The Library's Product and Excellence

MARYC. BUSHING ABSTRACT IN THIS TIME OF TRANSITION FOR LIBRARIES, the use of marketing techniques to identify appropriate products (services, programs, and materials) and to evaluate the effectiveness of these products can be helpful. Libraries have failed to adopt or to recognize the use of marketing for three reasons: (1) a simple misunderstanding that equates marketing with the publicity and public relations function; (2) a lack of understanding of what marketing is and what it involves so that libraries fail to recognize many existing management and collection-development operations as marketing components; and (3) disagreement about the role of the client in determining the library's products and marketing mix. A modified marketing con- struct, that of a societal-marketing orientation which tries to balance the immediate demands of patrons with the long-term needs of society, may help to address the "good" versus "right" product argument. Product excellence can be defined in a number of ways including effectiveness, optimization of resources, and traditional library selection terms such as quality, timeliness, accuracy, completeness, and availability. The utilization of marketing theory and techniques improves the library's position and helps to assure that the library will be offering products which will be wanted and valued by a client group. Evidence of the value placed upon quality products will be provided by use statistics and political and fiscal support.