Marketing Electronic Information Resources In Kuwaiti Higher Education Thesis

Essays on Marketing Electronic Information Resources In Kuwaiti Higher Education Thesis The paper "Marketing Electronic Information Resources in Kuwaiti Higher Education Libraries" is a great example of a thesis on marketing. In recent years, Kuwaiti higher education (HE) libraries have faced many challenges as a result of changes in the external environment. Information communication technology (ICT) in particular has led to new approaches to delivering information and library services. The adoption and use of electronic information resources (EIR) have become one of the strategic aims of Kuwaiti HE libraries since providing such facilities to customers, such as students, researchers and faculty staff, is now recognized as being of the most importance. For example, an electronic journal service with suitable searching tools can provide customers with access from their homes or workplaces, thus saving them time (Sweeney, 1997). However, this service is not currently as good as it could be with customers not receiving the levels of service they expect, partially as a res ult of insufficient communication between librarians and customers. It is also due to the enormous increase in the production and dissemination of information, especially at electronic global levels, which has changed the role of the librarian. Consequently, marketing plays a very important role in increasing awareness of EIR services, promoting their use and raising awareness of what higher education libraries provide in general.The case studies in this research, the governmental academic libraries in both the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET) and Kuwait University (KU), subscribe to many databases, but the usage statistics reveal that some databases tend to be neglected. Therefore, marketing plays a role in increasing usage or, at least, in increasing interest in these resources.This multi-disciplinary research combines two areas namely, EIRs and marketing management. It focuses on how academic librarians promote sources of information to their customers. Therefore, the research aims to benefit from the marketing discipline to improve access to EIRs in the context of academic libraries.To date, no comprehensive research has explored the defective and inadequate marketing of EIRs in the Kuwaiti HE libraries context. Therefore, the main purpose of this research is to investigate this area and to add to the current knowledge base. Furthermore, recommendations arising from these investigations will be made in relation to improving the marketing of EIR in Kuwaiti HE libraries.Definition of termsCertain terms will be used in this report to avoid ambiguity and to ensure consistency and clarity in interpretation, namely as follows:Electronic Information Resources (EIR): For this research, the term electronic information resources refers to the more established electronic resources that are commonly available in electronic format in academic libraries today, such as the World Wide Web, electronic journals, online public access catalogues (OP ACs), online databases, reference online, electronic mail and electronic books (Hsieh-Yee, 1997).