Usefulness of Social Media in the Marketing of Library Sources and Services in University Libraries of Pakistan

Abstract

Purpose –The basic purpose of this paper is to find out the librarians perceptions, skills, most effective and constrains to use social media for the marketing purposes in the University libraries and to examine how these libraries perceive the importance of social media marketing.

Design/methodology/approach –A nation-wide online survey on University libraries in the Pakistan was conducted to flourish this study, and a total number of 161 responses were used to analyze collected data. SPSS used to analyze the collected data.

Findings –This study revealed the usefulness of social media in university Libraries is very high. The results also disclosed that University libraries observe social media as a substantial tool to increase marketing of library sources and services anticipate increasing their use.

Practical implications –The findings of this study can help as a parameter for University libraries when engaging social media for marketing purposes in their libraries.

 Originality/value –This study calculated the present situation of social media use for marketing in the University Libraries environment, a background that has been under-study in the literature, from these perspectives:  perceptions, Skills, effectiveness, practices and constrains.