Vasileiou & Rowley (2011)

Vasileiou, M., & Rowley, J. (2011). Marketing and promotion of e-books in academic libraries. Journal of Documentation, 67(4), 624-643. Retrieved October 29, 2011, from Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text. doi:10.1108/00220411111145025

This qualitative research report is based on interviews with 25 librarians in seven academic libraries. The main topics in the conversations were:

Marketing/promotion strategy for e-resources
"The responses revealed that none of the libraries had a formalised strategy for the marketing of any e-resources" (p. 630). But 19 of 25 respondents that there should be a formal strategy, and quotes from the interviews suggest that many of the libraries had informal strategies. Some respondents did not see a need for a formal or informal strategy because the e-resources are already being well used.

Promotion tools
"The key promotion tools mentioned were library websites, information literacy sessions, OPACs, induction sessions, in person instruction, and e-mails" (p. 631).

Working with academics for the promotion of e-books
The librarians interviewed cited anecdotes about professors promoting particular e-books to students by mentioning them in class or placing them on reading lists. Doesn't seem like anyone had a systematic program for enlisting academics in the promotion of e-books.

Future plans for promotional tools for e-books and e-resources
Although some interviewees mentioned ideas for new ways of promoting e-books, nothing sounded especially innovative or imagine to me.

Issues and challenges in promoting e-books
The authors define the most-frequently-mentioned category of challenges as those surrounding the librarians themselves, such as lack of time and lack of information and/or experience about various aspects of e-books and their promotion. Other challenges included e-book availability (not enough of them or not enough of the most used titles) and the variety of formats in which e-books can be read.

Authors' findings

• There's evidence of marketing efforts and the need for a marketing plan even if there aren't a lot of accomplishments in this area yet.
• Part of the reason there hasn't been a lot of marketing of e-books is because the supply chain isn't completely developed and people don't want to promote more than they can actually handle.
• There's not much innovation in marketing tools.
• Word-of-mouth promotion may be the most important area for librarians to focus on. This includes librarians themselves promoting e-books in their interactions with patrons, professors promoting e-books, and the use of Web-based social networking tools.

Author's conclusions and recommendations
"The most significant finding to emerge from this research is the dichotomy between strategy and practice. None of the libraries adopted a strategic approach to marketing or promotion of e-books, yet, on the other hand, most interviewees were able to point to a range of tools used to promote e-books, and some had plans for improvements in their promotion activities" (p. 639). Again, the authors emphasize word-of-mouth, in its various manifestations, as an important means of marketing e-books in an academic library.

My thoughts
If word-of-mouth is where it's at, I'm in good shape in my library! I have great opportunity to talk with students every day, and they talk with each other a lot. My sense that introduction of a few cheap e-readers in the library would make a splash is based in part of word-of-mouth promotion.