Web Marketing

Introduction to Marketing the Library Module 5

Libraries on the Web

For many users, the web site IS the library! Some users never visit the facility. For others, a web site is just another branch of their favorite library -- and a great place to shop for information 24/7. More libraries are providing services and marketing on the Web as a response to changes in the way the world accesses information.

The number of Internet users continues to increase.

The 2007 Digital Future Project Report found that more than three-quarters of Americans are Internet users. 77.6 percent of Americans age 12 and older go online. More than two-thirds of Americans (68.1 percent) use the Internet at home, a substantial increase from the 46.9 in 2000. According to The 2008 Digital Future Project Report, membership in online communities has more than doubled in only three years. 54% log into their community at least once a day.

Information access has shifted.

For many users, the web is integrated into their lifestyle. This is especially true of younger generations. Recent studies report observations and recommendations about information use by generations. For example:

• Millennials expect research to be easy. They do not seek help from librarians. When they can’t find what they need, they give up and assume that the information cannot be found.
• Gen Y preferred to discuss information needs with a real person rather than find out what they needed on their own. The highest criteria on the students’ list of needs when seeking information was ease of use. They also expect customization and are technology veterans who use new communications.

Suggestions for changing services include:

• Interactive group spaces, support for remote usage, wireless networks, and portals that combine catalogs, e-journals, reference materials, etc.
• Integrate library information and more multimedia resources into popular search engines and incorporate “open” web resources into catalogs.
• Use students on teams that design new services.
• Represent services and instruction visually and in multimedia modes
• Explore services for mobile devices such as cell phones
• Provide individual and group learning spaces equipped with computing resources and provide comfortable spaces for informal gatherings.

A selection of annotated articles in UI Current LIS Clips: Digital Native or Digital Immigrant, compiled and annotated by Marianne Steadley, March 2006.

Web marketing opportunities are growing: consider new methods of marketing to reach all users. Examples include, to name a few, developing library blogs to promote services, using wiki software to involve users in creating web site content, creating webcasts (Podcasts), photo and slide sharing, working to integrate the catalog with other online systems for seamless information delivery, and providing RSS feeds.

As libraries shift more services to the Internet, the library web site becomes increasingly important -- as a product (service) in its own right and as a major tool in marketing other products of the library. Libraries can use the Web to provide services, to market services, or as part of the marketing process.

Find the appropriate person in your library (if you've done all the modules you probably know all the appropriate and not-so-appropriate people in the library!) and ask:

• Is the Web a part of the library's market plan?

• Is there a separate marketing plan just for the Web?

For the marketing plan you created in Module 2, would the Web be an effective promotion strategy? Why or why not?

Goals