Developing a customized database of users as a tool for marketing the library; a database to satisfy customer demand at ORNL

Information Outlook, Jan, 2004 by Gobrielle D. Boudreau, Cynthia G. Manley

INTRODUCTION

Special libraries exist to provide services to customers within their organizations. They must provide resources and services that meet the specific needs of their parent organizations. This is an especially challenging task in the current environment of swiftly changing technology and shrinking budgets. Libraries must ensure that users are aware of the services and resources that are available, if they are to use them. In order to do this, many libraries employ marketing strategies and activities. Marketing has become an even more important activity in the electronic age, because library users tend to assume that information is free on the Web, and this assumption challenges librarians to demonstrate the value of their collections and services. Librarians recognize that to effectively market library services, they must anticipate customer demands and satisfy them before their competitors do.

Marketing consists of a series of activities that begin with identifying the needs of the individuals and groups that form the library's service community. The literature stresses several key steps for developing a successful marketing strategy. They include establishing a clear mission, gathering information about customers and their needs, establishing tactical plans, and monitoring the progress of strategies that have been implemented.

An important step in any marketing strategy is to research the needs of the service community and to match those needs with the competencies of the library, being very careful to set user expectations at a realistic level. Libraries have frequently gathered certain types of statistics, for example, the number of circulating books or volume of interlibrary loan. Some statistics, however, particularly in the reference environment, have been more difficult for librarians to capture and analyze.

A selective review of the literature was helpful in identifying how library use has been measured. A variety of methods have been used to reveal how well libraries are serving their customers. These methods include circulation statistics, counts of attendance at library programs and workshops. Internet use, telephone renewal, and reference questions. The majority of libraries can get a statistical picture of their customers from circulation and interlibrary loan statistics, but they often cannot determine, in any specific detail, who is using reference services, how those services are being used, and which customers rely on which products. Such information becomes critical in a library that has a multi-faceted customer base. Services and products cannot be adapted effectively to meet the constantly changing customer base if that base remains undefined.

PURPOSE AND BACKGROUND

The ORNL library staff recognized that acquiring accurate and detailed information about library customers was the first step in the marketing process. This paper discusses the development of a database as a tool for collecting data about library customers to determine who uses the library and which services and products they use. Information compiled within the database can be used to create an individual customer profile or a profile of specific target groups that use the library. Specifically, the database was designed to track the results of reference interactions. Major objectives in developing this database were to find ways to promote all library services to the customer and to find ways to improve communication between the library and current and potential customers. When analyzed, these data, rich in customer details and preferences, would give the library the capability to target groups for specific educational or promotional efforts. Moreover, they would give library managers a tool for anticipating the needs of their customer base.

Since its inception in 1948, the library has helped the scientists and engineers at ORNL carry out research of national importance. ORNL is a multiprogram science and technology laboratory, and the library must ensure that its services and products meet the multiple research agendas of the laboratory and also provide information to members of the public who use the library. The laboratory is organized into 16 major divisions that are made up of 120 research groups focusing on different research areas. Because the library is supported through overhead funding, it must complete with other groups for resources.

Technological changes, shifts in research priorities, and decreased funding have affected the way the library serves its customers. In discussions with laboratory management about the library's effectiveness, librarians had strong anecdotal evidence that researchers valued reference services, but they could not provide any information about the groups that used library services and products most often. For reference services, the only statistical information available came from tick marks kept in a log at the reference desk. There was no qualitative information on the reference interaction, and the more protracted interactions involving librarians working on projects with researchers were not captured in the library's system. It proved difficult to justify funding for reference services or to market to customers who used the library infrequently.