Submitted to the Faculty of Arts in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of M Bibl in the department of Library and Information Science at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 1993. / Public relations is the art of relating to and communicating with one's public. The study emphasizes the dualistic nature of the concept, i.e. identifying the public's needs and wants ; and, keeping the public informed. PR is a planned process and planning effective PR programmes requires academic libraries to conduct a PR audit. The traditional concept of PR as merely a component of promotion is challenged. The role of PR is re-examined, indicating that PR could be regarded as the more dominant function over marketing of which promotion is only a component. An analysis of the statements by the Inter-University Library Committee (IULC) and the Committee of Technikon Principals (CTP) on the role of academic libraries, lends support to the view that PR should not be restricted to being a component of promotion, but that the converse should apply, and that promotion should rather become a component of PR. The view that academic libraries have a "captive audience" and therefore need not concern themselves much with PR, is therefore, rejected.. A survey of university and technikon libraries in South Africa shows that although PR should be a continuous and planned process of evaluating human needs and keeping users informed, only 33% of academic libraries have formal, planned PR programmes. Furthermore, the existing programmes address mainly one aspect of the PR function, namely that of keeping users informed. Only 26% evaluate user needs. This indicates that, for academic libraries, the PR audit is not yet fully visible.

The study surveyed public relations in twenty-five public libraries in an eight-county region in central Indiana. It examined staff attitudes toward library public relations, the extent of public relations activities and administrative patterns of library PR. It compared attitude and administrative patterns with the extent of public relations activity in an attempt to determine what factors are most important to active library PR.A mail questionnaire was used to establish attitude and an interview surveyed the extent of PR activity and administrative factors.Data suggested that the surveyed library staffs are generally favorable toward PR. However, the hypothesis that a favorable staff attitude would indicate higher PR activity, was not substantiated. The findings show that most of the surveyed libraries did not implement PR as a formal management function. The small size of the sample prohibits generalizations, but library size appears to be an influential factor affecting the extent of PRactivity.

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the Degree of Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS), in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Zululand, 2004. / The study defined customer care as an activity that allows customers to make direct contact with an organization to pass comments on products and their use. It also observed customer care as a customer service that seeks to acquire new customers, provide superior customer satisfaction, and build customer loyalty. The aim of the study was to investigate customer care strategies and services in academic libraries in tertiary institutions in KwaZulu-Natal. Two research assumptions were made. Firstly, it is assumed that academic libraries in South Africa do not have operational customer care strategies and services in place. Secondly, there is a relationship between poor information use and customer service and lack of customer care strategies and services in academic libraries in tertiary institutions. The study targeted 401 respondents, 307 students and 79 academic staff as well as 15 library staff. The study applied both quantitative and qualitative approaches and the population targeted was sampled by the use of stratified random sampling techniques. Three hundred and eighty six (386) questionnaires were distributed to both academics and students while interviews were conducted with the library management or unit and committee responsible for customer care. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze data from academic staff and students. This software was selected because it is a user friendly data management and analysis package that can perform a variety of data analysis tests and presentation functions. Additionally, Microsoft Excel was used to analyze data collected from the library staff respondents. The study focused mainly on the problem areas, which depicts customer care policy and structures, customer care products and services, conducting of customer care, satisfaction of customers and strategies of customer care. It was discovered that some academic libraries do not have a formal policy on customer care in place. However, respondents were aware of and familiar with customer care policies in their libraries. Additionally, awareness and familiarity with information products and services was found to be known among library users. Furthermore, it was found that academic libraries do not have proper methods and strategies of customer care. Even those strategies that exist, are unknown among library users. It was further drawn out that library users are satisfied with information resources offered by their libraries. The study therefore, recommends that academic libraries should have a unit/person and committee responsible for customer care in place. In addition to that, library staff should attend workshops on customer care, to get formal training on how to deal with customers. It was observed that proper strategies and methods of conducting customer care must be implemented.

Rapid changes in the economic and world order have made it imperative for university libraries to make a paradigm shift from prestige collection building to a marketing philosophy as their strategic directive. This philosophy would direct university libraries towards decision making around customers' real needs and preferences, aligning organisational competencies and processes with these needs, resulting in more effective service delivery. Changes in the world order, economics and marketing as a philosophy are presented on a time line, revealing the influence developments in technology and the Internet have brought about. Various views on the influence of these changes in the world order are presented. Marketing in service organisations is encapsulated in a service marketing triangle. Competitive advantage for the university library should be achieved if the internal processes of the library are analysed in the context of a value chain. A proposed marketing model has been presented to direct strategic thinking in the university library. / Information Science / M. Inf.

Rapid changes in the economic and world order have made it imperative for university libraries to make a paradigm shift from prestige collection building to a marketing philosophy as their strategic directive. This philosophy would direct university libraries towards decision making around customers' real needs and preferences, aligning organisational competencies and processes with these needs, resulting in more effective service delivery. Changes in the world order, economics and marketing as a philosophy are presented on a time line, revealing the influence developments in technology and the Internet have brought about. Various views on the influence of these changes in the world order are presented. Marketing in service organisations is encapsulated in a service marketing triangle. Competitive advantage for the university library should be achieved if the internal processes of the library are analysed in the context of a value chain. A proposed marketing model has been presented to direct strategic thinking in the university library. / Information Science / M. Inf.