Library Consumer Engagement Practices

Introduction

The concept of consumer engagement has gained attention in the business literature (Vivek et al., 2014; Dessart et al., 2015). The concept of engagement has received wide application in the library literature (Appleton, 2020, O'Briens & Toms, 2008). The current trends in library management demand that proven management concepts from other disciplines must be encouraged to meet the growing demands of library users. The efforts of libraries to engage with library users (students) emanates from the marketisation of higher education and how students could actively become participants in service delivery (Appleton, 2020). In response to this call, scholars have attempted to provide a practical guide to libraries on engagement practices (see Appleton, 2020; Walsh, 2014; Jalongo and McDevitt (2015). For instance, Walsh (2014) proposes using gamification by libraries to enhance student engagement by libraries. Jalongo and McDevitt (2015) discuss using therapy dogs by libraries to engage students. Jalongo and McDevitt (2015) assert that in addition to providing learning resources, libraries strive to build community and connectedness to ensure the retention of users' use and success.

The idea of labelling library users as customers has gained much attention from scholars (Jones, 1998; Laitinen, 2018; Wójcik, 2019). Wójcik (2019) specifically labelled libraries as a customer-oriented service organisation. Appleton (2020) argues that there is agreement that students are consumers in the context of marketisation and commodification of higher education. Hill (1995) describes students as primary consumers of higher education services since they are part of the service production and delivery processes. According to Emery (2018), a library is a service organisation that is partly oriented to marketing material goods such as books and journals. The customers of libraries are consumers of the services and resources (Jones, 1998). Therefore, consumer engagement is relevant in the context of library services, as library users are regarded as consumers.

Engagement in the library context has been expressed in a number of ways, including student engagement by Appleton (2020) and user engagement by Rosman et al. (2021). User engagement is the quality of user experience that describes a positive human-computer interaction. The literature suggests user engagement involves user's attitudes toward systems (e.g., usability, aesthetic appeal), thoughts, feelings and degree of activity during system use (O'Brien & Toms, 2008). Rosman et al. (2021) and O'Brien (2016) state that user engagement has affective, behavioural, and cognitive aspects, which is similar to the conceptualisation of consumer engagement proposed by Dessart et al. (2015). However, the difference in the literature is that user engagement is more related to the use of technology for interactions with users of a service, while customer engagement may go beyond computer-aided interactions.