Influence of Librarian’s Attitudes on the Marketing of Information Resources and Services in University Libraries in North Central Zone Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined the influence of librarian’s attitudes on the marketing of information resources and services in university libraries in North Central states of Nigeria. Under the current dispensation where libraries, especially university libraries are competing for patronage of users who have found other platforms to satisfy their information need, it has become imperative for librarians to employ marketing strategies, tactics and tools to continue to have a bite of the pie in the information market. But what is the attitude of librarians towards marketing and how have their attitudes influenced their involvement in the marketing of information resources and services in university libraries? The survey research design was employed to conduct the study. Three research questions were produced to guide data collection. The population of the study consists of 120 librarians drawn from thirteen university libraries in North Central Nigeria. The questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection. Data obtained were analyzing descriptively with mean and standard deviation. Findings from the study revealed that the individual librarians perception of marketing of information resources and services was a major determinant of their attitude towards marketing in university libraries, and poor marketing skills was identified as a factor inhibiting the effective marketing of information resources and services in university libraries in North Central Nigeria. The study recommends that the training and retraining of librarians in the area of marketing management should be given enough attention by university libraries and that librarians should embrace the service philosophy that is users oriented and outward looking.