Marketing of electronic resources by universities and colleges in Tanzania

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to evaluate Web-based tools that are potentially used by universities and college libraries to market e-resources in Tanzania. Design/methodology/approach This study evaluated Web-based tools that are potentially used to market e-resources in libraries in Tanzania. A sample of 52 universities and colleges was approved by Tanzania Commission for Universities and was purposively selected for this study. The evaluation was conducted with an established checklist to evaluate the websites with a view to identifying Web-based tools, which are potentially useful in marketing e-resources. Findings The finding of this study indicates that most libraries have websites linked to their institutional websites. The finding has revealed that social media are mostly used by public universities to market e-resources. However, only one university is using WhatsApp to communicate with patrons. The findings show that the majority of public university libraries display a list of e-resources on their websites. Moreover, the displayed e-resources of most websites are not up to date, and some of them are irrelevant. Also, most public universities provide guidelines on how to use the subscribed e-resources as opposed to their counterpart. Originality/value The study on the evaluation of Web-based e-resources marketing tools is new in Tanzania. The finding of this study will trigger efforts to adjust the way libraries market their e-resources online.