Assessing the role of marketing in the provision of library and information services

Abstract

Marketing has a wide-ranging implication in its applications not only for profit generating organizations, but also not for non-profit organizations such as the libraries. The ultimate target of all academic libraries worldwide is user satisfaction and information services of which marketing helps to achieve in the utilizations and exploitations of library’s resources. Nevertheless, there seems to be a growing acceptance amongst the wider information profession that marketing is essential in libraries and information services. The study adopted descriptive research design, and data was collected by use of questionnaires. The target populations were twenty nine thousand six hundred and five (29605) comprising of 20 library staffs. The sample of 394 respondents was selected. The researcher used questionnaires and interviews as the tools for data collection. The study indicated that provision of library and information services should be available for marketing practices. Based on the findings it was recommended that trainings workshops and seminars should be organized for the librarians to enlighten them on how to market the library and information services.