Marketing of Electronic Resources in IIT Libraries

Abstract

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) libraries at Bombay, Delhi, Guwahati, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras, and Roorkee have been subscribing to over 15000 e-journals, e-books, databases, and other e-resources either individually or in consortia mode and spending a substantial part of their acquisition budget for over a decade now. This paper attempts to study the marketing efforts being made by these libraries to improve the awareness and increase the usage of these resources. Marketing-related data were collected through a questionnaire, personal visits, and discussions with the librarians, and the usage data were obtained from publishers. Data analysis revealed that e-resources in all IITs are being heavily used as the number of downloads have increased from 32,33,818 to 75,23,371 reflecting a growth of 132 % over a period of 9 years. The IIT libraries adopt multipronged approach and use 27 marketing techniques to promote their resources. The study also showed that there were downward fluctuations in usage in different years. It is suggested that these libraries shall regularly re-look at the marketing strategies and techniques; study their impact on the awareness and usage of the e-resources; identify and remove the bottlenecks; and make additional efforts including interacting with the users to ensure optimum utilisation of these resources. DESIDOC Journal of Library & Information Technology , 2014, 34(2), pp. 162-169. http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/djlit.34.5517