As libraries continue to move more of their resources from print to the electronic format, the difficulty of promoting the use of that content has become apparent. The traditional promotional techniques for print resources, such as putting the new items on a “new book shelf” near the front door or keeping heavily used items at the reference desk, do not work for resources in an electronic format because there are no physical volumes to view. How, then, do libraries best connect their patrons to appropriate electronic resources? We’ll be talking about how you can get started right away with developing a marketing plan for electronic resources at your library. Presented at the 2013 Mississippi State University Libraries eResource & Emerging Technologies Summit (http://blogs.library.msstate.edu/msuleets/)

1. Marie R. Kennedy
@orgmonkey
Loyola Marymount University
Marketing Your Library’s
Electronic Resources

6. Marketing = Scary?

8. Marketing ≠ Scary
You’re not in this alone.

9. What’s
marketing?

12. http://orgmonkey.net/?p=1136
Lindsay,A.R. (2004), Marketing and Public Relations Practices in College Libraries, CLIP Note,ALA, Chicago.

15. REALLY

24. Dubicki, E. (Ed.)(2008), Marketing and Promoting Electronic Resources: Creating the E-Buzz!

25. academic staff as collection developers; collaboration;
collection policy; faculty/professionals as marketing tools;
phone call/office visit; students as marketing tools; surveys;
word of mouth; Blackboard; branding; email (external); email
(internal); feedback forum; home/office; mascot; online social
network; screen saver; usage statistics; Web page,
customized; banners/posters; bookmarks; calendar; flyers/
brochures; giveaways; incentives; newsletter; newspaper
alert; pins; postcards/letters/direct mail; FAQ; native language
education; patron training (group); patron training
(individual); slide show/demonstrations; staff training
(group); staff training (individual); use guide

35. project idea
research question
methods
findings

36. Is a collaborative model of benchmarking the
marketing of electronic resources feasible?

37. What’s
benchmarking?

39. METHODS

40. http://benchmarketing.wetpaint.com/page/Map+of+participants
53% of the participants do not have marketing/promotion/outreach as part
of their formal job description

41. http://benchmarketing.wetpaint.com

42. Strategy

43. measurement, assessment
survey + usage statistics

45. 48%
87%
3.3
Of those who had used
the resource before, 82%
learned something new

46. 0
4
8
11
15
usage statistics
13
4
14
increase same or decrease no data

47. SEND ME

54. academic staff as collection developers; collaboration;
collection policy; faculty/professionals as marketing tools;
phone call/office visit; students as marketing tools; surveys;
word of mouth; Blackboard; branding; email (external); email
(internal); feedback forum; home/office; mascot; online social
network; screen saver; usage statistics; Web page,
customized; banners/posters; bookmarks; calendar; flyers/
brochures; giveaways; incentives; newsletter; newspaper
alert; pins; postcards/letters/direct mail; FAQ; native language
education; patron training (group); patron training
(individual); slide show/demonstrations; staff training
(group); staff training (individual); use guide

56. I’m not ready

58. Know your patron
Case study
Survey
Participant observation
Cohort study
Focus group

59. Know your patron
Case study
Survey
Participant observation
Cohort study
Focus group

60. Know your patron
Case study
Survey
Participant observation
Cohort study
Focus group

61. Know your patron
Case study
Survey
Participant observation
Cohort study
Focus group

62. Know your patron
Case study
Survey
Participant observation
Cohort study
Focus group

65. Marie R. Kennedy
Loyola Marymount University
marie.kennedy@lmu.edu
http://orgmonkey.net
@orgmonkey

66. Boxwell, R.J., Jr. (1994), Benchmarking for Competitive Advantage, McGraw-Hill, New
York, NY.
Dubicki. E. (Ed.)(2008), Marketing and Promoting Electronic Resources: Creating the E-
Buzz!
Kennedy, M.R. (2010),“Cycling through: Paths libraries take to marketing electronic
resources”, paper presented at Library Assessment Conference, October 27,
Baltimore MD, available at: http://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/librarian_pubs/3.
Kennedy, M.R. (2011),“What are we really doing to market electronic resources?”
Library Management,Vol. 32 No. 3, pp. 144-158.
Kennedy, M.R. and LaGuardia, C. (2013), MarketingYour Library’s Electronic Resources:A
How-To-Do-It Manual, Neal-Schuman/ALA, Chicago, IL.
Lindsay,A.R. (2004), Marketing and Public Relations Practices in College Libraries, CLIP
Note,ALA, Chicago, IL.

67. Image attributions:
Slide 2: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7883660@N05/466221141
Slide 10: http://www.flickr.com/photos/buzzfarmers/7318389106
Slide 13: http://emptybackfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/
girl_telling_a_secretjpg.jpeg
Slide 17: http://www.isilm.com/development.html
Slide 19: http://takeplayseriously.org/2013/04/11/cootie-catchers-
oxygen-masks-the-adults-right-to-play/
Slide 21: http://www.flickr.com/photos/
12023477@N05/3531718174
Slide 31: http://www.flickr.com/photos/
94168846@N00/3386947788
Slide 33: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zooboing/5426098861/
Slide 35: http://www.flickr.com/photos/timothymorgan/4420821913/
Slide 56: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zooboing/5396960524/
Slide 63: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ambuj/345356294/