Marketing and Promoting Electronic Resources

Book excerpt: Technological advances allow libraries to more readily serve patrons’ needs. But how can a librarian effectively communicate what services libraries offer? Marketing and Promoting Electronic Resources: Creating the E-Buzz! explains the foundations of marketing and promotion, focusing on practical and creative techniques that have worked in academic, public, and special libraries. Respected authorities from various libraries offer their insights and advice for effective marketing strategies for electronic resources such as e-serials, databases, and e-books, helping library patrons to better understand the resources now available to them. This book provides librarians with practical suggestions on how to best let their patrons know about the available e-resources and instruct them on how to use them effectively. Librarians in any type of library setting, even if previously unschooled in marketing campaigns, can find fresh ideas to apply in their own setting. This invaluable tool discusses in detail how to develop a marketing plan, create and finance a promotional campaign, and how to use new technologies to reach out to your library patrons in the most effective way to promote your e-resources. This material was published as a special issue of The Serials Librarian.