Search

Academic libraries have an innovative service called 'Research Support Service' to support institutional research. Under the research support service, the worldwide academic libraries provide a range of services. The library of Eastern University, Sri Lanka provides research support services since 2014. This paper investigates the research support service model of the library of Eastern University, Sri Lanka (EUSL). This investigation analysed the documents such as official correspondence, pamphlets, library home page and students' feedback. The research support service of EUSL library focused more on training the undergraduates in research related aspects by organising a series of sessions on students' requests. As an extension of the research support service, the library also has introduced the individual research consultation service, where the researchers as an individual or group meets the library professionals to get personal assistance on research. The feedback analysis showed that the undergraduates highly appreciated the service on its usefulness. Moreover, the service was commended by programme review of the university grants commission of Sri Lanka. There are challenges to implementing this service, such as lack of skills and capacity among library professionals, lack of human resources and physical facilities, the conventional mindset of library professionals and lack of proper marketing of library services. However, this was a successful service, and increased the recognition of the library and library professionals among students and faculty. In turn, library professionals were invited to higher-level committees to contribute to the institutional research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Around the world, libraries face the challenge of being underutilized, and special libraries in Sri Lanka in particular are no exception. Studies show that this can be overcome through marketing. Current study determines how marketing is applied in special libraries in the Colombo district, Sri Lanka and their future prospects in marketing. The study identifies the current marketing activities, marketing techniques and librarians' perception towards marketing in selected special libraries (n=50) in the Colombo district. Findings revealed that special libraries under study have a sufficient number of resources acquired and market opportunities available. However, it is assumed that unintentional marketing is been carried out in a majority of libraries as reflected by the absence of a marketing plan, absence of user surveys and lack of persuasive communication with parent organization for undertaking marketing. Most librarians give priority to promotional works such as conducting awareness programs, focusing on public relations, designing new information products and advertising library events and services. Techniques used for marketing were email lists, library website, seminar and workshops, traditional communication methods and social media. A majority of librarians were of the view that marketing concept can be applied to special libraries. Periodical collections, library spaces and infrastructure were identified as highly marketable resources. Other libraries are not considered as a challenge when employing marketing practices in their own library but respondents hold a mixed perception regarding how users would react to marketing practices if they are implemented in their libraries. Overall findings concludes that these libraries can break the boundaries and take up formal marketing if confronted with a proper market plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Libraries should explore the marketing strategies to be used to promote their services among users, to entice new users and retain existing users. The objectives of this study were to find out the marketing techniques used in Sri Lankan university libraries and identify the challenges that university librarians face when marketing their services. The study involved 130 academic staff members of the libraries in 15 state universities established under the purview of the University Grants Commission in Sri Lanka. The total population was considered as the sample and the data were collected through self-administered questionnaire. The data were analyzed using the SPSS software package considering the mean and standard deviation. There were 105 valid questionnaires among returns, and the response rate was 80.8%. As per the results, library websites, user orientation seminars, notice boards, and e-mail notifications were most frequently used to promote library services. Mobile applications, blogs and podcasts were rarely used to promote library services in Sri Lankan universities. The mean ratings of perceived challenges in the marketing of library services by university librarians in Sri Lanka were considered. Lack of networking among librarians (3.54) was identified as a significant challenge faced by Sri Lankan university librarians when marketing their services. Other significant challenges were unawareness of library user requirements, insufficient funds for marketing, increased cost of marketing and lack of skills in marketing library services. This concludes that Sri Lankan university librarians market their library services using an array of techniques and come across various challenges while adopting marketing techniques to their services. To overcome these challenges libraries should consider appointing a marketing librarian for each university library and establish a collaboration between them, develop a unique marketing strategy for each library, and allocation of funds for marketing library services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]