“Marketing Research as a Tool for Finding Library Users' Needs and Demands: Application of Three Party Theory. Farzana Shafique. Library Philosophy and Practice 2009 (January) 1 Library Philosophy and Practice 2009 ISSN 1522-0222 Marketing Research as a Tool for Finding Library Users' Needs and Demands: Application of Three Party Theory Farzana Shafique Lecturer Department of Library and Information Science The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan Introduction Information is a vital resource for national development. A society that consumes and generates the most knowledge and information is the strongest society. One major aspect of economic development is the balanced interaction of supply and demand. In the information age, the service sector of the economy is also going through a period of almost revolutionary change. Jestin and Parameswari (2002) observe that the increasingly important role of information has resulted in information systems that provide a variety of services and products. They stress the idea that library services must be based on the modern concept of marketing to achieve reader satisfaction, and to nurture a culture of customer service to enhance the library's image in the eyes of the users. Systematic investigation of the type, quality, and quantity of services required by the users is the basis of marketing for libraries. The concept of a “market” for library and information services emerged in the 1960s and early 1970s when studies of user requirements started to be taken more seriously. Before that, services were professionally determined and systems-led rather than customer-driven. Many user studies have been done using market research techniques. Techniques used in library market research are drawn from the commercial sector and may be designed to assess both quantitative and qualitative aspects of service. Various methodologies may be used, such as questionnaires, interviews, user panels, or focus groups (Shamel, 2002; Kennington, 2003). Koontz (2003) defines market research as the continuous acquisition and analysis of customer-related. According to him, market research usually revolves around gathering data that is needed to solve a specific problem. Ideally, agencies gather customer-related data continuously, so information is available when needed. The American Marketing Association (2007) provides a comprehensive definition of marketing and market research, saying that, “marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.” Market research helps see the library through the eyes of its users. It is a way to measure what the library is providing and what its users want (McDonald, 1989; Lovelock, 1996; Wilson and Strouse, 1999; Market Research Portal, 2007). Keeping the effectiveness of this technique in view, market research was used to determine library users' opinions about the library of the Department of Library and Information Science (DLIS), University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan. As Mittermeyer (2003) observes, in library and information science (LIS) marketing, it takes “three to tango:: the parent organization, the service provider, and the customer. Her “Third Party Theory” is illustrated in Figure 1.