Strategic Marketing for Library and Information Services

Marketing is both a philosophy and a combination of techniques that places the customer at the centre of an organization's activity. As such, it provides a suitable framework for organizing and delivering library and information services, which should themselves, by definition, focus on the needs of their customers or publics. Whether in the private or the public sector, the key to the survival of libraries rests in their ability to accurately interpret customer needs and design services to meet such needs. These principles are here applied in a cross-sectoral context. The techniques of marketing can lose much of their value if they are conducted piecemeal by organizations that have not truly embraced the philosophy of marketing. This book addresses the necessity for marketing to be approached at the strategic level if it is to be more than a superficial gloss, and suggests the systems and mechanisms that need to be put in place to ensure that an organization is market oriented from top to bottom.
Issues and techniques addressed include: strategic issues in service planning; marketing information systems and research; human resource management; the economics of service delivery; ensuring service quality; and communicating with customers. The principles outlined in this edited collection are universally applicable and can be translated into specific international environments. Designed to inform modern practice, this deskbook should be useful to practitioners in all sectors and at all levels, from policy makers to front-line managers. It should also be suitable as a textbook for library marketing courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.