Book Review: Marketing Your Library’s Electronic Resources: A How-To-Do-It Manual for Librarians

Abstract

Marketing Your Library's Electronic Resources: A How-To-Do-It Manual for Librarians. By Marie R. Kennedy and Cheryl LaGuardia. Chicago: Neal-Schmnan, an imprint of the American Library Association, 2013. 177p. $60 softcover (ISBN: 978-1-55570-889-4). How-To-Do-It Manuals. Marie Kennedy and Cheryl LaGuardia seek to fill a gap in the library literature by collaborating on a guide that is unique in its focus. Not only does it combine the critical topics of electronic resource management and library marketing, it addresses the need and the know-how for developing a marketing plan. The authors preface the book with their reasons for writing it, including limited patron awareness of electronic resources, a lack of librarian familiarity with marketing techniques, and a need to justify the value of library services and collections in the face of market competition and a tight economy. LaGuardia has written and reviewed widely on the subject of electronic resources, while Kennedy has lectured on and researched e-resources from a marketing perspective. Although both authors draw their experience from academic libraries, this book targets all library types and personnel, reflecting the belief that the most effective marketing occurs in the daily interactions of library staff with user communities. The manual is divided into two parts. Part 1 describes the step-by-step process of developing a marketing plan. The first chapter establishes the purpose of the plan, while subsequent chapters deal with design, implementation, writing, assessment, and revision. Part 2 provides sample marketing reports from a digital library, an academic library, and two public libraries. The Web Extra feature of the book offers access to PDF and editable Microsoft Word versions of these reports. Each chapter is well documented with cited references and recommended resources. In chapter 1, for example, coverage of Counting Online Usage of NeTworked Electronic Resources (COUNTER) includes the website for its Code of Practice. Chapter 2 points to such web tools as Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) templates for strategic planning and Gantt chart software for managing timelines. All URLs that I accessed were current as of this writing. True to their marketing theme, Kennedy and LaGuardia introduce key concepts with analogies to everyday life and popular culture. In chapter 1, they compare marketing without a plan to shopping without a list, with a reminder that the first part of making a list is taking stock of what you have. This strategy helps to illustrate and reinforce ideas in a user-friendly style. The how-to of e-resource marketing is outlined in chapter 2 with the design of a nine-step plan. Chapter 3, Implement Your Marketing Plan, shifts the focus to actual practice. …