Enhancing maximum utilisation of health information resources in a health sciences library.

Abstract

In this era of hyper- inflation when health institutions are forced to make budget cuts, the health science library can be an easy and early target unless the librarian had established a strong support base among lecturing staff through marketing library services and resources.

Health science libraries are called upon to demonstrate their value to their parent institutions as they compete with other units for resources. Marketing practices can provide a valuable framework for analysis and action to meet expectations in a rapidly changing environment. This paper is aimed at enabling empowering health science librarians (medical librarians) in an academic institution with knowledge and skills of marketing applied in the commercial world, in order to enhance maximum utilisation of health information resources they have struggled to acquire and processed for use and in the process, justifying their existence in the medical school.

First, the term marketing is defined followed by a discussion on the need for marketing in the health science library. Marketing techniques or approaches that can be used by health libraries to maximise usage of information services and or resources are identified and explained.

Medical staff that knows their librarian and is aware of health information resources in the library, is comfortable accessing them is more likely to use information resources and other services in the library as well as recommending them to students and colleagues. As the library use increases and utilisation of resources gets high, so does the value of the library to the institution and the health information resources to academics and students. Faculty awareness of the full potential of the library services and resources enriches curricular and research. Health science libraries should aggressively market health information resources they have secured to their user communities in order to increase support both from within and outside their parent institutions.