Marketing Library and Information Services in Selected University Libraries in Africa

Abstract

The demands of modern information handling coupled with the advent of information and communication technology (ICT), which brings various competitors in information service delivery, demands an innovative approach from university libraries in reaching out to users, of which marketing is beneficial. This paper examines the strategies used by university libraries in Africa to market their resources and services to users and the problems experienced. The survey research design was adopted for this study. A questionnaire was designed and used for data collection. The purposive sampling technique was employed to select twenty (20) universities in Africa for the study. Findings revealed that university libraries in Africa, like their counterparts in other continents, creatively engage in marketing library and information services through various strategies. It was also found that the most frequently used strategies for marketing library and information services in African libraries are library publications (memos, bulletins, and newsletters), orientation exercises, website and flyers. The study equally revealed low level use of social media such as Facebook, blogs, Twitter, e-mail alerts for marketing. Absence of marketing plan, not knowing what to market, lack of facilities and lack of fund were mentioned by the respondents as some of the barriers in marketing library and information services. It was therefore recommended amongst others, that university libraries should design a workable marketing plan with total emphasis on the users; this will help in determining users' needs for effective and efficient library and information services delivery.