Minimal Resources with Maximum Impact: Low-Cost and Sustainable Means for Library Promotions

While it is a generally shared fact around the globe that funding for library promotion (and in most cases, libraries in general) be rendered as a pressing concern, the fact remains that this challenge is truer in developing countries such as the Philippines. Librarians in charge of promoting the library can either choose to fight--defend their “rights” for a slice of the budget pie, or take flight--just do away with library promotion altogether. However, results of a low-cost and sustainable marketing strategy employed by the Rizal Library of the Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines prove that there is a third and better option. The marriage of new media tools (such as social networking sites), relationship marketing, and guerilla marketing proved to be an effective means to promote the library and its services. The strategy was deployed in 2011, and continues to prove its effectiveness to date. Statistics on use and following have been steadily increasing, and the library has never been more popular with its client base than ever before. This paper presents a case study of how very few financial resources were able to make waves of impact and even created a loyal following of users for the Rizal Library

Librarian as researcher and knowledge creator: Examining librarian\u27s research involvement, perceived capabilities and confidence

This paper seeks to investigate the current research practices of Filipino librarians, examine their confidence with the research process, determine how they learned their research skills, and explore their research involvement and productivity from 1993-2013. A survey was conducted to determine the research performance and participation, perceived capabilities and confidence, and training needs of librarians from different types of libraries in the Philippines. Published works and paper presentations of licensed Filipino librarians were also analyzed using informetric technique to examine the research patterns and to identify which Library and Information Science (LIS) fields have highest number of research papers. While majority of the librarians have conducted research after completing their bachelor and/or master’s degrees in LIS, there is no predictable trend of research growth between 1993 and 2013. The number of librarian-researchers as well as the publication of research findings was quite insignificant, thus knowledge sharing among Filipino librarians is not a prevailing research activity. The contributions of practitioner-researchers are higher than academics-researchers. Most librarians preferred conducting research individually. Findings revealed that research outputs are heavy on the Information Industry Economics and Management. Although majority of the respondents believe that their LIS degrees prepared them to conduct original research, they feel the need for training on designing conceptual/theoretical framework, statistics, and reporting results in written format. Filipino librarians need to engage in research not just for the benefit of the patrons but for professional development as well