Marketing Library Services to the Net Generation

Jia Mi (The College of New Jersey, USA) Frederick Nesta (Lingnan University, Hong

Kong, SAR China)

Shanghai International Library Forum 2006

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Current Reality• As early as 1999, 40-50% of students used the

Internet on a weekly basis (D’Esposito 1999)• Nearly four-fifth of university students agreed that

Internet use has had a positive impact on their university academic experience (Jones 2002)

• 71% of college students used the Internet as a major source of information in 2002 (Jones 2002)

• 79% of the university students in a 2002 survey used search engines as their first choice Web resources for most of their assignments (OCLC 2002)

• 89% of university students across all regions start their information searches from search engines. Only 2% of university students begin their research by using a library Web site (DeRosa 2005)

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Current Reality-cont.

• 83% of faculty felt they spent less time in the library now that they have access to the Internet than before (Jones 2005)

• 94% of university faculty members allow their students to cite Internet sources in their work (Jones 2005)

• Electronic Journals as a percentage of all journals have increased 83.3% in baccalaureate institutions and 71.3% in masters institutions (McCracken 2003)

• Google Scholar brings over seven times more visitors to the British Medical Journal than does Pubmed (Giustini 2005)

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Marketing-Classical Concepts

• Definition—John B. McKitterick (1957)– Customer oriented and integrated system

• Philip Kotler and Sidney Levy (1969)– Not selling, not promotion, but service and adding

value

• Philip Kotler and Zaltman (1971)– Social marketing

• Philp Kotler and Alan Andreasen (1996)– Create, build and maintain beneficial exchange

relationships with target audiences for the purposes of satisfying individual and organizational objectives

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Marketing-Fundamental Principles

• Theodore Levitt (1960)– Marketing Myopia– Distinguish selling from marketing– Product oriented or customer oriented

• E. Jerome McCarthy (1960)– 4Ps of marketing

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Redefine 4Ps

– Electronic & print items & services– Time and effort that patrons must spend in

accessing and acquiring information– Provide multiple physical or virtual access

points – Not advertising but a form of

communication that exists in a positive or negative form in every contact a patron has with an institution

PRODUCT

PRICE

PLACEMENT

PROMOTION

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Brand Image

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Brand Image-Main Purposes of the Library

U.S. 18-24 Yrs 25-64

Yrs

Information 49% 56%

Books 32% 26%

Research 20% 15%

DeRosa, Cathy et. al.(2005)“Perceptions Of Libraries and Information Resources; A report to the OCLC membership.”

The Changing Market

• Explosion of the Internet has changed the way that students and faculty conduct their learning, teaching and research

• Libraries no longer have a monopoly on information sources

• 89% of university students across all regions start their information searches from search engines. Only 2% of university students begin their research by using library Web sites. (DeRosa 2005)

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Users and Contexts• Net Generation (Generation Y, Millenials)

– Don Tapscott (1998)• The generation that has been raised with computers from infancy

– Tulgan and Martin (2001)• The people who were born in the late seventies

– Howe and Strauss (1992)• Millenials: 1982-2000 as the birth year

• Information Seeking– The Library is NOT the ONLY source of information– Not all information needs are “Academic”

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Who is the Net Generation?

Characteristics

Tech Savvy Thinking Styles Learning StylesBehaviors/Life Styles

Internet

IM / Email

iPOD/MP3 Players

Laptop

PodCasting

Non-Linear

Graphic Oriented

Personal Blog

Visual Learners

Self explorers

Video Games

Cell Phones

VarietyStart Randomly

No Patience

Positive Thinkers

Multi-Taskers

Goal-Achievers

Motivators

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Net Generation

Rich Holeton 2005-2006 “Undergraduate Computing Survey: The Millennials Are in Residence.”

Google Web Search, Scholarly Papers, Image Search,

Keyword Book Searching, no cost

LibraryAbove via Google, keyword journal

searching with full-text, other databases, selected resources, index-only access to held or shared books,

high cost

Need to convince users that the added value is worth the cost, lower the cost, or

do both

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Different ViewpointsLibrarian’s View User’s View

Library

Books, Videos &

More

Articles & Databases

E-Journals

Digital Collections

Library of Congress

Reserves Other Catalogs

Research Resources

Google Email/IM

Course Websites

Library Website

Assigned Readings

Text Books

Friends

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The Market is There

• Library usage has been increasing, not decreasing

• The ease of acquiring information has created millions of information consumers, with university students the most discerning and demanding of them

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Marketing Library Services

• Marketing-the key to connect content to users– A way of thinking– Every interaction, every connection

• Users don’t really know what we can offer• Switching from collection centered to user

centered through access and services– Understanding who are users and focusing on

their specific needs and their expectations

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Marketing Library Services

• Become the person who reaches out to users and bring them the answers.

• Deliver needed information and also provide services of which they were unaware.

• “The best services give more than the customer expects - through stimulation of the unexpected learning that comes through serendipity, and unplanned beneficial interactions with services, people and resources.”

Eric Wainwright (2004), “People, Networks, Books: New Strategies For University Academic Information and Service Delivery.”

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Marketing Library Services-Physical

• Creating flexible environment in the library– Comfortable browsing seats– Built-in Café– Late study areas– Various spaces for individuals with different

learning styles– Group study rooms, quiet study place,

Computer zones, teaching space

• Information Commons

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Marketing Library Services-Virtual• Creating library website with visual graphics

– Generating individual portal webpage listing relevant resources• Developing online game or multi-media tutorials• Positioning librarians as players in teaching

– Incorporate library resources into course management system• Email reference services and live reference assistance in real time• MyLibrary Portal (MySpace and Orkut)• Web Blogs, Wicki, RSS feed and Podcasting• Offering workshop directly related to their particular topic• Attending departmental faculty meetings and always have new and relevant

information for them• Provide CONVENIENT services to the users (Endeca, Library 2.0)• Others

– Creating Library Newsletter– Advertising in college web site– “Database of the month”– Involvement in College Public Relations Activities

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Conclusion

• “Unless customers and the collection come together in a way both interesting and meaningful to customers, the library is nothing more than an expensive warehouse.”

• “Marketing is creating an awareness of your value.”

Hernon, P. and E. Altman (1998). “Assessing service quality: satisfying the expectations of library customers.”

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Conclusion

• “Finding the right way to achieve balance between traditional values and the expectations and habits of the wired generations will determine whether libraries remain relevant in the social, educational and personal contexts of the information age.”

Thomas and McDonald (2005) “Millennial net values: disconnect between libraries and information mindset.”

Google Library