Marketing of information resources in school libraries: the case of the Aga Khan High School-Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

This study was devised to investigate the marketing of library services in academic learning institutions in Kenya. The study incorporated a descriptive research design utilizing both qualitative and quantitative elements. The population consisted of one school library, the Aga Khan High School, Nairobi, which was used for the study. The guiding objectives were to examine and evaluate the marketing strategies, types of digital technologies used, the benefits of marketing information resources and the fundamental skills and competencies needed by information professionals in marketing of information resources. The study was guided by six research questions with twenty three questionnaire items which were used for the purpose of data collection. The data were analyzed using analytical tools such as arithmetic mean, frequency distributions and percentages. The target population sample consistent of two hundred and fifty five respondents which included the top management, heads of departments, teachers, library staff, non-teaching staff and students. The major findings were that the school library does not have strategies to market their information materials as it should, new technologies available have not been embraced and that there is inadequate skills and competencies to market information resources. It was concluded therefore that, there is need for the school library to realize the need to market their information resources to make it know to their user, have strategies for marketing, utilize the available technologies and also equip the staff with the necessary skills to be able to make known its available resources. The major recommendations were that marketing should be emphasized into the school library operations to ensure that the users of the library are well informed of the available resources; the school administration should make efforts to reinforce the competence of the librarian through training, seminars and workshops so as to align library service provision to the needs of the digital era; technologies should be integrated into the library such as the use of mobile technology apps which are user friendly to ensure that users are able to access and retrieve information from anywhere outside the library facility; and that a lot of research should be done to unravel the consumer expectations and behaviors so as to align the marketing strategies towards their needs.