Strengthening Library as Place:

Why Academic Librarians Need to Leave the Library

Introduction

Students satisfying their research needs through off-campus internet access continue to challenge the academic library’s raison d’etre. In response, academic librarians are redoubling their efforts to retain gate-count and computer usage numbers. Recent “library as place” literature has focused on creative ways to promote the campus library as if it were simply a user-friendly, community-oriented study hall. Not surprisingly, university administrators remain confused as to the library’s value beyond its symbolic purpose. Moreover, positive expectations about library services are complicated if the librarian tends to be passive, self-limiting, or prone to bureaucratic tendencies. To counter these tendencies, library professionals must engage in relationship marketing, greater student outreach, and consistent self-branding. If successful, many more students will consider the library a place to consult a well-educated librarian rather than simply another study hall.

Problematic Perceptions

For many students, the university library is viewed as confusing and intimidating. To counter these perceptions, many academic institutions have sought to attract and retain students by constructing new libraries containing state-of-the-art media labs and large user-friendly group settings. However, few libraries can successfully compete with the convenience of dorm room internet access. As a result, administrators have become intent on analyzing transactional measurements (reference transactions, gate-count, circulation figures, etc) as if they were employed in marketing research. Unfortunately, usage statistics all too often focus on events and resources rather than the most promising lead for patron satisfaction: the librarian.

Regrettably, few students attend the library simply for the librarian’s expertise. Indeed, many students are unaware of what librarians actually do. When librarians fail to appear proactive, they may inadvertently portray an image that can undermine their own capacity for relevance. At best, a “just give me the information” mentality among students suggests the librarian is perceived as an “information machine who mindlessly churns out search results and journal articles” (Olsen, p.21, 2002). At worst, a passive/reactive reference librarian can be perceived as performing little more than clerical duties. Indeed, Neal (2004) observes that many students will gladly turn to their classmates for help on assignments before they turn to a librarian. To complicate matters, students continue to gravitate toward a one-stop shopping mentality when conducting online research. Ultimately, librarians who neglect their image not only risk their perceived value as professionals but affect student usage patterns as well.

Student Outreach

Given widespread internet access, college administrators may cynically believe that a full library is little more than an unnecessary document storage facility. In order to justify the library’s funding and institutional status, many educational administrators are now requiring librarians to perform greater outreach activities. And indeed, our profession advance the notion that “telling people to come to the library is different from telling them to consult a well-educated librarian” (Shokane, p.8). However, student outreach need not become a zero-sum game for libraries. Working within the classroom, librarians bring the physical library image to the forefront.

Indeed, student outreach is particularly efficacious in the wired classroom, where librarians can frequently and informally publicize their ability to help direct research. By showing students “where to look for good sources, how to evaluate sources, how and when to cite them, and how to use various information to build strong arguments” (Albanese, 2003, p.35), the librarian reinforces his/her reputation for expertise. If performed correctly, librarians need no longer be perceived as “keepers of knowledge and answers to isolated reference questions”, but rather “professionals actively assisting customers in solving problems” (Shokane, 2002, p.9).

Librarians are moving beyond the classroom as well. At several universities, librarians are beginning to partner with Residence Hall staffs to bring information literacy workshops to campus housing events. Likewise, campus housing computer labs are being considered as an informal setting where students can get to know librarians personally. At other institutions, librarians are training student peer-mentors to become ‘library ambassadors’ within their residence halls. Neal (2004). As library ambassadors, these students act as liaisons for students who may be uncomfortable or unfamiliar with the library. Informal student outreach activities such as these are promoting library services among a larger, previously untouched population of students.

Relationship Marketing

Librarians who seek to foster greater faculty receptivity generally employ some form of relationship marketing. Relationship marketing can be defined as “the ongoing process of identifying and creating new value with individual customers and then sharing the benefits from this over a lifetime of association” (Neal, p.18). By creating close and interdependent long-term relationships with faculty, librarians create positive value-perceptions for their profession. Close collaboration also helps librarians better serve faculty target markets, especially if they seek to “develop target offerings for those markets, measure satisfaction and loyalty, gather end user data, create loyalty models, benchmark products and services, all the while identifying trends and best practices” (Stratigos, p.48, 2004). Cultivating such relationships requires librarians become proactive about pursuing customer service outside the library.

However, if librarians are truly committed to relationship marketing, they must “develop relationships and partnerships that are just as substantive as the resources and services (they) have spent so long developing” within the library (Soules, 2000, p.10). Building such relationships requires emphasizing marketing activities that will strengthen customer retention and loyalty (as opposed to generating new customers). Institutional changes that reflect customer retention involve creating active subject liaisons, providing personal consultation, on-call reference service, and careful attention to insight and analysis. Indeed, simply producing library-driven classroom assignments by collaborating with faculty is another form of relationship marketing. Academic librarians who employ relationship marketing understand that “just measuring user encounters or transactions isn’t getting the job done for libraries anymore” (Besant, p.20). Ultimately, determining the physical library’s future will depend less on usage statistics than on the subjective reputation librarians earn from their clients.

Self-Branding

For relationship marketing and student outreach to fully succeed, librarians must consistently practice self-branding. If branding is defined as “giving a product, service, or organization an identity that has meaning to its audience” (“Branding,” p.26), self-branding occurs whenever librarians seek to strengthen their professional identity by advancing favorable associations and desired perceptions. For instance, simply by providing consistent high-quality service within the classroom, a librarian can brand himself/herself as the “go-to” professional for answers.

Because branding also seeks to “raise awareness so that people will know where to turn to during time of need” (“Branding,” p.28), self-branding librarians will find their physical library benefits as well. Indeed, self-branding helps librarians make their “services so attractive to potential users that they will want to come to the library next time they have an information need” (Minkel, 2003, p.26).

Conclusion

Relationship marketing, student outreach, and self-branding by librarians can profoundly influence “the invisible, intangible perceptions that people form and remember regarding a library’s services and products”(Olson, p.18). These perceptions shape future expectations and ultimately determine patron satisfaction levels. Fortunately, librarians can easily produce positive perceptions about library service if they’re willing to become highly proactive. By reemphasizing outside service and advertising our expertise, physical library concerns will likely resolve themselves. By embracing such changes, we can bring joy to a professional that loves ‘library as place’ but largely remains hostage to it.

References

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Available: http://www.libraryjournal.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA289156

Besant, L., & D. Sharp. (2000, March). Libraries need relationship marketing. Information Outlook, 4 (3). p17-22.

Branding: an interview with a PR pro. (2003, April). Information Outlook, 7 (4). p26-29.

Helton, R.& Esrock, S. (1998, April/May). Positioning and Marketing Academic Libraries to Students. Marketing Library Services, 12 (3). Available: http://www.infotoday.com/mls/apr98/howto.htm.

Minkel, W. (2003, April 15). We’re not just a building. Library Journal, 128 (7). p26-28. Available: http://www.libraryjournal.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA286653

Neal, C., & Ruediger, C. (2004, February). Tapping into student networks: new ways to integrate information literacy. College & Research Libraries News, 65 (2). p78-80.

Olson, C. (2002, November). What’s in it for them? Communicating the value of information services. Information Outlook, 6 (11). p18-24.

Shokane, J.K. & Sepota, K.G. (2002). Towards developing information librarians through image improvement and enhancement in the 21^st century. Library and Information Association of South Africa 2002 Annual Conference. Available:

http://home.imaginet.co.za/liasa/Shokane%20Sepota%20&%20Maleto.rtf

Soules, Aline. (2000, May 23). The growing importance of marketing library resources and services. 10^th Annual Conference on Professional Information Resources. Available:

http://www.inforum.cz/inforum2000/prednasky/rostoucivyznam.htm

Stratigos, Anthea. (2004, January/February). About having fun. Online, 28 (1). p48.

Williams, C., & Walters, T. (2003, August). Reference and instruction services go virtual as a form of outreach: case studies from academic libraries. Information Outlook, 7 (8). P20-27.