Does Visibility Lead to Increased Use?

Rodriguez, Olivia
Natalia Tingle & Keith Teeter (2018) Browsing the Intangible: Does Visibility Lead to Increased

Use?,Technical Services Quarterly, 35:2, 164-174, DOI: 10.1080/07317131.2018.1422884

Summary: This article analyzes the effect visibility has on library circulation. The authors looked at a variety of ways to promote print and digital materials and then analyzed whether or not these strategies increased circulation in their library. This research project also looked at the difficulties of promoting ebooks.

Evaluation: As libraries continue to weed and add more digital materials to their collection, this article proved to be quite relevant and interesting. The author brought up a great point that many patrons might think that the library’s collection has decreased due to the invisibility of electronic, online collections. One of the marketing strategies the authors used was to create large placards for their ebook collections with QR codes, prominently displayed next to its’ corresponding collection in the stacks, along with the physical, print materials. In this way, patrons can see that there are other resources available online, in addition to the physical collection. This strategy proved fruitful at BYU, where they library saw that overall “average checkouts per month increased by 58.2%” (2018, Teeter & Tingle, p. 167). This type of display is a great idea and I plan to create one for my library this summer.