Marginalized Knowledge: An Agenda for Indigenous Knowledge Development and Integration with Other Forms of Knowledge

Products

Products are the library services available to clients, such as lending services, inter-library loans, databases, reference services, online searching services, audio-visual services and periodicals’ services (Giappiconi, n.d: n.p.). Products also include less tangible things, such as planning processes, research consultation, or software or equipment coaching.

Price

Another component of marketing is the price of a service which, according to Giappiconi, (n.d: n.p), includes all direct and indirect costs involved in the production and delivery of the product. Pricing policies of libraries range from charging nothing at all, to requesting fees for some services or payment for all services. However, the chief financial objective is to optimize cost-efficiency and not to make a profit. Price does not necessarily mean cash value, and since marketing is an exchange process, the price paid could be in the form of time, energy, or other opportunities and/or activities foregone by the user.

Place

Place is the marketing term used to describe where the product or service is offered. In many campus libraries, place used to only refer to the physical building where the customer went to get materials.

A university library should be able to serve the academic environment where it is situated more effectively and efficiently by connecting a LAN to its operational system. Various faculty and departmental libraries should be properly networked to enhance proximity to the information, and avoid congestion in the main or central library. This also ensures convenience for the students, lecturers, researchers, and faculty members (Adeyoyin, 2005: n.p). Place/distribution also refers to opening hours, and the internal arrangement of its collections and resources. The term also refers to all the methods one can use to access library services from a distance.

Promotion

Promotion is at times also referred to as communication, and is aimed at encouraging and facilitating the use of the collection and library services. It comprises publicity, promotional activities and public relations. Publicity consists of the direct and indirect use of mass communication, while promotional activities are based on employing direct and short-term methods in order to optimize the use of the collection and library services. The term public relations is based on the principal of indirect communication through intermediaries (Giappiconi, n.d: n.p). Kanaujia (2004: n.p) notes that libraries regularly participate in fairs and advertising in newspapers. Library staff also visit institutions and give presentations.