Information product and information service marketing in the university libraries in Sri lanaka : Investigation of issues and challenges

Abstract

Libraries and information centers are not the profit-making organizations, but they are information and service providers. The concept of marketing captures not only the buying and selling for monetary purpose but also the fulfillment of organizational objectives effectively in non-profit organizations which constantly and inextricably linked to meeting its client's information needs. Marketing performances in the field of library and information science includes in planning, organizing, dissemination, and controlling of information products and services through motivational and user convenience way. As a result of marketing these organizations should be able to achieve their aims while satisfying their customers and fulfilling their information needs as well as wants. Academic libraries such as university libraries represent as a “heart” of the learning organization. However, in the literature it is reported that university libraries face many difficulties and there were many failures in providing the information sources and services to their users. It is therefore important to identify how the concept of marketing can be used in the university libraries effectively. This study therefore aims to identify the barriers and challenges faced in marketing information products and information services in university libraries in Sri Lanka.

The objectives of this study are to identify information sources, information products, and information services in university libraries, to identify the current status of information product and information service marketing in university libraries and to identify strategies to use for information marketing in university libraries. The mixed research methodology has been used as a research methodology of this study while case research method has been used a research strategy. The study sample consisted of 15 state university librarians in Sri Lanka and 300 users, 20 from each university library. A total respondent of this study includes 315.Structured questionnaires were distributed to gather data for this study. Data analysis was carried out with SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences).

This study identified barriers in the marketing of information products and services in university libraries such as lack of professional human resources with marketing knowledge, lack of recognition for libraries in the society/organization, ignorance of the activities of staff in one section of the library, and lack of understanding of the importance of public relations in the library. Inadequacy, lack of computer literacy among staff, readers' lack of attention to library resources, lack of a clear picture of the library in society, limited media access, lack of proper marketing policy for library management, and lack of government support are among the major challenges identified by this research Overall marketing of information products and information services in the university libraries of Sri Lanka were not at a satisfactory level. Based on the data analysis of this study, a conceptual model has been developed to use as the successful implementation of information marketing in university libraries.