32 ANN. LIB. INF. STU., FEBRUARY 2007 Annals of Library and Information Studies Vol. 54, March 2007, pp.32-36 Literature on LIS marketing: Growth and pattern Dinesh K. Gupta Associate Professor of Library and Information Science, V.M. Open University, Kota-324010 E-mail: dineshkg@sancharnet.in In the beginning of 1970s ‘marketing’ entered into library literature. Thereafter growth has been noted enhancing its applicability in libraries resulting into wider knowledge base on the subject. This paper traces the history and growth of LIS marketing literature. It classifies LIS marketing literature into review publications and bibliographies, books (including conference publications), journals and newsletters, and web-based literature. These four sources represent the principal outlets for disseminating knowledge of LIS marketing. Introduction The concept of ‘marketing’ originated in early 20 th century and became a central activity for consumer products during 1950s. And in 1969, Kotler’s ‘marketing-for-non-profit organizations’ opened new vistas for marketing. As a result, organizations including libraries, which had hitherto been away in using the term ‘marketing’, started taking interest in applying marketing. With the passage of time, the focus of marketing on library and information services further changed with the new categories of marketing such as services marketing, relationship marketing, internal marketing, internet marketing, one-to-one marketing, realistic marketing, symbolic marketing, guerrilla marketing, etc. The new theories vividly changed the nature and scope of LIS marketing and there is always a need felt for a comprehensive understanding of LIS marketing. The literature produced over the years is vital to understand it. The present paper traces the growth of literature, finds publishing pattern and offers an overview of the types of information sources available on the area. Objectives • To study of growth of literature and to give an overview of the world literature on LIS marketing; • To identify the publishing pattern of LIS marketing literature; and • To give an overview of the types of information sources on LIS marketing. Methodology The available literature on LIS marketing is widely scattered. Information professionals find it difficult to access appropriate and relevant literature. For the present study the Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA) and Library, Information Science and Technology Abstracts (LISTA) have been used. The two databases offer online searches to data from the same period when ‘marketing’ started appearing in library and information services literature. Title keyword search on ‘marketing’ was carried out for five yearly clusters to retrieve records. Many other sources such as bibliographies, reviews, books and journal article have also been consulted and used for this introductory study. Internet resources have also been identified. Literature on marketing Generally, growth of literature refers to an increase in number of documents published in the field. The number of publications on LIS marketing has increased significantly as is reflected from the search results obtained. Table 1 gives the results from the title keyword search on ‘marketing’ in LISTA (Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts) and LISA (Library and Information Science Abstracts) databases.