دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی درک انگیزه های کتابخانه های عمومی و استفاده از رسانه های اجتماعی برای بازاریابی - امرالد 2017

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify challenges and motivators to social media adoption for marketing purposes in public libraries and to investigate how these libraries perceive the importance of social media marketing. Design/methodology/approach – A nation-wide online survey on public libraries in the USA was conducted to carry out this study, and a total number of 470 responses were used for data analysis. Findings – This study determined a range of challenges and motivators to implementing social media for marketing in public libraries. The results also showed that public libraries perceive social media as an important tool for their library marketing and intend to increase their use. Practical implications – The findings from this study can serve as a guideline for public libraries when employing social media for marketing purposes in their libraries. Originality/value – This study assessed the current state of social media use for marketing in the public library context, a context that has been under-researched in the literature, from three perspectives: challenges, motivators, and perceptions.

Conclusion

By conducting an online survey targeting public libraries in the USA, this study made several contributions to the literature and the library field, particularly the public library field. First, this study identified the types and popularity of social media tools employed in public libraries for marketing purposes. Consistent with some recent studies (e.g. Boateng and Liu, 2014; Chu and Du, 2013) and the current trend, popular social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest were found to be the most widely employed in public libraries. Unsurprisingly, we also found that the number of social media tools used is positively associated with library service population. Second, this study determined a range of challenges and motivators to implementing social media for library marketing, which public libraries can consult when employing social media in their libraries. As already pointed out by several existing studies (e.g. Chu and Du, 2013; Jones and Harvey, 2016; Rutherford, 2008b), a lack of staff resources, skills, and expertise (C4, 5, and 9) were found to be the most critical challenges public libraries faced when adopting social media. Interestingly, however, the factors related to library culture and staff acceptance (C10, 3, and 1) were no longer perceived to be a critical challenge by public librarians. When asked if they could think of any other challenges, the majority of the comments reiterated a lack of staff resources, skills, and expertise (C4, 5, and 9) as the major barriers. A few newly identified challenges from the open-ended question include the controls by upper administration, system issues, and a lack of user engagement.