CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background of the Study.

A Library is an institution, where information resources are systematically

processed and stored, properly preserved and made easily available to users when needed

without loss of time. According to American Library Association, (2019) website, a

Library is a collection of resources in a variety of formats that is, organized by

information professionals or other experts who, provide convenient physical, digital,

bibliographic or intellectual access and offer targeted services and programs with the

mission of educating, informing, or entertaining a variety of audience and the goal of

stimulating individual learning and advancing society as a whole. Academic Libraries are

the ones established and maintained by higher institutions of learning such as

universities, polytechnics, research institutes and colleges of education, this is in line with

the definition given by Adegoke (2015;1) that “Academic Libraries are Libraries attached

to higher institutions of learning above the secondary level, which are responsible for

providing information resources and services to support teaching, learning and research

needs of students, staff and other clientele of their institutions." The following are some

of the services provided by an academic Library as discussed by Umoh, 2017; 155-157:

Circulation/borrowing services, Reference services, Bibliographic verification services,

Current Awareness Services (CAS), Reprographic services, Extension/ community

basically grouped into two parts; the hardcopy resources i.e. print resources and the soft

copy materials i.e. electronic resources. Library resources are information materials found

in the Library which embody books, journals, newspapers, magazines, theses, reports,

government publications among others, these resources manifest either in print or in

electronic format(Odu,2017;37). Print resources are the traditional resources which are

found in the Library, (Adegoke, 2015;3) record these resources as books, journals,

newspapers, magazines and pamphlets, bound copies of e-journals, documents generated

within the university (Local Contents)., proceedings of government and its parastatals,

documents on Africa and America.

Non-Print Resources, known as' electronic resources or audio-visual materials are soft

copies of information that can only be viewed through the use of compatible hardware or

application of Information and Communication Technology devices. Electronic resources

can be found in slides, CD-ROMs, microforms; Internet, audio cassette, video cassette

and other storage devices. These resources are called e-books, e-journals, e-magazines, e-

documents, microfilms, reference databases (Adegoke, 2015:3, Joshua, 2014: 1).

The concept of marketing has variously been defined by different scholars in

librarianship. The bottom line of these definitions given by Osinulu, Adekunmisi,

Okewale, and Oyewusi, (2018) is that marketing in the context of Libraries involves

provision of Library resources and services, using different tools and technologies in

order to create awareness, attract and improve Library patrons use of the Library
resources and services. The aim of marketing is informing the users (active and potential)

of the multiplicity of services that a Library has provided (Kumar, 2017; 218). In order to

remain viable in the environment of competition from other information sources such as

web-based commercial services, Libraries must market their services to make strong

connection with community as agreed by Yi, (2016) that for Libraries and information

services to stay viable in the current climate, it is important that they adopt marketing

strategies to help meet organizational mission, goals and objectives. Since the Library is

not a profit organization, it highly depends on grants from donors and financial allocation

from the parent institute to run it operations as referred by Jacob and Olajide, (2018) the

Library is obviously not a profit making organization, hence it worth and survival cannot

be determined by profit, continued financial support for the operation of the Library may

depend on the demonstrated use of services it provides, a service that is not used does not

need financial support. Libraries therefore, have the responsibility of encouraging the use

of the services they provide to gain further grants and funds allocation for effective

running of the Library activities. The significance and impact of the services provided by

an academic Library is determined by level of the Library patronization by users, the

Library is established to serve the patrons, if the users do not make use of the Library

hence we can say it main purpose is defeated . The essence of marketing involves finding

out what the users want then setting out to meet those needs. According to Odunlade,

Akinde, and Ojo, (2014) there are two key purposes of marketing, () Achieving

objective/goals of the academic Libraries, and (I) Satisfying user/customer needs and

wants. “The main objectives of Libraries today are to obtain self-sufficiency in their
resources and to provide optimum level of services to reach more potential users and

encourage the use of Library resources" (Emmanuel, John, and Etim, 2015; 4), to put it in

simple words satisfying user/customer needs. No Library can exist without the users. The

entire human and material resources in a Library are put in place at considerable expense

for the overall purpose of providing effective services to the Library Users.

Promotion is essentially the means or ways of informing or persuading clientele on

that you do and what you can do, promotion includes utilizing persuasive information

about general information services and communicating this information to target market

segment that are potential clientele (Adegoke, 2015; 3). Before promotion, the Library

should make sure the services and products they are promoting are cutting edge, because

it will be illogical to promote resources that are dated and services that are not actively

running, so it is important a Library get these facts in place first. Developing a strategic

promotional plan will boost the level of Library's patronage clients. Adegoke, 2015,4,

identified some promotional techniques as introduction of current awareness service;

exhibition and display, selective dissemination of information; bulletin boards;

complaints/suggestion boxes, clientele education courses, electronic bill boards, audio-

visual services, online dissemination of information via the Internet technology by

creating links for current information on the Library portal. One of the effective means of

communication the Library can use is clientele education, the academic Library can reach

out to newly admitted students by organizing exhibition and seminars on educating the

students about the value of the Library, the assistance the Library can offer, the resources
which is in the Library's repository and make the students understand that the Library is

there solely to serve them.

This seminar is quite different from the user education discussed by (Adegoke, 2015; 4)

"Users education is a compulsory one credit unit course taught under general studies

(GST 104), the user education compulsory course help students get acquainted to the idea

of Library, but it does not create the required public relation between the Library and the

students, because they see it as a course which they need to study and pass the exams

without really understanding the true essence of it. The Library can also decide to collect

phone numbers or emails address of students which they will use in Current Awareness

Service (CAS) and Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI) to students in the

institution, this can really help in keeping in touch and continuous communication can

help strengthen relation. Many Library resources and services may go unnoticed by

constituents. Promotions should therefore be tailored to specific user groups. For

example, information 'about resources offered to distance learners should target the

distance learners' market base. Focus promotional e fforts by devising a means to

communicate with those most impacted, linking what Libraries offer to who needs or

wants to use them (Lucas-Alfieri, 2015;67).

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Marketing of services and resources by librarians in College Libraries has become a

relevant and strategic issue for Libraries. It is the responsibility of the Library to provide

the required information to users. Lack of awareness has resulted to non-utilization or

reports by (Adegoke, 2015: Aderibigbe and Farouk, 2017: Jacob and Olajide, 2018). We

introduce marketing as a tool for publicizing services and resources available in the

Library, this is necessary because Library resources and services are put in place for

optimal utilization by the users which will aid them in their academic pursuit. The

importance of marketing Library resources and services cannot be over emphasized.

Library resources are so expensive, but often remain underutilized resulting in wastage of

money, time, energy and space, academic libraries invest huge amount of money on

collection development, processing and storage of information resources but there is little

effort made in making this resources known to users Adegoke, (2015).

1.3. Research Objectives

The main objective of this study is to examine the promotional strategies use to

promote library resources and services in federal university Dutsinma, under the

following objectives;

1. To identify the type of information resources available in the library.

2. To find out the types of information services available in the library.

3. To find out the types of information that are market in the library.

4. To find out marketing strategies adopted to market the information resources and

services in the library.

services in the library.

1.4. Research Questions

1. What are the information resources available in the library?

2. What are the information services available in the library?

3. What types of information resources that are market in the library?

4. What marketing strategies do you employed to market the information resources

and services in the library?

5. What are the problems militating against good marketing of information resources

and services.

1.5 Justification of the Study

This project is intends to contribute to the existing body of knowledge and possible add

in educating the people about the strategies use in promoting library resources and

services. It will also serve as a reference to other research in the related field of study.

Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify the strategies used in promoting

library resources and services of academic institution

1.6 Significance of the Study.

objective of any library. This study would be of significance to librarians who can use the

results to reflect on the effectiveness of the marketing strategies used, to balance the

weight of the factors influence better understand various effective marketing approaches

to enable them to market library resources and services more effectively and also enable

the library management to assess their strengths and weakness and be able to project

ahead. It will also create awareness to the library users on the availability of information

resources and services which will lead to increase in utilization.

1.7. Scope and limitation of the study

This study focus on the use of strategies to promote library and information resources and

services in the library under study. The study also cover some strategies in marketing the

information resources and services. The study did not cover other aspect of the library

such as acquisition, selection, purchases etc. The study covers only print resources, it

doesn't cover other resources i.e. e-resource in the library.

Study also limited in Federal University Dutsin-ma without covering other institution in

the metropolis area.

1.8. Operational Definition of the Term.

PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY:
Promotional strategy is a method uses by companies to advertised, promote and sale their

goods.

A company chooses its promotional strategy based on factors like product type,

marketing budget, audience etc. it's a critical activity to increase product awareness and

thereby increase sales. An effective promotional get more revenue as compared to the

marketing spends.

LIBRARY SERVICES:

Are those materials, both print and non-print found in any types of library? Print

materials include: book, magazines and journals, newspapers etc. while non-print

include: films, disc records slide and audio tape etc.

FEDERAL UNIVERSITY

Federal universities are universities established, owned, funded and control by the federal

Government.