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PurposeTo increase the use of its resources and services, the Rizal Library of the Ateneo de Manila University embarked on a relationship marketing program targeted at three segments of the market, namely, the faculty, the graduate students and the undergraduate students. This paper aims to investigate this program.Design/methodology/approachThe paper reports the results of its program over a period of time to compare usage before and after the program was implemented.FindingsResults indicate that the program was successful in its implementation. Success indicators showed a marked increase in the use of its resources and services.Practical implicationsMore relationship marketing strategies involving the students and faculty should be introduced to further make the library more visible, open lines of communication between the library and its users and increase customer satisfaction.Originality/valueThe strategy increased library traffic. It could be adapted by other libraries to increase usage of their resources and facilities.

This paper departs from the mostly Western research focus in the area of scholarly publishing and the book trade. We investigate Philippine university presses and how their publishers operate in the context of a developing country. From semi-structured interviews with three university press directors, we find that Philippine university presses operate under less pressure from administration to be financially self-supporting and are hence able to concentrate on their cultural roles—a marked difference from their Western counterparts, which struggle for money. Other findings reveal that university publishers in the Philippines 1) have weaker professionalization standards, 2) operate in a small industry with intense competition, and 3) are still in the experimental stage in ebook publishing. Results of this study provide a non-Western perspective on university press publishing and offer lessons for professionals in the scholarly publishing enterprise.

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This article provides a new perspective on comics publishing in the Philippines, particularly when compared to the cheap, mass-market image it used to carry. It also opens discussions on electronic publishing, piracy, exploring untapped markets both locally and internationally, among others. In-depth interviews were conducted in order to investigate the firsthand experiences of contemporary comic book publishers in the Philippines. We limited our study to independent publishers, noting that their experiences are also testament to the end of the monopoly of big, commercial presses in comics publishing. Findings reveal that comics publishers in the Philippines (1) belong to a close-knit community of creatives and academics; (2) benefit from comic conventions and cult followings; (3) manage to operate with insufficient support from local bookstores; and (4) use various coping strategies in the form of novel roles, products, and distribution systems.