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5856 results in Facet Publishing

Page 271 of 293

  • 11 - Redefining ‘the collection’ in the 21st century

  • Edited by G. E. Gorman, Sydney J. Shep
  • Book:
    Preservation Management for Libraries, Archives and Museums
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    18 August 2006, pp 182-194

  • Summary

    Introduction

    The development of preservation management strategies across a range of media forms has resulted in a reassessment of the nature and role of the collection. This chapter reviews the development of interest in preservation management and discusses current thinking on collection development and management in light of the, at times, conflicting needs of preservation and access, and as a result of digitization activity across the museum, library and archive sectors.

    Primary emphasis on building collections

    While preservation and the management of preservation activities have played a role in heritage institutions – libraries, archives and museums – throughout history, this role has ranged from passive to proactive. As far as we can determine, early libraries and archives existed to collect and protect heritage resources, but the protection was often an afterthought or side effect of the collecting urge. That is, these institutions saw their role primarily as custodians of materials, protecting them from the hoi polloi and from the vandals of the day.

    This custodial function was essentially reactionary – keeping people and the elements away from whatever was in the collection. The great collections of the 18th and 19th centuries (the British Museum and the Bibliothèque Nationale are good examples) were primarily magnets for artefacts, which were stored and largely ignored. The story of the world's great libraries is primarily a story of collection building, and until perhaps the mid-20th century this is what libraries did: collected, processed and stored. And in libraries this was the term used: ‘collection building’. Whether we look at archives, libraries or museums, the urge to build seems to have been paramount until comparatively recently.

    In the library world the emphasis on building began to wane after World War 2 and was gradually replaced by a more measured, ‘scientific’ approach that became known as collection development. This was an era in which collections were tailored more closely to their client base, and various benchmarking criteria were introduced, including Conspectus.

  • 5 - Moving with the times in search of permanence

  • Edited by G. E. Gorman, Sydney J. Shep
  • Book:
    Preservation Management for Libraries, Archives and Museums
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    18 August 2006, pp 64-82

  • Summary

    Introduction

    Reformatting of library and archive materials is an established strategy to support access to and the preservation of collections. Its role in collection management follows, on the one hand, from the tasks and mission of the institution – the needs of its user communities, its role in the preservation of heritage – and, on the other, from the characteristics of the materials themselves, which may range from medieval parchment to videotapes, from a peace treaty carrying the original signatures of political leaders to recordings of animal sounds made for research purposes. In addition, there are other determining factors, such as available resources and priorities perceived by the public and politicians. The digital revolution has contributed to the spectrum of possibilities and has brought about a fundamental change in the relationship between reformatting, preservation and access.

    The choice is not so hard in cases where preservation can be left out of the equation altogether. Reformatting for access nowadays inevitably means digitization, for its obvious advantages for distant access, possibilities for searching, re-use, copying, etc. This is not to say that digitization for access is without its problems. The technology is new and it still suffers from limitations – sometimes even at a basic level, with regard to presentation, speed, and quality – while aspects like rights, persistent identifiers, integrity and authenticity are far from being resolved. Anyone who has ever tried to view moving image files over the web, for instance, has experienced poor quality and the quirks of media players. However, most of these issues are not exclusive to the library and archive field, and as there are commercial interests at stake here, it is likely that improvements will be forthcoming from which the public sector can profit as well.

    The choices are much less straightforward in the exclusive domain of the heritage sector, that is the management of collections for access and preservation for the long term. Whereas the potential of digitization to open up collections on an unprecedented scale is beyond dispute, its role as a reformatting option for preservation is controversial, in view of the many uncertainties associated with the long-term maintenance of digital materials.

  • 8 - Challenges of managing the digitally born artefact

  • Edited by G. E. Gorman, Sydney J. Shep
  • Book:
    Preservation Management for Libraries, Archives and Museums
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    18 August 2006, pp 117-132

  • Summary

    Introduction

    This chapter examines the challenges of managing digitally born artefacts. It raises more questions and issues than provides answers. A large body of international research is being undertaken both within and across information disciplines in digital preservation. A growing body of practical experience is emerging. At this time the conclusions are that no one ‘solution’ exists to the challenges in digital preservation and that multiple strategies should be pursued with equal vigour. This conclusion is not intended to encourage information professionals to adopt a wait and see strategy, for digital resources are fragile, vulnerable and in need of constant attention in order to exist in both the short term and long term. No cultural heritage institution can afford to postpone the challenges of managing the digitally born artefact.

    Why are digitally born artefacts different?

    Chapter 4 has addressed issues of surrogacy and the artefact. This chapter is dealing with those artefacts whose initial and continuing manifestation is as a digital resource, rather than those whose format was altered to a digital manifestation. There is a cross-over relationship between these two broad categories of resource. Once something has been rendered digital, the preservation challenges to maintain that object in its new form coincide with the challenges of the digitally born. However, the challenges are simpler. Not only is there the potential safeguard that the artefact may exist in its original format, but by implication the artefact reformatted will already exist in a controlled environment and have been subject to the controls of a formal institution (Lynch, 2004, 610). No such safeguards, real or implicit, can be assumed to exist for the mass of digitally born material.

    The vast majority of original information being produced is in digital format. Estimates of quantity in 2003 indicate five exabytes (or 1018 bytes) of new information was produced in 2002, with over 92% of this stored on magnetic media, primarily hard disk. This represents a growth of about 30% per year between 1999 and 2002. The largest area of growth is in the area of office documents. The world wide web is estimated to contain 167 terabytes of information on the surface web with more than 400 times this amount on the deep web (that part of the web driven by databases that create web pages on demand (OCLC, 2004).

  • 6 - Valuation model for paper conservation research: a new approach for setting research priorities

  • Edited by G. E. Gorman, Sydney J. Shep
  • Book:
    Preservation Management for Libraries, Archives and Museums
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    18 August 2006, pp 83-96

  • Summary

    [Preservation is] the management of risks to collections to restrict the rate of loss of collection value to an optimum, low level.

    (Waller, 2003)

    [Conservation is] the management of resources, especially but not exclusively, material cultural resources, to prolong the lifetime of material culture, to enhance usability, and to clarify contained messages of various kinds for the continuance and betterment of humanity.

    (Rosvall et al., 1995)

    [Conservation research is] the generation of knowledge that can be applied to achieve a maximum effective collection value through optimisation of the combination of preservation of and access to a collection as a whole, under a given conservation budget.

    (this chapter)

    Introduction

    The preservation and conservation of cultural heritage collections are core activities of libraries, archives and museums. They are recognized as important issues that require significant resources. Conservation research, carried out in many locations all over the world by a variety of researchers, forms an integral part of conservation policies. Knowledge generated by conservation research is necessary to underpin sound decision making. Actors involved in conservation research range from specialized conservation scientists and conservators to students of conservation colleges and professionals in related, sometimes industrial, research disciplines. Their work is condensed into an expanding body of literature and knowledge.

    It must be recognized that the incentive for conservation research does not always originate from the objective of collection preservation only. The involvement in research of commercial companies may, for example, be motivated by public relations concerns. Non-commercial research institutes almost always act in political environments that may influence the conservation research agenda. We should be aware that these external forces do introduce a risk of biased research. In practice it can be difficult to recognize this potential bias. It is interesting to see, as an example, how and to what extent a major funding programme, such as that of the European Union, has influenced directions in conservation research by importing its political ambitions in research programmes. An overview of several developments and certain ‘trends’ in conservation science is presented in Porck and Teygeler (2000). Another external motive for conservation research (i.e., not instigated by the goal of preservation), is pure scientific curiosity. Scientific curiosity is definitely a vital driving force for any research, but is also difficult to control. At some point research may become an aim in itself and will get detached from its original goals.

  • 9 - Preserving cultural heritage in times of conflict

  • Edited by G. E. Gorman, Sydney J. Shep
  • Book:
    Preservation Management for Libraries, Archives and Museums
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    18 August 2006, pp 133-165

  • Summary

    Introduction

    There are many professionals who on a daily basis struggle to safeguard all that the human mind produces, tangible as well as intangible products. Most of the time conservators try to protect our heritage against the natural process of deterioration. They fight the acidity of paper, the copper corrosion of miniatures, the chemical burning of leather, the shrinkage of overheated parchment, the disintegration of red silk or the yellowed varnish of paintings. At most, they can only stop these destructive processes temporarily as, in the end, nature will overcome all of our tangible heritage: all is lost that is delayed.

    Next to the inevitable natural causes of decay, natural hazards such as earthquakes, floods, landslides, wildfires, tsunamis and tropical cyclones exact a heavy toll in terms of direct loss and irreparable damage to our cultural legacy. The consequences of the tsunami in Asia in 2004, the Katrina hurricane during the 2005 Atlantic season and the earthquake in northern Pakistan just before the severe winter of 2005/2006, were first of all horrifying because of the huge loss of human lives, but at the same time left entire regions devoid of libraries, archives and museums.

    Manmade disasters can even outdo natural disasters in the detrimental effects on our collective memory of the past. Theft, war, civil disorder, terrorism, neglect and vandalism are human factors in the accidental or wilful destruction of our heritage (Teijgeler, 2001). Of these threats, armed conflict remains particularly intractable and disturbing. Regrettably, of late we have experienced more than once how shocking the effects of a violent struggle can be on the heritage of countries such as the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq. Statues are blown up because they are considered an insult to the ‘only and right religion’, archaeological sites are occupied by foreign troops and destroyed in the process, and archives are deliberately obliterated as part of an ethnic cleansing policy. Undoubtedly, the final decade of the 20th century was marked by destruction of heritage on a symbolic scale that has been unrivalled for the past several centuries.

  • 2 - Preservation policy and planning

  • Edited by G. E. Gorman, Sydney J. Shep
  • Book:
    Preservation Management for Libraries, Archives and Museums
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    18 August 2006, pp 19-41

  • Summary

    Introduction

    This chapter discusses preservation policy, strategy and planning for libraries and archives. It argues the case for a preservation policy, indicates how preservation is linked to a number of library and archive functions, and gives guidance for formulating a preservation policy. Planning for preservation programmes is based on such a policy, and criteria for selection for preservation and for priority setting, as well as costing and monitoring of programmes, record keeping and reporting, are discussed. A good basis for preservation planning is the assessment of risks faced by buildings and collections, both every day and in extreme circumstances. Finally, risk assessment is explained and a brief outline is given of disaster prevention and disaster management.

    Policy

    A preservation policy is a plan of action for the safe keeping of library and archive materials. It is preferably written, but not set in stone: a living document, to be used, checked, and revised if and when the need arises. It states what needs to be preserved, why, for what purpose, and for how long. It differs from a preservation strategy – the management of all the tools and skills at our disposal to fight against damage and decay – which sets out how and in what order material is to be preserved.

    For several decades libraries and archives have been aware of the need to have preservation policies, not only to raise and maintain awareness of preservation issues among staff and users, but also to bid for funds, to demonstrate that funds will be used in a responsible way and to long-term good effect, and to justify expenditure. Preservation policies are a visible expression of intent, they are signs of accountability, and they allocate responsibility to the governors, staff and users of an institution; they can explain why decisions are taken and why certain actions are or are not carried out; they are used to allocate funding, develop preservation strategies and plan coherent preservation programmes, programmes that add up to an overall useful result, taking into account the needs and benefits of the collections; they can be monitored and they form benchmarks against which performance can be judged.

Developing Strategic Marketing Plans That Really Work
  • A Toolkit for Public Libraries
  • Terry Kendrick
  • Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 July 2006
  • Many government and other reports stress the need to get public libraries back into the lives of potential users, and this requires significant marketing effort on the part of the libraries. However, it quickly becomes apparent to public librarians that marketing is far more than simply creating a set of leaflets, as part of a series of disconnected programmes throughout the authority. What they need is a simple, practical guide to an integrated marketing planning process, from initial goals to implementation of marketing strategies. And along the way they need to troubleshoot the barriers that such activities meet. This highly practical and down-to-earth book, with free, downloadable templates and forms on the web, will de-mystify the marketing planning process and set it in the context of modern public library services. Through a series of easy-to-implement process steps, the reader will see not just what is possible but what is likely to work quickly, and deliver real impact on performance indicators, in a public library context. The book is structured as follows: ambition as the basis for marketing planning; making sense of the market for public library services; creating segment-specific value propositions for users and non-users; priorities: making sound choices; clear objectives and winning strategies; attention-grabbing marketing communications; and; implementation and quick progress. The text is fully international in scope and is written for those practitioners at all levels of library management who recognize the importance of marketing planning in shaping and positively influencing the direction of public library services.

  • 8 - Implementation and quick progress

  • Terry Kendrick
  • Book:
    Developing Strategic Marketing Plans That Really Work
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 July 2006, pp 168-194

  • Summary

    By the end of this chapter you will be aware of how to make quick progress despite the constraints on effective marketing planning. You will recognize the importance of ‘quick wins’ in keeping energy within the process. Advice is also offered on action and resource plans, monitoring the plan and staffing for marketing planning.

    Having undertaken the analytical part of marketing planning and chosen a set of key strategies and marketing communications, attention can be given to what should be the most satisfying part of the marketing planning process – implementation and the pride in return from marketing effort. Although this is potentially the most satisfying part of the marketing planning process it can be the most frustrating if new priorities appear early in the plan's timescale which deflect attention from long-term strategic planning.

    Barriers to implementation

    One of the major barriers to effective strategic marketing planning is the difficulty in implementation. Staff may recognize the need for marketing, but it is important that for effective implementation this recognition is supported by an atmosphere in which staff and other stakeholders feel the plan is to their personal advantage. It is important to have top management commitment, but in addition modern leadership recognizes that simply ordering staff to implement is not always the most appropriate way to get things done. Without this feeling of personal advantage for all there is a danger that the best laid plans will, for a variety of often good reasons, not materialize. Some of the common responses by those on front-line teams who have to implement marketing plans in all types of organizations are:

  • • It means more work

  • • We tried it before

  • • It's just a fad

  • • It might cost money

  • • We already know our users

  • • There might not be much in it, so it might not be worth the effort

  • • Lots of other reasons!

    • When advocating your plan throughout the organization remember to make sure that you have met these and any other local objections. This will require leadership and change-management skills, because strategic marketing plans almost always involve change. Change is at the very least disorientating and, at worst, positively frightening for employees.

  • 7 - Attention-grabbing marketing communications

  • Terry Kendrick
  • Book:
    Developing Strategic Marketing Plans That Really Work
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 July 2006, pp 137-167

  • Summary

    In this chapter you will find ideas on how to market your offers to your market segments through traditional and modern marketing communications approaches. You will also find principles of effective promotion and a brief discussion of websites as a marketing communication.

    Having defined our ambition (Chapter 2), studied the market for public library services in our authority (Chapter 3), segmented the user and nonuser base and created value propositions for each (Chapter 4), looked at the strategic priorities for activity according to an understanding of what each segment can contribute towards meeting our performance measures during the planning period (Chapter 5), and devised marketing objectives and strategies for the planning period (Chapter 6), we can now move to the area which is often the first thought of a public librarian when thinking of marketing – communication and promotions.

    Successful communications

    Remember that there are five basic elements to successful communications: the communicator sending the message; the message itself; the medium used to convey the message; the intended recipient of the message; and feedback to ensure the message has been received and has been understood in the way it was intended. This is an important process to manage, and is not simply a case of the public librarian devising publicity materials, distributing them in the most economical way possible and then standing back to receive the expected rush of new recruits to the library.

    If we have undertaken all of the previous work in this book well, then the messages we wish to broadcast will be clear and well targeted. Although there will be some general awareness-building messages and supporting advertising and publicity materials it is likely that the more powerful messages will be based on offers to specific segments, offers which will help these people move forward in their journey to wherever they wish to go in their lives. When we have devised the right message some thought must be given to how it should be conveyed (on paper or in person, for instance) and how we will be sure that the message has been received and understood.

  • Introduction

  • Terry Kendrick
  • Book:
    Developing Strategic Marketing Plans That Really Work
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 July 2006, pp xi-xii

  • Summary

    While tactical marketing programmes are now commonplace in public libraries it is only recently that strategic marketing plans have become evident within library authorities. A quick glimpse at library and other websites in, for example, Australia, New Zealand, the USA, Scandinavia and the UK will reveal a wealth of advertising and promotional campaigns, some of which are isolated programmes but others which are clearly part of an unfolding marketing strategy and plan.

    The author's experience of running marketing planning workshops for libraries, both as open workshops and as part of consultancy activity, is that there is much interest in planning marketing as a strategic exercise rather than simply a series of unconnected advertising and promotional activities. In addition, governments around the world are building marketing planning techniques into the way they approach the provision of public library services, and it is clear that local authorities are expected to commit more effort to marketing strategies and plans within such national frameworks.

    This book is for those taking this journey from disconnected marketing programmes to integrated marketing plans. Many of the tools and techniques in this book are adapted from traditional private sector strategic and marketing planning approaches, but the reader should not feel that this is yet another case of business tools being foisted upon public services whose values and expected outcomes or impacts are not totally comparable with the expectations of the private sector. The author spent 10 years in public library authorities before becoming a freelance marketing consultant for the past 20 years working for over 50 large organizations (private and public sector) in 17 different countries. The public library planning context is, in many ways, very different from that of business, yet both seek profit – one seeks financial profit for shareholders; the other seeks profit as social capital, community cohesion or inclusion within community for its stakeholders. For both it is possible to ‘get lucky', but some degree of marketing planning is likely to help deliver the benefits they seek to acquire or distribute to shareholders or stakeholders.

  • 1 - Strategic marketing planning for public libraries: an introduction

  • Terry Kendrick
  • Book:
    Developing Strategic Marketing Plans That Really Work
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 July 2006, pp 1-16

  • Summary

    By the end of this chapter you will have an understanding of the importance of marketing in public libraries and the challenges it faces. In addition, a strategic marketing planning process is introduced as the context for the remainder of the book.

    This is a practical book for public librarians who are interested in a reflective approach to marketing their library and its services: practical in the sense that there is a bias towards action throughout, and reflective in the sense that there is nothing so practical as a good theory. Marketing theory always needs to be adapted to context if it is to underpin effectively the journey to meet objectives. This book does just that. Here you will find marketing planning made relevant for public library management and pitched at a level where the benefits of thought and actions are brought together. By the end of your journey through this book you will have gained an understanding of the marketing planning process and the key elements within it, backed by a series of templates to help you undertake planning activities and a number of examples to inspire you into action.

    You are almost certainly doing marketing Already

    Marketing public library services is not new. Public library managers have always instinctively developed services around the needs of the community and then undertaken activities to make that community aware of the services on offer. This has been done in a number of ways, from simple activities such as creating and distributing bookmarks, to compiling and distributing new books lists, to offering events where an overview of the range of activities to be undertaken at the local library can be presented. However, despite a firm commitment to getting the message out this has been in many cases a very disjointed enterprise and, as such, an unconnected series of one-off activities. Things are changing rapidly.

    In recent times opportunities have arisen to undertake more professional marketing programmes at reasonable cost and the public librarian is faced with a bewildering set of options, all of which need to be managed within a marketing plan. Advertising, radio slots, press advertising, advocacy activities, e-mail relationship marketing with existing users, direct mail for non-users, promotional activity and a host of other options exist.

  • Appendix - Twenty fast-track templates

  • Terry Kendrick
  • Book:
    Developing Strategic Marketing Plans That Really Work
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 July 2006, pp 195-216

  • Summary

    These templates are available for download at www.facetpublishing.co.uk/strategicmarketingplans/.

    The following sequence of templates is not a substitute for reading the previous chapters. Templates adapted from the main text are presented here. If you have considered each of these areas in depth and are able to fill in the templates then you will have the raw material for a good marketing plan to be formatted in a way appropriate for your authority.

    The templates help structure responses to the following key questions which arise during strategic marketing planning:

  • • Is the ambition clear? (A.1)

  • • Who is the user? (A.2)

  • • What are the key user requirements by segment? (A.3)

  • • Who, and how strong, are the competitors? (A.4)

  • • What factors will influence users and competitors over the coming planning period? (A.5)

  • • Is there a practical user segmentation? (A.6)

  • • Is there a value proposition for each segment? (A.7)

  • • Have strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats been identified? (A.8)

  • • Have all marketing strategy options been mapped? (A.9)

  • • Are priorities realistic? Can the chosen segments be won? (A.10)

  • • Given decisions on priorities (Chapter 5) and initial ambition (Chapter 2), what are the final marketing objectives? (A.11)

  • • Is there a strategy to manage stakeholders during the marketing planning process? (A.12)

  • • Have service development options been considered in terms of products to market? (A.13)

  • • Has an offer been developed for each segment? (A.14)

  • • Will users have a positive experience of the library service? (A.15)

  • • Is there a set of general and segment-specific messages for users and non-users? (A.16)

  • • Is there a set of marketing communications that can be used for both general marketing and segment-specific activity? (A.17)

  • • Is there a detailed action plan with timescales and responsibilities allocated? (A.18)

  • • Is there a resource plan to implement the marketing plan? (A.19)

  • • Given that things will almost certainly not go as planned, has the plan identified the major risks to manage? (A.20)

  • 6 - Clear objectives and winning strategies

  • Terry Kendrick
  • Book:
    Developing Strategic Marketing Plans That Really Work
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 July 2006, pp 106-136

  • Summary

    By the end of this chapter you will have identified objectives by segment and service-wide. You will also have considered the development of marketing strategies and offers for internal stakeholders, external users and non users. The chapter highlights traditional marketing-mix approaches – an expanded four-P to six-P model – and more modern relationshipmarketing approaches to strategy.

    Having segmented the market (Chapter 4) and decided on priority segments (Chapter 5) and their contribution towards the meeting of quantified marketing objectives and ambition (Chapter 2), it is now time to create marketing strategies to achieve those objectives.

    Marketing objectives

    Objectives are the ‘what’ we want to achieve, and strategies are the ‘how’ we will achieve those objectives. Marketing objectives, like all other objectives, should be SMART – specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-specific. Given that they are measurable, marketing objectives in public libraries will relate to items such as issues, visits, enquiries, income generation, website hits or similar. If the objective is to increase awareness or develop the brand, this should be accompanied by pre- and postcampaign measurement. A vague ‘objective’ to increase awareness is not a good basis for a marketing strategy.

    By studying the picture of our options clearly drawn on the DPM (Chapter 5) it is possible to make decisions on priority actions. In other words, when we look at the relative attractiveness of our segments (y-axis of the DPM) in the context of the strength of our offer to each of those segments (x-axis), then it is possible to identify where our efforts are most likely to have impact and where our efforts are likely to fall by the wayside. In addition we should be able to make some estimate of the amount of return possible from each of these segments. Later in this chapter we will discuss the strategies for achieving that return, but at this point it is sufficient to identify some forecast returns for effort. In reality as we consider budget and strategy these objectives will go through a number of iterations until an objective is agreed.

    Objectives can either be at service-wide level or segment level. It is best to have both. Remember that objectives are not scientific but are a desired state. Consider your objectives for the planning period.

  • 3 - Making sense of the market for public library services

  • Terry Kendrick
  • Book:
    Developing Strategic Marketing Plans That Really Work
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 July 2006, pp 27-67

  • Summary

    By the end of this chapter you will appreciate the importance of defining your market, understanding existing and non-users, and using a community profile as an input into market segmentation. You will also have a set of tools and techniques to help you understand your marketplace.

    Having pitched the level of ambition for the planning period it is now time to look for the people who will help the library to achieve that ambition. Marketing planners undertake significant market analysis before making choices of strategy. Textbooks sometimes refer to this as ‘situation analysis’ or ‘environmental analysis’. Essentially this stage of marketing planning is about understanding the marketplace within which the library service operates.

    A public library service is competing in a number of different markets and it is appropriate to reflect upon the markets served. For the purposes of marketing planning it is important to have a quantified estimate of the number of issues, visits, enquiries and other measures of performance to be won. In addition, to ensure that a library service has an appropriate offer in the marketplace, there is a need to create a deep understanding of what users and potential users value, need and want. Finally, there is a need to track technological, social and other changes which have a significant effect on the products and services which the library delivers or the way in which it delivers them. Market research will provide an information base to help the librarian with offer development, communication and promotion.

    Without addressing such issues it is difficult to devise a realistic plan to meet clear objectives in the ambition as described in Chapter 2. With an understanding of the market for public library services (described in this chapter), we can move to segmenting the market (Chapter 4) and prioritizing strategies and actions (Chapter 5). The present chapter outlines the key things a library manager needs to take into account to ensure appropriate information input to the marketing plan. You are advised to consult several textbooks on research methodology before undertaking research into your user base. Research is inevitably time-consuming and potentially misleading unless undertaken to high standards.

  • 4 - Creating segment-specific value propositions for users and non-users

  • Terry Kendrick
  • Book:
    Developing Strategic Marketing Plans That Really Work
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 July 2006, pp 68-82

  • Summary

    By the end of this chapter you will be aware of the need to segment your library market and have tools and techniques to help you segment and create value propositions for a variety of user segments.

    As noted in the previous chapter, not all library users are the same. This is obvious but not trivial. How should this diversity be reflected in developing service offerings? Marketing planning for public libraries should recognize that any basis for segmentation is not simply of user and non-users but also of a whole range of other stakeholders. These stakeholders include local and central government and library staff. Marketing planning should take account of all stakeholder groups and segment them in an appropriate way.

    For over a century public librarians have grouped users and potential users that share similar wants and needs. Although the activity has not been termed segmentation, it is in fact good instinctive segmentation for marketing planning. Groupings have been based upon materials (fiction, non-fiction, audiovisual and others), age groups (children, teenagers and adults), usage (local history, music) and need (housebound, visually impaired). In addition there are often good links with various communities of interest such as women's groups, parent–teacher organizations, youth organizations and others. These are good examples of very basic, but also very useful, segmentations, recognizing that users in each of these categories may wish to access the whole range of library services but may have a very specific set of needs that they bring to the public library service.

    Segmentation in public libraries should provide the practical basis for service development. It is the process of identifying groups of users and stakeholders who have similar needs and can be made distinct offers, or who can expect distinct service packages. If this grouping is based upon their area of work (e.g. business, voluntary sector), then this is better thought of as a market sector; if based upon a complex mix of factors relating to lifestyle, age and benefits sought, for example, this is a true segment

Page 271 of 293