Introduction

Abstract

Creating a marketing plan is not an easy process, but one that is required to survive the current onslaught of access to research materials and information online. Enough online data currently exist to meet many research needs, despite the often overwhelming amounts presented to the researcher. The researcher has left the library, and in many respects might be lost for good, unless we can turn around users' perceptions by using a process that will provide insights into their needs, wants, and expectations. This method of systematically preparing a marketing plan is in many respects counterintuitive to our current practices. We need to move our institution from a librarian-centric entity to a patron-centric and dynamic academic contributor. Using the following chapters will enlighten readers to what I've termed the TIPR (pronounced "tipper") method: "Think, Investigate, Plan, and React." When TIPR is combined with the understanding and constructing a sound mission and vision statement, coupled with data generation and analysis, and planned and implemented using a strategic project management approach, your library will begin to garner extensive institutional and constituency support and enhanced satisfaction.

Keywords

Captive audience

Librarian-centric

Marketing

Patron-centric

Project management

TIPR.

1.1 Introduction

Let's 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. It's 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, it's 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 researcher's 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 audio- visual 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 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 staff- centric 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 don't 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 doesn't use the library and why they don't 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.

1.2 Early 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...