Marketing Communication in Libraries: Observations of German Research Libraries

Abstract

Libraries and librarians have had to adapt to the growth of information technology in recent years; therefore, organizations that offer information services have started to vary and multiply their service forms and types.  This change forced information and documentation experts to work on meeting their user requirements and demands. For this reason, libraries have begun to use marketing techniques in their applications recently. It became possible to determine and product the needed services in the optimal level with the marketing. In this study, only the marketing communication/promotion from the marketing mix applications is analyzed, and the marketing communication practices of German research libraries, Deutsche Bibliothek in Leipzig, Staatsbibliothek, Library of the Technical University, and Erwin Schrödinger Zentrum in Berlin, are tried to be explained.