Marketing of Electronic Journals in Swedish Academic Libraries

The transition from paper to electronic journals in induces a major change in academic libraries. The library must focus on customising the service to meet user needs in order to compete with other actors on the market. This situation entails the need for a marketing and management approach in library organisations. Linda Ashcroft has in previous research focused on marketing of electronic journals. She has stated the importance of simplifying the user environment of electronic journals and the importance of regaining control over electronic journals from publishers and vendors. This masters thesis aims to describe how electronic journals are being promoted and evaluated in Swedish Academic Libraries. Based on Ashcrofts questionnaire we also relate our results to Great Britain and North America. Our results show that Swedish libraries promote e-journals with methods that make the user aware and interested in using e-journals. However, none of these methods are found successful. The most effective future promotion method is connected to user behaviour. The results show a great reliance on statistics for evaluation purposes, while the qualitative evaluation is lacking in both continuance and extent. The libraries do not have enough time for promotion and evaluation activities and find that publishers complicate library promotion and evaluation. Our research shows great similarities to the conditions in Great Britain and North America. Based on Kotlers marketing approach, the Swedish libraries lack in both planning and evaluation of the marketing process, and cannot effectively utilise their resources and thereby fully satisfy the user needs.Uppsatsnivå: