Marketing the public libraries

This website bases its maps from the surveys conducted by the 2005 American community survey (http://www. nkca. ucla. edu). It explains what the survey is about which is to collect housing, demographic and socioeconomic data. This is done from the US households. The website highlights the fact that the American Community Survey (ACS) replaced the decennial census. It also points out that the ACS is more advantageous than the decennial census because it is conducted every year instead of every ten years (http://www. nkca. ucla. edu).The website also makes known the year that ACS was implemented which is 2005. It goes ahead to name those who were involved in the pilot project that involved special tabulations of geographies. It also notes that the center for neighborhood knowledge ensures that the knowledge is availed to the public. It also highlights the uses of the data gotten by the ACS and this includes developing as well as refining policies and also programs, supplement the data gotten from other sources and also to help in identifying the needs of the community and also prioritizing these needs.ACS has a vision of working with the Bureau of the Census to annually update their information. Albright K. S. May/June 2004 ENVIROMENTAL SCANNING RADAR FOR SUCCESS Information Management Journal Summary In this journal, the writer starts off by noting the importance of success in any organization. Albright goes ahead to explain what environmental scanning is and why it is done. She identifies the relationship that is found among the environment, markets and strategic planning in an organization.Once an organization has looked into its internal environment, it then looks at the external environment. The writer goes ahead and gives the reasons for this environmental scanning which are to â€Å"focus on customers, suppliers and competitors and their intricate relationships†(Albright K. S. 2004). There is an explanation of how environmental scanning works. It co nducts a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis. This helps the organization in analyzing the community, which is the environment, and also helps it know how to advertise their services.The writer ends by identifying any barriers to effective environmental scanning. Marketing Plan 1. Kassel, A. 1999. How to Write a Marketing Plan (Vol. 13 no. 5). Retrieved on 13th Sept 2007 from http://infotoday. com/mls/jun99/how-to. htm Summary In this volume, Kassel identifies why the libraries have been forced to go for marketing in the effort to increase their amount of money they make and also their client base. This is because their biggest competitor is the Internet, which is deemed more convenient by students and researchers.The writer goes ahead to identify and outline seven steps that are necessary in the creation of a marketing plan. She outlines them in the following sequence: â€Å"prepare a mission statement, list and describe target or niche markets, descri be your services, spell out marketing and promotional strategies, identify and understand the competition, establish marketing goals that are quantifiable and finally monitor your results carefully†(http://infotoday. com).She goes ahead to give some tips and hints to those who are new to marketing. She urges them to concentrate on getting long-term customers, know why customers come back, to be focused on their targets and not waste their efforts with non-targets, to be persistent and prepared and finally to be never afraid of failure as it is bound to happen and when it does, the strategy used needs to be changed. The writer ends by assuming that this outline is actually a success plan. 2. Summey T.P If You Build it Will They Come? Creating a Marketing Plan for Distance Learning Library Services- 2004. The Haworth Press Inc. In this volume, Summey acknowledges the importance of people especially the distant students and also the â€Å"brand identity† which refers to a lot including services provided by the library in the expansion of library services people’s importance in the success of library services expansion (Summey, 2004). The writer goes ahead to explain what is a marketing plan and how it is created.The writer also identifies the objective of a marketing plan as being identification of marketing issues, development of goals and finally how to measure progress. The budget is also included in the plan; the plan is to consist of â€Å"the mission statement, library or community analysis, goals and objectives, marketing strategy and methods to evaluate results† (Summey, 2004). The plan is to begin with an executive summary, the table of content, a SEDT analysis, a description of the market, mission and vision, goals and objectives, implementation and finally assessment and evaluation.