Leading life-long learning: the library's role

Abstract

Libraries operate within the service industry and increasingly are seeing marketing as a focus for ensuring that the services they provide are useful and appropriate. In a marketing context, users become customers; the services provided are products developed to meet customer needs; a price is involved in an exchange process (although it may not have a monetary value); the place in or from which the services are provided is part of the process; and promotional strategies are used to ensure services provided are understood and valued by the customers. To take on an effective role in the support of learning, libraries need to understand their customers, the learners. They need to know how people learn and how the provision of information and information resources contributes to learning. Customer needs must then be translated into services through a thorough understanding of the changing socio-cultural, economic and educational environment. Some of the experiences at the University of Queensland Library in meeting the challenge of creating an appropriate library and information service to support effective learning are outlined in this paper. The changing customer base and the changing higher education and library environments are described and four service strategies developed are referred to. These are the design of new facilities, the introduction of interactive information skills programs, the development of the University of Queensland Cybrary and a schools project.

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