Value-added Service to Academic Library Users in 21st Century: Using Competitive Intelligence Approach

Abstract

Higher education in the twenty-first century globally has been characterized and driven on business ethos. The institutions are faced with stiff competition in an attempt to increase their student enrolment, attract international students and faculty, pioneer centres of excellence, show-case outstanding research output, produce astute graduates and get listed in top ranking league tables. The paper therefore examined the effects of leveraging on value-added services to academic library users through competitive intelligence as a predictor of competitive advantage among tertiary institutions. It identified value-added personnel, collection, processing of materials and dissemination of information as constituting specific target selling points to be enriched with the concept. It however noted and x-rayed the concept of competitive intelligence as a critical precondition for achieving effective value-added service delivery in academic libraries. The paper concluded that robust collection coupled with technology-driven retrieval system as well as digital reference services would lead to greater user satisfaction and enhanced patronage of library services. It recommended among other factors the need to benchmark competitor institutions to gain competitive advantage over the market.