“Marketing Research for Library and Information Professionals: A Continuing Education Course”
a project funded by
Institute of Museum and Library Services
Dr. Christine M. Koontz
Florida State University
GeoLib Program
Tallahassee, FL 32306
www.geolib.org
May 7, 2002
The planned and systematic acquisition and analysis of internal and external organizational data for the purpose of better understanding customer wants, identifying competition, and solving specific problem(s) is customarily called market research in the private sector. Public librarians conduct less marketing research than their public sector (schools, fire and police) and private sector competitors (bookstores and other comparable leisure time businesses). This is primarily due to lack of trained staff, limited budgets, research expertise, and relative newness in the marketing field. In today’s era of tightening library budgets based upon competition for fewer available dollars, it is more important than ever for public libraries, and other publicly funded agencies, to better address the unique needs of their markets. Public sector agencies such as the American Red Cross, YMCA, and U.S. Postal Service realized in the 1990s there was competition for blood donation, racquetball and tennis, and mail service, respectively. The marketing research practices they employed provided better internal and external data, which subsequently produced more effective products and services. The public library as a like and ‘traveled-to’ service can also benefit from successful application of marketing research practices, to offer needed and desired information and materials to the largest portion of the community the library serves.
Simply, library managers must have good customer data with which to make good decisions. Library professionals are at an advantage in that libraries are filled with excellent data sources, and librarians know how to organize it, collect it and offer it to others. The purpose of this course was to introduce librarians to the marketing research process, and facilitate the use of the librarian’s professional data collection, data analysis and data organization skills--for better library management.
1. The purpose, content, format and goals and objectives of the project
For the library--marketing research can measure the potential of proposed new services, and possibly eliminate services/materials from being offered when not wanted or needed by library customers. Ever-changing markets require research and better planning . A library can utilize marketing research in:
1. Determining the basic goals of the library.
2. Deciding which products or services best meet the library’s goals.
3. Decide how many people will use these services to make it worthwhile for costs and staff needed.
4. Predict how much use may occur for this service or product in the future?
5. Decide on how best to offer access to the product or service, e.g., reference via email of in-facility?
6. Decide on best way to communicate the benefits to the target user group.
7. Anticipate and plan for any problems that may arise based upon a consistent review of the past, present and future.
Cognizance of external impacts is essential to optimal library management. Libraries and information agencies will be greatly affected by:
1. Changes in the characteristics of library users.
2. Changes in the information needs of library users and sources available.
3. New and important changes in technology available to facilitate marketing research activities.
4. Costs--costs of getting the right services and products to the right people within the most effective and efficient time frame.
This course creates an awareness of how to systematically approach gathering customer data, to proactively manage the library.
This course is designed to instruct librarians on the process of marketing research within the library environment. The course includes introduction to:
1) Where marketing research fits into the marketing process. The marketing process includes:
a) marketing research
b) market segmentation
c) marketing mix strategy
d) marketing evaluation
2) The six stages of the marketing research process. Those six stages include:
a) identify purpose of research;
b) develop a plan;
c) prepare and collect the data;
d) process the data;
e) prepare a research report;
f) identify what problems you had.
3) Use of new technologies such as GIS (geographic information system software) and Palm Pilots to facilitate the process and
4) Some actual real-world case studies of libraries (public and special) solving problems through the application of the six steps.
The accompanying course workbook is a structured resource compendium of information, including not only marketing research activities and applications but also an introduction to marketing. The workbook includes GIS exercises, secondary sources for library related data, a webography, bibliography and a glossary of marketing definitions with the library and information agency environment. Four exercises are included to further facilitate an understanding of marketing research. See Appendix A for an excerpt from the workbook. See Appendix B for an example of a case study.
In the United States, there is no national requirement for continuing education for librarians. Yet educators and practitioners agree the need is critical as library resources and services must mirror the ever-changing information needs of the community. A variety of approaches are utilized, attempted and suggested including:
1) in-house training conducted by in-house staff;
2) regionally provided training requiring little travel and expense;
3) training offered by professional organizations during conferences or professional meetings;
4) university based courses which require travel for those not living locally; and
5) more recently, web-based distance learning courses.
There are advantages to each of these approaches, and disadvantages which mostly revolve around costs. Number one, in-house training, while inexpensive, requires in-house expertise, which may or may not be available. Numbers two through four may offer convenience and opportunity but also have associated costs of time and funding. While most agree the library should pay for an employee’s continuing education, many libraries, especially public libraries do not have funds for needed materials and services much less for continuing education. This is true in part because over half of the United States estimated 16,000 public library outlets reside in rural areas with fewer local government funds to draw upon for daily operations.
Number five, web-based distance learning courses appear more advantageous, as most libraries in the US have computers for in-library users and which can serve a dual purpose to facilitate this approach to learning. This approach eliminates costs associated with travel and time. Yet for material with a high learning curve often necessitating teacher student interaction, web-based courses are proving inadequate.
Finally, no course of study can or should eliminate the cost of personal time necessary for learning. But in light of the constraints of time and funding that many librarians face, this course, and other needed continuing education coursees should be offered in the most efficient and cost effective manner possible, rather than not offered at all.
1.3a Recommended Format
After the two years of instruction, it is recommended that this course be taught face-to-face in a pre-cast environment at a conference, or regional meeting for optimum learning benefits, reaching the largest audience possible. While web-based is attractive for aforementioned reasons, the newness and complexity of the material lends itself to classroom-based instruction relying upon student teacher interaction. This does not eliminate the possibility of making the course web-based in the future. Discussion has occurred with the School of Information Studies at Florida State University.
The course was divided into two parts.
Goals:
To understand:
What marketing is
What marketing research is
Where the marketing research steps fit into the library marketing model
Create awareness of marketing and marketing research activities for the library
and information agency environment
Objectives:
Identify marketing activities in your own library and opportunities to expand them
Describe the library and information agency’s internal and external environment
Goals:
To explain:
What the marketing research process is
What the six traditional stages of the marketing research process are
Create an awareness of technology that facilitates the marketing research process
Objectives:
Identify marketing research activities
Apply marketing research activities within the library and information
agency environment.
2. Participating Libraries and Conference Venues in the Course Development
The course was designed to be initially taught in various urban and rural locations, to refine the content for a wide range of public librarians in various geographic and library settings, with different background and experience. The participants included:
2a. SW Georgia Regional Library (GA) (pretest was conducted, 1999)
Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenberg County (NC) (2000)
Wichita Public Library (KS)
Queensborough Public Library (NY)
ESRI GIS User Conference (San Diego)
Special Library Association Conference (2001) SanAntonio
(National Geographic Society Library was utilized as case study)
Asian Pacific Association of American Library Association, San Francisco
Public Library Association Conference (2002) Phoenix
International Federation of Library Agencies (2002) Glasgow, Scotland
2b. Conference presentations were made regarding the course at the SCECSAL Conference, Windhoek, Namibia (2000); ALA (2001) and pre-conference on Palm Pilot technology for collecting in-library use; and a preconference devoted to teachers of marketing in library and information studies schools, Quebec City, Canada, IFLA (2001). A chapter in a book was written for publication by a university in India. There is widespread interest in marketing research practices for all types of libraries in many countries, as evidenced by the range of participating librarians.
The comments and reaction of library professionals were continually incorporated into the material. A case study was developed for each library to create more interest and relevancy in the problem-solving capability of the marketing research process. These case studies were developed via email and telephone prior to the course being taught in the locale or conference.
3. Issues and findings related to continuing education emerging from this project
3a. General:
1. Continuing education for practicing librarians by design must be one day or less due to constraints of staff time available to leave work.
2. The course material is ‘participant friendly’ as most librarians already conduct some marketing research activities and these can therefore, be quickly identified and placed within a consistent framework, which the course provides. Yet the course has a high-learning curve and requires direct interaction between student and teacher.
3. One day of material and exercise appears to reach the limit of how much ‘new information’ a participant can consume, and how much can be offered.
4. The expense of a two day workshop for course developers and participants seems prohibitive.
5. Internet-based continuing education courses involving high-learning curve new subject matter are not as effective and do not facilitate 2-way learning
While web-based course are appealing due to cost effectiveness and widespread availability, there are other constraints besides the need for face to face learning including:
1. Unavailability of compatible equipment on-site at the library
2. Unanticipated hardware failure (transparencies should always be available to communicate course materials)
3. Language barriers
4. Incompatible interfaces of replacement parts
5. Software related problems, i.e., lack of memory, not latest software version
6. Support staff problems
7. Long term capability to access new technology presented
Teaching-Related Constraints
1. A generic library environment is not adequate for effective materials (thus case studies were essential that fit audience)
2. There is no such thing as a ‘generic group of librarians,’ caveats must be woven into material, with opportunity for discussion and feedback.
3. Western concepts and humor do not always translate well in international settings
4. Cultural perception of individuality and privacy regarding library management wanting and needing to know ‘too much’ about individual users
5. Extreme gaps in training and background within classroom of participants
6. Too much emphasis should not be placed on solely technological solutions, as
libraries have very disparate ‘warehouses’ of technology available.
4. Major accomplishments of this IMLS project since its inception
1. Through widespread professional participation in the course development by libraries, library-specific marketing related committees, and sponsored programs, there is an acceptance and acknowledgement of the need for marketing research, as opposed to simply marketing activities. The cognizance which is growing in the field and evidenced by continued interest in the course, is establishing marketing research as a bonafide continuing education topic for the next decade, nationally and internationally.
2. The course was taught in diverse geographic locations, in rural and urban settings, offering best and optimal opportunity for input by librarians of all experience and background, thus creating course material that is valuable for the long term.
3. An estimated 350 professional librarians have contributed to this course material through participation, comment and review.
4. The course is based upon the growing need for librarians to identify and map the boundaries of the library’s geographic service area, describe the demographics and other important characteristics of library customers, identify changes in these population characteristics, and utilize internal customer data. Systematically gathering customer data is critical as library professionals face competition, and an ever growing markets of diverse cusotmers, not patrons or users.
5. The introduction of GIS (geographic information system software) for library management and planning is critical for librarians to become the most active player possible, on local planning teams. Most local governments use GIS for planning, and librarians must know how to ask the powerful ‘what if’ questions that GIS can answer. For example, ‘what if’ my library closed what impact would this have on certain population groups?
6. Collecting data on what people use in the library is critical of offer a full picture, not partial, of library use. The use of Palm Pilot technology is popular--and effective for counting in-library material use, observed use, and librarian assistance. This course introduces this concept and methodology, and offers a tried and true method to collect in-library uses on a sampling basis.