Students Perception for Adopting Marketing Tools in University Libraries on the Basis of Their Backgrounds

A Study of North Western India

Abstract

This paper examines the perception range of students belonging to different backgrounds viz. urban, semi-urban and rural, for implementing various tools for marketing library resources and services. It attempts to investigate those marketing tools which according to the users could be most suitable for marketing library resources and services. This is a survey based research study conducted by administering a structured questionnaire designed for the users. The data from eight state university libraries of North Western India was collected from users belonging to different residential backgrounds. The major findings illustrated three types of marketing strategies i.e. ICT/ Web, Web 2.0 and traditional tools may be adopted for making the students aware about library resources and services. The study also revealed the fact that libraries must employ Web 2.0 technologies usually as a great majority of respondents are Web 2.0 savvy and leant towards this form of promotion. Further it was also found that despite varying backgrounds except a few marketing tools there did not exist any major difference in the opinion of the users with regard to adoption of various marketing tools.