Abstract:
Libraries in government ministries offer specialized information services and products
which need to be marketed in order to enhance perception of their value which is likely
to enhance the support they get from the government. Before introducing new
information services and products, the library staff can better understand the information
needs of their users thanks to marketing. This enhances both the library's reputation and
patrons' use of its resources. However, it has been established that, libraries in
government ministries, do very little to market their information services. In order to
suggest effective strategies to boost their effectiveness, the study's goal was to look into
the marketing of information services and products made available in government
ministry libraries in Kenya. The objectives of the study were to: establish the information
services provided by libraries in government ministries; determine the level of awareness
and use of libraries in government ministries; ascertain the strategies employed by
libraries in government ministries to market their information services; establish the
challenges experienced by libraries in government ministries in marketing their
information services; propose appropriate marketing strategies to improve their service
delivery. The study was underpinned by the gap model of service marketing and adopted
mixed methods research approach and concurrent triangulation design. The population of
study consisted of staff from the National Treasury and Planning, Ministry of Lands,
Ministry of Agriculture, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A sample of 99 employees from
the Ministries was used to gather quantitative data, while 16 policymakers were
purposively selected from the Ministries to provide qualitative data. Descriptive statistics
were used to analyze quantitative data while qualitative data was grouped into themes
and analyzed thematically. The study revealed that government libraries do not use
websites to market their libraries and only (3.8%) used e-mails to market their libraries.
The study further revealed that libraries in government ministries are not adequately
marketed (85%) and have not yet embraced modern information and communication
technology to communicate with their clients. The findings also revealed that the
willingness to use the libraries was very high (97.5%) but the actual use of the libraries
was very low (30%). The low use was attributed to lack of content in certain fields
(15%), outdated information (30%) and poor services offered by the libraries (55%).The
study further revealed that the strategies used by libraries in government ministries to
market their information products and services included promotion (68) and reference
services (68.7). Policy makers felt that libraries in government ministries are not being
supported by top level management. The study concluded that libraries in government
ministries lacked marketing framework that could be used to create awareness to ensure
that information materials in the library were effectively utilized and that they were not
leveraging on modern information and communication technology such as e-mails and
websites to market their information product and services. The study recommends that
libraries in government ministries should develop marketing plans, leverage on ICTs to
market their products and services, provide adequate budgets for the library, develop
institutional repositories and improve library facilities and infrastructure.