Beyond awareness: improving outreach and marketing through user surveys

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the awareness of library research services, the top desires for new services and overall satisfaction of undergraduate students to plan outreach and marketing efforts. Design/methodology/approach Researchers developed a survey which was administered both on an iPad and in paper copies. To gather feedback from a wide-variety of students, surveys were distributed outside campus buildings at four locations. Findings This study demonstrates the need to survey undergraduate students about their use of research services, to effectively plan outreach and marketing efforts. The differences between high-users’ and low-users’ expectations of the library inform and impact potential outreach and marketing efforts. Reaching both groups of students requires that not only awareness of library services increase but also that the knowledge of the value of the library increases, to convert simple awareness of services into use. Research limitations/implications Surveys were distributed at one institution, and results may be skewed based on local demographics. Originality/value While surveying undergraduate students is common, little research exists demonstrating how outreach and marketing can be informed by evaluating feedback from high and low-users of library services.