Purpose

This study aims to investigate a framework for improving library services and resource usage in a private higher education institution in South Africa. Marketing of library services and resources has a great impact on their usage. If marketing is not properly applied, libraries can turn into the unused institution, render useless or unused services, no matter how good their available services and resources are.

Design/methodology/approach

This multi-method study used questionnaires to collect data from both staff and students at the private higher education institution concerned. The questionnaire was augmented with data collected from staff using group interviews. It is unfortunate that the target institution approved the conducting of the study only on the condition that their name could not be disclosed or used in any study reports. On this basis, the institution is referred to as Campus A for the purposes of this paper.

Findings

The study discovered that Campus A lacked key marketing tools, such as a marketing policy for the library, and that it also failed to take advantage of new platforms such as social media and other available computer software and technologies. This has resulted in its users being unaware of certain important services and resources rendered by the library.

Originality/value

The study proposed a framework for library marketing practices to improve services and resources usage as a benchmark for libraries. The study also recommends that the management of Campus A library come together to gather information for the development of an appropriate library marketing policy and also ensure that their marketing strategies take advantage of the latest technology, including social media, by means of which their clients may be easily reached.

中文翻译：

---

改善南非私立高等教育图书馆服务和资源使用的框架

目的

本研究旨在调查改善南非私立高等教育机构图书馆服务和资源使用的框架。图书馆服务和资源的营销对其使用有很大影响。如果营销应用不当，图书馆可能会变成闲置的机构，提供无用或未使用的服务，无论其可用的服务和资源有多好。

设计/方法/方法

这项多方法研究使用问卷调查来收集有关私立高等教育机构的教职员工和学生的数据。问卷通过小组访谈从员工那里收集的数据进行了扩充。不幸的是，目标机构仅在不能在任何研究报告中披露或使用其名称的条件下才批准进行该研究。在此基础上，就本文而言，该机构被称为校园 A。

发现

研究发现，A 校区缺乏关键的营销工具，例如图书馆的营销政策，也未能利用社交媒体等新平台和其他可用的计算机软件和技术。这导致其用户不知道图书馆提供的某些重要服务和资源。

原创性/价值

该研究提出了一个图书馆营销实践框架，以改善服务和资源的使用，作为图书馆的基准。该研究还建议 Campus A 图书馆的管理层一起收集信息，以制定适当的图书馆营销政策，并确保他们的营销策略利用包括社交媒体在内的最新技术，通过这些技术，他们的客户可以很容易到达。