APPLICATION OF MARKETING STRATEGIES BY LIBRARIANS FOR PROMOTING THE UTILIZATION OF LIBRARY RESOURCES AND SERVICES IN UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN SOUTH-SOUTH NIGERIA

Abstract

This study aims to explore the application of market penetration and product development strategies for promoting the utilization of library existing resources and services.. The design that was adopted for this study is descriptive survey research design. The libraries used for the study were drawn from six federal and six state university libraries in South-South, Nigeria. The population of the study comprised of 238 librarians and a sample size of 382 registered library users. The instrument for data collection used is questionnaire. The hypothesis was tested at a significant level of 0.05 alpha level. The findings of the study revealed that librarians applied market penetration and product development strategies to a low extent for promoting the utilization of library resources and services in the universities libraries in South-South, Nigeria. It also revealed that there is a significant difference between the mean ratings of librarians and library users on extent of application of market penetration and product development strategy by librarians for promoting the utilization of library resources and services in the university libraries in South-South, Nigeria. It was recommended that since librarians are not applying market penetration strategies effectively they should improve communication and visibility of strategies such as consistent awareness through the use of flyers, social media outreach, emails and stronger user engagement activities use of suggestion box, free internet services, library week with awards among others to ensure that students and faculty are fully aware of available resources and services. Also as a result of the low extent of application of product development strategies, it was recommended that Ministry of Education through the governments in South-South, Nigeria should invest in innovation, introduce new digital tools, e-learning platforms, virtual reference services, and user-friendly mobile applications to make libraries more responsive to modern academic and research needs.