Marketing Concepts for Libraries and Information Services (2nd ed.)

Citation

Allan, B. (2003), "Marketing Concepts for Libraries and Information Services (2nd ed.)", Program: electronic library and information systems, Vol. 37 No. 1, pp. 65-65. https://doi.org/10.1108/0033033031046062

This is a fully revised and updated second edition of a textbook that aims to ensure that librarians and information professionals understand marketing concepts and can apply marketing techniques. The intended audience is practising librarians and information professionals in senior and middle management, and also students of information and library management.

The contents include a brief introduction which is followed by chapters covering: What is marketing?; The corporate mission; Marketing strategies for librarians and information professionals; The marketing mix; Promotion and public relations; Market segmentation; Marketing in the digital age; Marketing research and market research; Corporate identity and corporate image; The marketing plan. Each chapter starts with a useful list of objectives and ends with an up‐to‐date list of references and further reading. There is a detailed index too.

This second edition contains a new chapter on “Marketing in the digital age” and this covers the following topics: new roles for library and information professionals; marketing libraries and information centres in the digital world; digital customers; how digital marketing differs from traditional marketing; the digital marketing mix; customer relations management; data mining; digital legislation and stickiness. The last topic “stickiness” relates to the design of Web sites that encourage the user or browser to stay at their Web site and revisit it. This section appears as if an afterthought in the chapter and could perhaps be better located earlier in the chapter and also expanded to include a wider range of techniques for creating sticky Web sites. Overall, I found this chapter slightly disappointing and it could be improved by including many more examples and also screen shots of current good practice.

This book is written in an enthusiastic style and it is clear that the author is deeply committed to marketing and its importance to library and information services. The style is academic and the text is very well supported with references. While the book includes many different examples, these tend not to be explored in any depth. This book is not a “quick read” and readers will need to devote some time to serious reading. They are likely to find this is repaid as the book clearly achieves its first aim of ensuring that readers will understand marketing concepts.

Unfortunately my reading of this book left me undecided as to whether or not the author had achieved the second part of the book’s aim, i.e. to ensure that librarians and information professionals can apply marketing techniques. While techniques such as press releases and the marketing plan are clearly described, these sections could be enhanced by the use of detailed case studies. Examples of current practice that included an evaluation of the differences between marketing theory and practice, perhaps written by practitioners, would help to complete an otherwise excellent book.

I would certainly recommend this book to practising library and information managers who want to develop their knowledge and skills in marketing their library and information service. It offers an excellent overview of the field and is well written and grounded in theory. Students will find it useful too. However, in order to develop a well grounded understanding of current good practice readers would need to explore and evaluate how individual libraries and information units market themselves.