Australian academic librarians' perceptions of marketing services and resources

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how Australian academic librarians marketed their services and resources, which marketing approaches were most effective, and the factors influencing the perceptions of the approaches used. Design/methodology/approach – An online survey was sent to 37 academic librarians in Australia. The response rate was 54.1 percent. The information sheet and consent form for phone interview participants were e-mailed to 17 participants and ten signed consent forms were e-mailed back to the researchers. The response rate was 58.8 percent. The qualitative data were analysed using content analysis. The collected quantitative and qualitative data were analysed using descriptive (frequencies, percentages, means, standard deviations) and inferential statistics (correlations). Findings – Academic librarians were involved in a variety of marketing activities and had varied perceptions of the effective approaches used to market services and resources. Correlation analysis confirms that demographics, human capital and library variables play significant roles in predicting librarians' perceptions of the effective marketing techniques used. Research limitations/implications – Because of very small sample size, the results may lack generalisability. Future research is a large-scale study. Practical implications – This paper provides a better understanding of academic librarians' attitudes, views and effective techniques with regard to marketing their services and resources. Originality/value – Librarians may use the results to reflect on the effectiveness of the marketing approaches used, to balance the weight of the factors' influences, and to better understand various effective marketing approaches to enable them to market academic library services and resources more effectively in the future.

Marketing academic library information services using social media

“…Although the findings showed a low usage of social media in the academic libraries, the respondents indicated the importance of such tools and their preference for using Twitter, followed by Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. This finding corresponded with Yi et al (2013), Ramsey and Vecchione (2014), Stvilia and Gibradze (2014), Xie and Stevenson (2014) and Al-Daihani and AlAwadhi (2015) that Twitter was one of the most popular social media platforms for library marketing and engagement as it was seen as valuable in connecting the library with users and the community to share information, promote services and events, and reach users and non-users (Forrestal, 2010), thereby achieving the study's first objective.…”

“…Xie and Stevenson (2014) investigated the use of social media in the digital libraries of ten cultural institutions and found that Facebook and Twitter were the most popular social media applications, and that social media was important within the institutions for providing information, marketing and promotions, connecting with users and sharing information. Yi et al (2013) examined the marketing activities in Australian academic libraries and found that classroom instruction and advertisements were the most effective marketing techniques, followed by one-to-one conversations and training sessions, the library website and social media. It was also found that webcasts, website announcements, workshops and social media tools were most effective in promoting the library's services and resources, while Facebook advertisements, blogs, e-mail, newsletters and Twitter were the most effective Web 2.0 tools for marketing library resources and services.…”

Application of Marketing Techniques in Library Services and Challenges Faced by University Librarians in Sri Lanka

“…Brochures/leaflets/pamphlets and websites were more frequently used as marketing techniques in Greek academic libraries. Further Yi, et al (2013), Verostek (2005, Hinchliffe andLeon (2011), Benson et al (2016) and Kaur and Rani (2008) had come across similar findings, in the studies they have carried out in Academic Libraries in United States, Australia, Nigeria, India, and Malaysia.…”

“…According to Yi et al (2013) "today, there is an increasing need for libraries to implement effective marketing techniques in response to external and internal pressures" (Enache, 2008, p. 478 as cited by Yi et al, 2013, p. 587). They further reported:…”

A subject specialist-centric model for library resources management in academic libraries

“…Also, libraries' routine evaluation already performs strength, weakness, opportunities, threats (SWOT) analysis (Richardson and Kennedy, 2014). Yi et al (2013) used online surveys and phone interviews in the research of Australian academic libraries' perceptions of library marketing. The results showed that several marketing approaches were considered to be effective, including surveys, interviews and breaking down demographic components of user communities.…”