The Marketing of Library Services through Social Media: A Case Study of the Central Library at Al-Mustansiriyah University

Abstract

This research aims to identify the reality of marketing library services through social media at the Central Library of Al-Mustansiriya University and to examine the effectiveness of these platforms in enhancing communication with beneficiaries and promoting the available services and resources. The study adopted the descriptive analytical method, and a questionnaire was used as the main tool for data collection from a sample of beneficiaries that included faculty members, students, and employees.
The results showed that all participants use social media platforms, and that Facebook ranked first in terms of usage, followed by Instagram, WhatsApp, and Telegram, reflecting the importance of these platforms in marketing library services. The findings also indicated that the majority of participants were aware of the library’s social media pages and considered announcements about new books and services through these platforms to be among the most effective methods for attracting beneficiaries and increasing interaction with them.
The study revealed a clear tendency toward developing the library’s digital pages through continuous content updates and the use of multimedia tools such as images and short videos, in addition to adopting modern technologies such as chatbots and automated response systems to improve communication with users. The findings also emphasized the importance of diversifying social media platforms and improving the visual identity of the library’s official pages.
The research concluded with several recommendations, most notably the development of the library’s official social media pages, maintaining regular content publication, providing specialized staff to manage social media accounts, enhancing awareness of digital library services, and conducting future studies on the impact of social media on improving library services and increasing the use of electronic resources.