Marketing Basics for Libraries
A five-week, Web-based course
Session #2: TBA
According to Philip Kotler, "Marketing is the human activity directed at satisfying needs and wants through an exchange process." This course will be designed as an introduction to marketing. Rather than focus on theory alone, this course will focus on the use of marketing, explaining basic marketing tenets using the framework of libraries.
The class will be broken into five weekly sessions that will provide the framework for understanding marketing tenets and resources. The final product of the class will be a marketing plan that individuals will create based on their own library environment/needs.
Week 1: What is marketing? (1 hour)
This class will provide an overview of what will be covered. The nature and role of marketing will be discussed. The distinction between for-profit and not-for-profit marketing will be made. This introductory week will provide context for the remaining weeks. The following weeks will provide details and examples of how marketing is used everyday in organizations, as well as providing the necessary framework for preparing a marketing plan.Week 2: Creating a marketing plan and determining marketing mix (2 hours)
This week will cover the reason for creating marketing plans and the use of a marketing mix within a marketing program. Participants will be encouraged to consider their own organizations' needs as we begin to create a mini-marketing plan.Week 3: Market research and using marketing research in the marketing plan (2 hours)
This section will highlight the resources that provide background on target audiences. It will include information on how to obtain information on your own about your audience (including surveys and focus groups). Students will use the research to update their marketing plans.Week 4: Evaluating marketing efforts (2 hours)
This class will cover methods of evaluating marketing efforts. Students will integrate this information into their individual marketing plans.Week 5: Wrap-Up (1 hour)
A real example of a marketing plan will be provided at the beginning if the course. In this session, we will discuss how the concepts discussed in the earlier weeks look when brought together into a marketing plan, using student work and the marketing plan the instructors provided. Time will be allotted to answering any lingering questions students may have.Who Should Attend
The primary audience will be both public and academic librarians and library staff who are asked to market library services. Targeted audiences also include librarians who may feel intimidated when faced with marketing assignments in their jobs because they do not have a background in business.Course Format
For 2008 and onward, ALA has chosen Moodle for all online educational courses. To learn more about Moodle and get acquainted with it, Moodle uses Moodle to demonstrate how it works. Go here for the ALA installation of Moodle.The course Web site will be open for one week prior to the start date for students to have access to Moodle instructions and set their browsers appropriately. The course site will remain open one week after the end date for students to complete any sections and submit the source evaluation survey.
Instructors: Allie Carr is the Outreach Program Coordinator at the Social Sciences & Humanities Library at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). She completed her first marketing plan for the Social Sciences & Humanities Library's (SSHL) Outreach Program in the summer of 2005. The plan has since been implemented and is successful in increasing use of the library's services and increasing user's perceptions of the library. She is also completing her MLIS at San Jose State University, with an emphasis in Instruction and Outreach in Academic Libraries. She is the intern for the RSS User Education and Information Literacy Committee.
Elisabeth Leonard is an adjunct at the University of North Carolina Greenboro's Department of Library and Information Studies. She has an MBA from Wake Forest University, an MLS from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and is working on an EdD in Teaching and Learning at UCSD. Elisabeth has spent most of her career helping students, faculty and staff with business reference, including answering marketing questions. She also has worked for major corporations conducting marketing research and has completed marketing plans for publicly traded companies. She is a member of the BRASS Education Committee, author of Core competencies: company and industry research and Best of the Best: Business Ethics, and Chair of the CODES Liaison with Users Committee.
Registration Information
Discounted group registration rates are available for organization's registering eight or more people for one of the RUSA online courses. The online registration form cannot be used for group registrations, because it is set up to handle only individual registrations.To register a group, please complete a print registration form (see below) for each individual, and include a cover letter and/or memorandum that lists each person to be registered as part of the group and payment information. Group registrations can be paid for by check, credit card or purchase order that covers all the registrations.
If you are interested in more information on group registrations and the group rates, please contact RUSA.
Registration limit for each session: 30
Registration Fees: $130 for RUSA members; $160 for ALA members; $190 for non-ALA members; and $100 for students/retirees.
Two Ways to Register
- On-Line: Complete the online registration form.
- By Mail/Fax: Send your completed registration form (see below) with payment to: RUSA, Attn: Barb Macikas, 50 E. Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611-27995, Fax: 312-280-5273.
Registration Deadline: TBA