CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the study
Academic libraries are currently experiencing changes in the new information age, due to rapidly changing media technologies, increasing users’ preferences and expectations, competition from other information providers such as the internet, and dwindling library budgets. These necessitate library and information science professionals leveraging competitive marketing approaches to strategically reorient themselves and libraries as information superhighways that individuals can not do without.
Marketing is considered one aspect of the competencies needed and is critical among library and information science professionals. Osinulu, Adekunmisi and Okewale (2017) stress that librarians should be competent in all aspects of librarianship, which includes basic foundational knowledge in librarianship, readers’ services, information and communication technologies (ICTs) handling and use, reference services, etcetera, before library professionals can adequately and effectively market library services and information. products, librarians must be knowledgeable, skilled and must possess good attributes or disposition in these core aspects of librarianship. Marketing is basic and is considered to be essential in the management process for promoting information products and services. Marketing knowledge can assist libraries to have a competitive advantage over competitors and it is through development of new services or changes in the existing ones that they can achieve this and satisfy users better. In other words, marketing competency can bring about improvement in organizational status and enhance the image of librarians, thereby improving library performance.
Unfortunately, many studies have documented librarians’ lack of professional understanding of the marketing concept and its applicability to librarianship. Most library executives believe that marketing is only applicable and relevant to for-profit organizations.Most librarians do not promote library resources, services and products effectively due to a lack of training and poor knowledge of marketing tools and techniques, as well as the fear of commercial publicity. Some librarians see marketing as manipulative, unprofessional, a waste of time and resources.
Similarly, Adekunmisi (2017) indicated a lack of business expertise among academic librarians and he pointed out a lack of interest in the idea and concept of marketing mix among librarians and library top management as a challenge in marketing marketing of products. These scenarios can be attributed to deficiencies in the marketing concepts and principles in the library school curricula. These factors also contribute to low patronage and under utilization of library information resources, products and services. Librarians, as information professionals, need adequate knowledge, skills and attributes of marketing principles and a clear understanding and appreciation of the relevance of marketing to librarianship. Librarians must be involved in marketing and must use marketing principles and strategies to convince and attract users to the library collections and services they offer. A key responsibility of academic libraries is to provide timely access to information resources, both print and non-print, that meet the curriculum and programme needs of students and teaching staff.
1.2 Statement of the problem
In spite of the benefits derived from the use of social media tools in promoting the marketing of library and information resources and services, there are a lot of challenges hindering the promotion and marketing of library resources and services. The concept of a library without "walls" is catching up and is becoming popular among patrons. In this information-centric user community, libraries are expected to provide online access to information in a 24/7 mode as they are used more in an online environment. Users visit libraries to use computers and internet facilities, to access e-contents in a comfortable ambiance, and to use library space for reading and group discussion. Furthermore, when compared to the previous century, the use of physical collections is reduced because information is available and accessible via the internet from anywhere.However, the major problems in marketing library and information products and services are a lack of time to use social media, a lack of privacy and identity theft, too many social media tools to learn, a lack of knowledge of how to use social media tools, the slow speed of the internet, insufficient funding for libraries, a lack of qualified staff, and insufficient training opportunities.Thus, a high level of ease of access to resources and services in the preferred format, highly skilled library personnel, ease of location, a high level of access to ICT applications, resources, and services, and fascinating library equipment and facilities are required for the library to maintain a competitive advantage. More so, librarians must identify public presentation, direct marketing, advocacy, bulletins, newsletters, readers’ awareness training, display strategy, library web pages, lectures, library tours and use of web tools as strategies for promoting library information products and services. As a result, this study seeks to investigate the marketing of library products and services, as well as the challenges that this presents for professionals.