Preparing for the New Millenium: The Case for Using Marketing Strategies

THE NEW MILLENNIUM IS APPROACHING and libraries must develop creative problem-solving strategies if they are not only to survive but also to thrive. Societal change, technological development, and economic retrenchment all pose significant challenges for libraries. This article proposes that the former positive and comfortable attitude toward libraries no longer holds, and that marketing must be added to the managerial toolbox so that libraries can become client-centered and client-focused institutions. As an overview to this Library Trends theme issue on marketing, this article presents marketing components in the context of a customer orientation.