Introduction

1.1Introduction
Lets be honest: our academic libraries are at a crossroads. The decision to thrive is
within our domain. It is time to begin asking ourselves tough questions. To survive
is to see our library patrons enter our libraries. Thriving is a matter of understanding
why they should want to use our libraries. Thriving is also understanding whether they
find what they want when they enter the doors. Its about more than giving them what
we librarians think they want. To thrive involves having them come in, teaching them
to understand the resources we offer, and then continually guiding them to use the
resources effectively in their scholarly pursuits. When they finally do enter the library
doors, do they find what they want? Besides access to computers, do they know what
to want? Or what they need to use? For the patron, its all about what they want. For
us to thrive, we must understand what they want. Our mission should be to form an
accurate understanding of their perceptions of our mission in this present day of the
academic library. This is the first step.
As we move into the next millennium, where our once captive academic audience is shifting gears and using more freely offered and simpler Internet-based
tools, we race to react. However, our reactions are based on our perceptions of what
we think best suits the researchers needs and preferences. A user-centric approach
will guide the development and the future mission of our twenty-first century libraries. This is how we must successfully compete for and win over customers who will
remain loyal.
Twentieth century librarian attitudes reflected our belief that if we build it they will
come. We believe students, faculty, and staff will use what we acquire. We believe that
what we do for them is in their best interest. If we create new library programs and
services, we believe our students will just fall in line, stumble across the newness and
instantly use, appreciate, and master the resource. For example, if we build a coffee
shop, our library patrons will drink coffees and teas. But do we build it in an area
trafficked by students? Or are the hours adapted to their schedules? Do we incorporate
access to Wi-Fi, portals, or charging stations?
Tools like Serials Solutions, Summon, and Article Linker are designed for researchers, but they really only make our jobs easier. And in practice it might in fact make
students jobs harder, as they try to navigate through a sea of available scholarly journal articles, popular magazine articles, print books, eBooks, and a variety of audiovisual media. A laundry list of everything they can possibly access is tantamount to a
traditional google.com search. Similarly, library catalogs with tiny type fonts might
be easier for the cataloging and systems librarians to administrator and design, but it
will be much harder for our constituents to read, especially those in the aging population. Additionally, for students, and for skilled faculty researchers, finding the full-text
Marketing the 21st Century Library. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-1-84334-773-6.00001-5
D. Lucas-Alfieri, 2015. All rights reserved.

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Marketing the 21st Century Library

article can be as difficult as finding a needle in the haystack. Admit it: if a librarian has
a hard time downloading and printing a full text resource, such as an article or eBook,
then the students and scholars who are working in nontraditional library spaces, such
as dorm rooms, offsite computer labs, and primary residences, will give up, move on,
and most likely never come back.
Our twenty-first century objective should be to recapture the attention of our audiences by focusing on a user-centric mission and vision, thus encouraging our library
staff to reexamine what they do as part of the team to create an atmosphere where
students thrive and succeed, while enjoying and ultimately praising our libraries. We
begin with an examination of the resources and services most used by the constituents
and learn as much possible about our designs, and which were created in the staffcentric mode. For example, when we discovered discovery tools, did we decide to
offer it because patrons wanted it? Did we ask them if it was in fact easier to use than
our other traditional offerings, i.e., searching individual discipline-specific databases
or searching each library catalog separately? In some libraries, librarians decided to
purchase a discovery tool because we believed it would be easier for students to find
what they need. This librarian/staff-centric approach is exactly what we need to stop
doing. We need to ask questions about our potential problems before we attempt to
provide solutions.
The process of creating an organizational marketing plan requires a significant level
of commitment to change. It is a top-down initiative. As such, senior leaders, including directors, presidents, trustees, and others, must lead the process for the librarians
and staff. Senior leaders do not need to create the plan, but they do need to support and
encourage the development and implementation of the plan. They will guide the process, stepping up into expected and, indeed required, leadership roles as the marketing
plan is created and subsequently implemented, and finally systematically reassessed.
As you go through the next several chapters, leave behind your current notions.
Forget about what we think we know about how our constituents should be using our
existing resources. If our statistics for book circulation and research desk assistance are
falling, then patrons dont want what we have, need what we have, understand what we
have, or, perhaps, have any idea where to begin even asking about what we have.
When we advertise our new resources and services on our library Web site, we are
only focusing our attention on those clients we already have, our existing market base.
Posters, pencils, and bookmarks are great and most often much appreciated, but again,
we are only reaching our existing market segment base. We sometimes fail to reach
outside of our comfort zone to find ways to expand our market share. Data that we
obtain through user surveys and focus groups will help us better understand who uses
the library, why, and why not. Understanding who doesnt use the library and why they
dont will put us in a better position to consider and evaluate the opportunities for new
programs or optimize promotions of what we do already offer. Students who use the
library do so for many reasons. And if they only want to study or sleep, we still need
to clearly understand who does what and why. Additionally, we need to consider our
invisible market share. Why do some of our campus population not use our resources
at all? Once we can answer those questions, we can begin to create a solidly successful
marketing plan.

Introduction3

1.2Early definitions of marketing

In 1935, the American Marketing Association (AMA) developed its first official definition of marketing, which read: (Marketing is) the performance of business activities
that direct the flow of goods and services from producers to consumers.
In our twenty-first century definition of library marketing, we can translate the
word producers as librarians and consumers as library patrons. In other words, marketing is the business of attracting library patrons to what librarians produce, our
unique goods and services, which are the business activities in an academic library.
The unique goods and services that exist in academic libraries traditionally include
research services, book circulation, individual work spaces, group study areas, meeting spaces, and access to a variety of audio-visual equipment. Now more than ever,
students need computer workstations. Other current trends include incorporating
such auxiliary departments as tutoring and computer lab help desks into our existing
library spaces. Additionally, some users might expect the library to provide access to
new technological devices for loan (iPads, tablets, laptops, etc.) and to incorporate
space for media productions and Skype-based meetings. Many libraries also incorporate more comfortable lounging areas, including both quiet areas and areas in which
noise and eating are encouraged.
The definitions of marketing have changed throughout the years. In 1985, the first
revisions were made to the definition. The new version read: (Marketing is) the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution
of ideas, goods and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives. In this instance, the organizational objectives in a library begin to
directly relate to our mission and vision statements. As such, they guide our strategic
plan, or the outline of what we say or believe we do, and will capture what we see
happening in the future.
The most recently distributed definition, as agreed upon by the 2013 AMA Board
of Directors, reads:
Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, partners,
and society at large.
https://www.ama.org/AboutAMA/Pages/Definition-of-Marketing.aspx

Of the changing definition of marketing, this newest one most closely relates to the
twenty-first century librarians profession and the delivery of library resources and
services. The process of creating value begins as we write the strategic plan, determine
what our patrons want, give that to them, and devise communication channels where
our promotional methods will be maintained and the entire process systematically
reevaluated.
The biggest challenge to marketing the twenty-first century library is apprehension.
Librarians are apprehensive about marketing oftentimes because they are not educated or trained in marketing principles. They believe that librarians are expected to
follow the same marketing principles that for-profit organizations follow, such as the

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Marketing the 21st Century Library

ones defined by the AMA. On the contrary, the purpose of conducting any research,
whether its a literature review, a survey, a focus group, or the collection of service-
related or usage-related data is to then assemble and assimilate it. Marketing research
has the same purpose. And who is better at research than librarians?
So following a business model isnt the only way to forge ahead. By developing an
actual practice model for library marketing, written and developed by librarians and
for use by librarians, we can move forward to a time and place where the mission of
academic libraries is better understood and supported, and constituents needs will be
assessed, digested, and met.
In addition to using principles used in corporate marketing, remember to think in
terms of the TIPR method: Think, Interpret, Plan, and React. In regards specifically
to marketing, TIPR will help you avoid common pitfalls. For example, data generated
from surveys and statistics may reflect negatively on certain departments, which might
be greeted with apprehension, or even worse, hostility. In another example, data should
be analyzed and discussed before being released to those it reflects. So, (T)hink first.
What does this data mean and how might it be perceived by those it reflects? To interpret is to discuss your findings. What does it mean in the grander scheme of the library
environment, including the image of the profession? The data will drive the discussions.
When we (I)nterpret, we also begin to develop our plans of action. We talk about our
opportunities. This leads us into our (P)lanning stage. How do we take the information
we have and devise action plans? In other words, what do we do with the information we
have. What action can we take and how is it incorporated into our marketing plan? Only
after we TIP can we (R)eact. When we react, we are taking all of the information that we
gathered, discussed, and analyzed so that the actions we take are based on a rational and
systematic process. This is the TIPR method.

1.3The profession: A super-marketing experience

If we agree that our constituents dont know what libraries offer, or what librarians
actually do, then we agree that we cannot promote either what we do or what we offer.
The mission of the academic library will falter and diminish when patrons gravitate
to simpler tools that answer their questions effectively and perhaps with greater speed
and ease of use, then what the library does offer. For example, Google Scholar is easier to use than Summon, as Google Scholar links to both a home library and Internet
resources. These are tools that we should add to our resources, instead of shying away
from its use. Google, Google Scholar, Amazon, and PubMed can easily prevent libraries and librarians from thriving. Conversely, if the librarian fails, so will the library.
The existence of both will cease because inherently, one depends on the other.
Research repeatedly shows that when patrons think of libraries, the first thing that
comes to mind is books. The key activity they think librarians do is check out
books. It is not key to the survival of our profession and our libraries to be book
houses or book lenders. Some librarians teach constituents how to navigate the library
Web site and the World Wide Web. Others teach skills for interpreting data found on
the Internet. We teach, publish, research, write, correct, order, maintain, organize, and

Introduction5

distribute information and knowledge. However, we may falter as the gatekeepers of

history and legacy while the Internet resources improve and more Web sites manage
and store this data, unmitigated and free from librarian intervention.
What should we do to maintain and enhance our relevancy in the twenty-first century of high-tech innovations? Make library resources easier to use! We too often focus
our professional preparation time on planning intricate library instruction sessions for
teaching patrons to use our myriad collection, which mainly incorporates a technique
to click here, or click there. We should spend that time better organizing our resources
so that users no longer have to struggle to find the right place to click or to download.
Again, this is inserted into a marketing plan will ensure that the librarians goals are
reachable, because the marketing plan will direct our steps and track our efforts.
The following chapters will guide you through the history of library marketing.
We will also learn the differences between marketing and promotions. Central to our
discussion are examples and instructions you can use to create your own library marketing plan. We will also review the optimal resources and services to be promoted. As
we move forward though these chapters, we will learn the steps in our market planning
process:

Mission
Vision
Strategic plans
SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)
TIPR
Assessment
Project management