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November 10, 2006

Libraries: Two-sided Marketing Platforms of How can we use this position to fund libraries?

You are probably looking at the title of this post and are scratching your head. Those of you who know me will say”She’s been rading the Harvard Business Review (HBR) again. ” Its true, I love HBR and it gives me lots of material to start percolating ideas with. One article that caught my attention appears on page 92 of the October, 2006 issue and is entitled “Strategies for Two-sided Markets.”Of course after reading the title, I wanted to know what a two-sided market is and it turns out that libraries fit nicely into this model. The authors provide some examples of two sided two- sided networks among them:

Networked Market — Side 1 ——- Side 2 ——— Platform Provider
Miami Yellow Pages—– Consumers —– Advertisers —– Bellsouth, Verizon
DVD ———————– Consumers —– Studios ———- Sony, Toshiba, Samsung
Video Games ———— Players ———- Developers —- PlayStation, Xbox

“Products and services that bring together groups of users in two-sided networks are platforms.”
Therefore libraries easily fit into the model.

Networked Market —— Side 1 ——- Side 2 ——— Platform Providers
Information (databases —– Patrons —— Vendors ——- Libraries
And access to experts)

In other words, libraries provide access to those valuable commodities, information and knowledge by connecting people wanting information with the vendors, librarians, and resources that provide enlightenment. sounds like a pretty powerful position to me.

Granted, it is antypical for public libraries to charge their cardholders for access. However, it seems to me we can use this position to garner better deals with vendors, governmental funding agencies, and the public we serve. Many of our vendors would have to radically restructure their products and the way they market them it libraries were not in the picture. I know that libraries benefit from the products our vendors provide but, it seems we really need each other to survive and thrive.

Other governmental agencies benefit by having libraries distribute tax forms, serve as voter registrars, notary publics, providers of free access to the internet, and providers of quality, face-to-face customer service to taxpayers. Big businesses lower there costs by having library staff provide directory assistance and instruct people on opening e-mail accounts, transacting business online, and completing online forms. The public are the ultimate beneficiaries of the library serving as a platform between various “markets.”

Libraries need money and in-kind support to buttress the platform. Isn’t it time libraries start asking “What’s in it for us/”

posted by Anna at 1:48 pm |

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