thus giving the
four Ps of the marketing mix: product, promotion, place and price. The
marketing manager can control each component of the marketing mix, but the
strategies for all four components must be blended to achieve optimal results.
Any marketing mix is only as good as its weakest component. The best promotion
and the lowest price cannot save a poor product. Similarly, excellent products
with poor distribution, pricing, or promotion will likely fail.
Typically
the marketing mix starts with the product ‘P’. The heart of the marketing mix,
the starting point, is the product offering and product strategy. It is hard to
design a distribution strategy, decide on a promotion campaign, or set a price
without knowing the product to be marketed. Distribution (Place) strategies are
concerned with making products available when and where customers want them.
Promotion includes personal selling, advertising, sales promotion and public
relation. Promotion’s role in the marketing mix is to bring about mutually
satisfying exchanges with target markets by informing, educating, persuading
and reminding them of the benefits of a product. Price is what a buyer must give
up to obtain a product. It is often the most flexible of the four marketing mix
elements, the quickest to change.
The
importance of marketing as a tool for quality management in the library can
hardly be over-emphasized. Thus, the essence of marketing involves finding out
what the users want, then setting out to meet those needs. The crucial role of
marketing in library management has been observed by Wee (2003), who stated
that, whether the library is part of a profit-making organization or a wholly
public-good institution, successful marketing can support its overall
objectives. He stated that marketing can help the library to earn revenue to
meet the needs of a targeted segment of customers who use library’s charged
services; and if library service is completely free of charge, marketing helps
to ensure that the librarians’ services are known and appreciated by their
users. Furthermore, marketing is a way of projecting the image of the library
and librarians especially at this time when people are talking about paperless
society, and also the springing up of cyber cafes all around.
It
follows that support in the form of funding is a crucial issue in libraries and
has been the concern of many. Gupta and Jambhekan (2002) stated that in recent
years libraries of all types have found it necessary to compete for both money
and clients as major changes have occurred; that corporate librarians have
realized that they must show management why they are useful and contribute to
the bottom line. In the increasingly competitive and rapidly changing
environment in which librarians operate, they need to create and sustain
competitive advantage in order to survive and thrive in delivering quality
library services.
Most institutional libraries around
the world are facing rising costs and dwindling budget due to technological
advances and today’s dynamic climate (Spalding and Wang, 2006). Managing an
academic library is no longer a matter of receiving a budget at the beginning
of the fiscal year and making sure it is not overspent. Now library
administrators must do long-range planning to project costs and how they will
be paid. In the United
States in the last decade, the percentage of
a public university’s budget from the state government has dropped dramatically,
forcing them to behave more like private universities that do not receive
government support. They conclude that as a result both public and private
universities must devote time and resources to compete with each other for
students, grants, and donations, that is, they must learn to market their
products and services.
A successful marketing programme can
create awareness of and desire for library services, build understanding of the
value of the services, increase the level of usage and expand the client base.
Through organizational alignment and client focus, the information centre
becomes an integral part of the organization. Library clients recognize how
library products and services add value to their work, and they refer others to
the library from both outside and within the organization. They have faith in
the librarians’ ability to deliver and trust librarians to give them correct,
authoritative and context-relevant information. Client-focused marketing will
improve the satisfaction of the library products and services to current and
prospective customers. Greater organizational awareness can also result in
higher visibility to senior management and ultimately support higher budgets
based on demand.
Kumbar
(2004) observed that there is competition, among other things for customers;
that libraries are no longer the only information outfit in town. There are
consultants, the internet, online book dealers. Student reliance on the web and
online resources continues to rise at a rapid pace. Recent studies confirm that
student usage patterns are shifting and student’s preference for using online
resources is becoming predominant in many universities worldwide, as found in
Kelley and Orr’s (2003) study of the University
of Maryland. However, students
search the Web for other reasons than teaching, learning, and research.
While
there is a paucity of documented studies in Nigeria,
the researcher’s anecdotal record based on the 2006 Nnamdi Azikiwe Library
Report, University
of Nigeria, Nsukka, shows
dwindling usage of their reference materials, as seen from the library annual reports.
In the year 2003/2004, 12,292 undergraduates and 6,866 postgraduates and staff,
used reference materials. In the year 2004/2005, 6,841 undergraduates and 5,738
postgraduates and staff used reference materials. In the year 2005/2006, 3
