Marknadsföring av Sjömansbiblioteket : En studie i kommunikationen mellan ett specialbibliotek och dess användare

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this Master's thesis is to examine how the Swedish Seamen's library, situated in Rosenhill Gothenburg, communicates with its users; i.e. the seamen. There has been a dramatic decrease in the lending statistics over the years, and the library staff are interested to know what reasons lay behind this, and if something more can be done to promote the library and its services. The questions used to fulfill this purpose are as follows; in what way does the Seamen's library market themselves today, and are the patrons aware of the services the library offers? What can be the cause of the decrease in the lending statistics? In this study the focus will be on the Swedish sailors as almost all of the literature is in Swedish. The main theories are internal marketing by Christan Grönroos, and the marketing mix as it is presented by Philip Kotler. A SWOT- analysis is performed to evaluate the library's internal and external environment. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are used to collect information. The chief librarian and the staff working at the Seamen's center are interviewed, as they are the link between the library and their patrons. In addition, a survey was sent out to ships for the seamen to conclude. The empirical evidence led to the conclusion that the seamen are aware of the existence of the library, but the library need to market their services more, for example trough social media. The internal communication between the library and rest of the staff at Rosenhill also needs to improve.