Marketing Academic Library Resources and Services: How Marketing and Outreach Support a Library's Value Proposition -- And an Analysis of Current Practices

As the information marketplace and the needs of the library community continue to evolve, the academic library must evolve right along with them. These changes impact how the library positions itself and its services to the library community. As libraries change, they need to communicate that change, whether those changes are to services, events, or resources. Chief among these are digital resources, which tend to be one of the library’s biggest expenses. With such a large portion of the collection budget consumed by e-journal and e-book collections, libraries need to understand the current use of those resources and find creative ways to increase that use if they expect to justify ongoing expenditures and make room for projected price increases. Unfortunately, students and faculty frequently begin their research process on the open web with search engines like Google and Google Scholar or even illegal sites like SciHub.

Exactly how are libraries communicating these changes? Are they successful? How organized are these efforts and who within the library is leading them? The survey and white paper provides context around academic library marketing activities and present an empirical look at how well libraries are promoting services and resources, what tactics they use, which tactics are successful, and which are not, and where libraries are finding the staffing and/or funding to do so—with a special focus on digital resources. Researched and written by Choice, this white paper identifies and explains the external influences that are forcing libraries to become more adept at marketing their resources and services and offers a roadmap to improve tactics and drive results.