Abstract:
This study examines the attitudes of librarians towards marketing library and information
services in academic libraries. Specific objectives include; to find out the attitudes of academic
librarians in marketing library and information services in Lusaka; identify perceived
challenges faced by academic librarians in marketing of library and information services; to
find out if the library staffs are qualified to be marketers in library services. Relevant literatures
were reviewed. Survey research design was adopted. The target population for the study
comprises of three librarians in university libraries in Lusaka. The three (3) university libraries
were selected based on proximity to researchers. There are a total of thirty (30) librarians in
the three (3) selected university libraries; Out of thirty (30) questionnaires distributed, only
twenty-two (22) copies were returned. Data collected through the distributed questionnaire
were analysed using descriptive statistics. In other words, tables, frequency counts, simple
percentage and mean were used to analyse the data. The finding shows that; the attitudes of
academic librarians towards marketing of library services are; the academic librarians in
Lusaka, the staff enjoy marketing, the librarians believe that marketing is beneficial to the
library and that marketing will increase user awareness towards the use of the library and
information services. Challenges towards marketing of library and information services are;
Academic libraries in Lusaka have no dedicated marketing department, the libraries do have a
budget for marketing its library services and the librarians from all three academic libraries
agree that the library can benefit from an effective market strategy. Qualifications in marketing
of library and information services are; academic libraries in Lusaka have staff that are
qualified marketers, the librarians believe they can be good marketers with undergoing
marketing training and the reported that the libraries do carry out training programs to improve
staff marketing skills.
