Document Type

Conference Poster

Publication Date

4-1-2011

Abstract

Connecting patrons to appropriate resources is a concern for libraries as more collections are removed from traditional shelves and placed in virtual spaces. The traditional marketing techniques of placing a new-books shelf near the front door or the positioning of ready reference volumes in a study area of a library does not apply to the electronic resource world because there are no physical volumes to view. It is vital to understand library efficacy in marketing electronic resources in order to connect a patron with the appropriate resource. Based on two recent analyses of articles published by libraries about their marketing plans for electronic resources, it is clear that libraries do not successfully plan for marketing so that the process gains them actionable knowledge for further marketing efforts. The analyses find that libraries do not choose appropriate strategies for their stated marketing goals and do not correctly measure the strategies, which leaves them unable to assess their efforts; without a clear understanding if their marketing campaigns have been successes or failures libraries are not positioned to move forward in new marketing cycles. Libraries understand the need to market yet fail to develop a plan to do so. The literature suggests that this is due to marketing not being a priority and librarians not knowing how to design a marketing plan. This poster proposes a model for a national distributed project to develop marketing plans for electronic resources while collaboratively building benchmarks for the marketing of electronic resources in college and university settings.

Citation / Publisher Attribution

Kennedy, Marie R. 2011. “Collaborative Marketing for Electronic Resources.” Poster presented at the Association of College & Research Libraries Conference. Philadelphia, PA.

Kennedy_handout.pdf (106 kB)
handout to accompany poster

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