Marketing reference and information services in libraries: a staff competences framework.

Abstract

The premise of this paper is that the vision of taking your staff with you in the marketing process of reference and information services will be realized only when staffs participate both as contributors and experts of marketing the reference and information services in the library. There is, therefore, a need not only to engage staff in provision of reference and information services, but also to support them to learn about marketing strategies, paying particular attention to perception of user needs and ability to obtain feedback from users; technical knowledge such as the ability to use the Internet and knowledge of various marketing strategies for promoting reference information skills. To this end, the paper explains why professional knowledge and skills for marketing services should play a greater role in the reference services activities and proposes a framework for action for libraries to help raise awareness of the importance of marketing reference services and to better integrate marketing in their staff development activities to improve the benefits of reference and information services.