Investigating the attitudes of librarians towards marketing of library services: A case study of 3 selected libraries.

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.