44 Marketing of Electronic Information Resources to Academic Library Users: A Conceptual Study Idakwo, Sunday Innocent 1 Abdullahi Bala Shehu 2 Abstract This paper discusses the meaning of marketing with reference to academic library users. The present age library system has adopted new technology to provide Information and Communication Technologies based products and services to satisfy the diverse needs of library patrons. This paper has also x-rayedthe reasons for marketing of electronic information resources and its advantages to academic library users. The study went further to discuss that the marketing of e-resources can be actualized through digital media including the email-list, internet, library’s websites, blogs,and postcard; social media such as Facebook, Web 2.0, Wikis, LinkedIn, Myspace, Blogging, YouTube and the print materials. The aim of the study is to introduce various tools that libraries can use to market e-resources. Keyword: Marketing, Electronic Information Resources, Academic Library Users, Digital Library Introduction Every human activity, be it in the service-oriented settings or productive sectors are geared towards actualizing some set targets or goals. Such goals, however, cannot be realized until the products of such organization are delivered to the doorsteps of the consumers. In other words, the production of goods and services is never complete until they are delivered to the consumers for their consumption and satisfaction. This process involves chains of distribution networks. Similarly, in the service- orientedsectors, such as libraries, the assemblage, and coordination of information resources generated globally rests squarely on the shoulder of information Manager which in this regard acts as a marketer of information resources and information sources available to the consumers. The trend in libraries now is the conversions of information resources from print to electronic formats and research has revealed that some of the library users are unaware of these resources; some patrons lack the required ICT skills to search relevant information, whereas some are unsatisfied with the available library collections. The heavy library budget is expended on electronic resources year in, year out by the academic libraries, yet many of them are underused and unknown to users, hence the need for effective marketing of the resources to its users. The traditional marketing technique for print resources, such as exhibition, display of new books, bulletin board, user orientation, and library guide seems to be less suitable and inadequate for electronic resources because there are physically absent to view for users. Background of the Study There are so many literatures on the marketing of libraries and information resources but all the previous studies had mainly covered the marketing of graphic materials which is the major part of academic library collections anyway but after the emergence of information communication technology (ICT), electronic resources have now grown as the major part of library collections. Therefore this study focuses on marketing electronic information resources. The aim of marketing is to inform the users of the diverse products and services that a library has in stock. ____________________________________________ 1 Idakwo, Sunday Innocent, Research Scholar, Department of Library and Information Science, University of Nigeria Nsukka, Email: iidakwo@yahoo.com,Mobile No: +2347031629683 2 Abdullahi Bala Shehu, Research Scholar, Department of Library and Information Science, University of Delhi, Email: abeeshe@yahoo.com, Mobile No: +2348063986269