An approach to marketing in special and academic libraries of
Sri Lanka: a survey with emphasis on services provided to the
clientele.
By Jagath Jinadas Garusing Arachchige,
Asst. Librarian, University of Ruhuna, Sri
Lanaka
Abstract
The concept of marketing covers not only the buying and selling for financial gain, but also the
achievement of organizational objectives successfully. Thus the term 'marketing' has a wider and deeper
sense, which proliferates the organization's successive achievements. Modern marketing is applied not only
to the profit making organizations, but also to the non-profit sector and social service organizations like
libraries. Marketing in the library service sector intends the performances of planning, organizing,
dissemination and controlling of information services on a proactive and user oriented way that ensures
the user satisfaction while achieving the objectives of the parent organization. Information services system
of Sri Lanka incorporates mainly the various library systems like academic libraries, special libraries,
public libraries, school libraries and other information centers. Parent organizations of the libraries spend
a large amount of money for their library activities. However, due to many reasons, most of these libraries
seem to be under-utilized and have failed to satisfy the information needs of their users. One reason for this
is considered to be the lack of marketing in their activities. Having no proper planning, the majority of
libraries and information centers seem to be conventional, supply-led, and isolated in their service
provision. Library personnel have not properly understood potential opportunities of their library business.
The ...