by Lesley Ellen Harris
No longer the sole domain for corporate America, e-commerce is now being employed by governments, libraries, museums and non-profit organizations around the world. Sometimes called the "web entrepreneurs" of the future, many of these institutions are using e-commerce for everything from distributing documents to selling images online to collecting fees for fishing licenses or evening education courses. But is e-commerce for your library? And if so, how do you go about incorporating e-commerce in your special library?
In order to initiate e-commerce in your library, you must understand what exactly is this new omnipresent term--e-commerce. We will then discuss the variety of goals of special libraries, both before the Internet, and in the online world, to determine whether e-commerce may still meet these goals, or whether these goals need to be re-examined in light of new technology and the changing role of libraries. And, as a major goal for many libraries is the improvement of information services, this article will explore how your library may use e-commerce to achieve this goal. We will also look at examples of libraries in the United States who have used e-commerce in interesting and creative ways.
What is E-commerce?
Despite popular conceptions, electronic commerce, or e-commerce, involves more than just financial transactions taking place on your web site. It is really about using the web to generate revenue in a variety of ways for your library. E-commerce may involve conducting financial transactions electronically as well as paying online for a product or service that is delivered offline. However, e-commerce goes much beyond these financial transactions and exchange of services and goods. It also includes marketing products or services online while delivery or payment is made offline, and promoting your library online, influencing people to visit your library, and make a voluntary contribution or pay a membership fee or use your services.
For purposes of this article, e-commerce is divided into three categories:
1. Direct E-Commerce - refers to conducting financial transactions online. It may include providing online ordering and payment for publications or research services, where payment is usually made online, while delivery of the products or services is done offline.
2. Indirect E-Commerce - refers to using the web to make money without collecting actual payments on your web site. For example, online promotion leading people to visit your library or use its services would be considered indirect e-commerce.
3. Digital E-Commerce - refers to activities taking place exclusively on the Internet. Payment and delivery of products and services both take place in an electronic medium. An example would be content like text, images, video, or services like consulting and research that are purchased (e.g., via a credit card) and delivered (e.g., via e-mail) online by your library.
Using E-commerce to Accomplish Your Special Library's Goals
E-commerce may be used to accomplish a number of different goals of a special library. Some common goals include: increasing revenue, improving efficiency, providing better service, marketing products and services, and providing access to information.
Although the online bookstore, Amazon.com, is one of the most popular examples of e-commerce in that most Americans are familiar with the site and many have ordered books from it, there are many other organizations--profit and non-profit--in the United States and around the world that have successfully used e-commerce in a number of different ways. For example, the U.S. Postal Service uses direct e-commerce to sell stamps. Various government organizations, such as the U.S. Copyright Office use e-commerce to provide government forms to the public. Museums such as the Louvre let the public take a virtual tour. The Smithsonian Institute lists volunteer opportunities on its web site. The U.S. Mint displays the new U.S. dollar coin on its web site so that it may receive feedback from the public. As may be seen, e-commerce is used in a variety of different ways by very diverse organizations. It may be used for anything from increasing revenue to getting public feedback.
Why Should Special Libraries Use E-commerce?
As the examples above demonstrate, e-commerce may accomplish many different goals for a variety of organizations. In short, e-commerce should be one of the many steps towards realizing your library's goals. However, each library has a different set of goals, needs and expectations and your first step should be the examination of these goals. This is not a one time process. These goals and priorities will change as the Internet evolves as does your involvement with it, and you will need to be constantly re-visiting and evaluating your own needs.
In order to best evaluate your e-commerce goals, it is important to determine what the goals of your library are in general--or before the Internet. What does your library aim to achieve offline? What is your library's mission statement? Is it to make money? What about to inform, educate and entertain your patrons/clientele? Once you have established your offline goals, then you must go through the same brain-storming process to determine your online goals. Then, the ultimate questions: do your offline and online goals intersect? Is it appropriate to go online (if you haven't already) or to increase your online or e-commerce activities? And finally, you must ask yourself: is e-commerce the best way to achieve the goals of your library?
Here are examples of common online and offline goals to consider. Which goals apply to your library? Are there others?
-Increase revenue
-Build a database and provide access to database
-Increase efficiency
-Develop new information resources
-Provide better quality service
-Market your institution - both the physical premises and its services
-Support curriculum
-Teaching/instruction
-Consolidate your services
-Increase speed of delivery of information
-Provide equal access to information
-Increase your market size
-Develop a community among groups and individuals
-Find alternative revenue streams (online revenue may be additional to other revenue such as memberships, etc.)
-Serve customers better
-Increase productivity
-Lower administration costs
-Filter information
-Provide value added services
-To become more approachable and available on the Internet
-To develop new ways of satisfying your library's mandate
-To increase your library's client base and create a sense of community in the sometimes "unfriendly and vast" online world
-To improve access to information
Successful Uses of E-commerce
Libraries in the United States are successfully using e-commerce in a number of different ways to accomplish various goals. A good example of a library using direct e-commerce is the Library of Virginia. The Library of Virginia uses direct e-commerce in two different ways. Patrons of the library may adopt a book (i.e., one that is damaged) by faxing or mailing in an online form with credit card payment from the library's web site www.leo.vsla.edu/foundation/adform.html Visitors to the Library of Virginia's web site may also shop on-line from the library's gift shop www.leo.vsla.edu/shop/index.html.
An example of a library using e-commerce indirectly is the Seattle Public Library. The Seattle Public Library will answer questions of library card holders and allow new patrons to apply for a library card online www.spl.org/quickinfo/formexpl.html The Library of Congress has also used indirect e-commerce by including its catalogue holdings on its web site www.lcweb.loc.gov/homepage/online.html Another example is Central Washington University Library. The web site of Central Washington University Library www.lib.cwu.edu/circulation/renewals.html provides individual circulation records, a listing of items patrons have checked out and allow patrons to renew materials online.
How E-commerce Can Improve Information Services
Libraries are the primary source of information for many people. An important goal for many libraries is to improve its information services by increasing access to information. Your library may achieve this goal through the use of e-commerce.
Access to Information
With the proliferation of computers and Internet access in homes, libraries and workplaces across the world, increased access to information is possible for many people throughout the world. Global marketing is now a reality for many U.S. libraries. Libraries such as Stanford University and Yale University have comprehensive web sites that reach patrons throughout the world. E-commerce opens up a whole new global market for your library. Anything you choose to place on your library's web site will be available for anyone to access at any time of the day or night (sometimes referred to as 7/24). For example, you may want to place information regarding your library's hours, services, the collections the library has, and documents for sale.
New Information Resources
E-commerce may be used to develop new information resources for your library and increase access to information for your patrons, as well as build your clientele and online community. Your library's web site may include links to other useful web sites or may include information geared toward specific patrons. For example, if your library is located in an area with a large South Asian community, you may want to include information geared towards this community specifically and links to other useful web sites. This has been done by the Library of Richmond, British Columbia, Canada http://www.rpl.richmond.bc.ca/mainPage.htm. The Library of Richmond also allows patrons to pay library fees online and to register for courses online.
Libraries which are part of bigger organizations such as a college or university are now including information regarding other departments or campus libraries. For example, patrons of Yale University library (www.library.yale.edu) can access information about the various libraries on the Yale campus through its web site. Corporate libraries with resource centers in different cities, states or countries may also follow this approach.
Also, you may also wish to digitize part of your collection, as the University of Chicago has done with a collection of American Environmental Photographs http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award97/icuhtml/aephome.html. Some corporations are now digitizing many internal documents and presentations for access by others in the corporations; this is something your library may take an active role in.
Delivery of Information
The speed at which information delivered is important. Effective information services depends upon the quick delivery of information. The Internet allows for large amounts of information to be quickly delivered. Using e-commerce will help your library deliver information quickly to large groups of individuals. This may range from information regarding your library's policies to information on how to access your library's collections or services. For example, patrons may quickly receive information regarding the Library of Congress collections by searching their web site.
Broaden Information Market
By using e-commerce, your library may increase the market to which information is distributed. With its global nature, the Internet will allow you to reach more people throughout the world than ever before, as time zones and borders are irrelevant in cyberspace. If your library is not currently using e-commerce, it may only be reaching people who live in the same city as where the library is located. However, if e-commerce is used to increase the market to which information is distributed, not only may you reach more patrons in your city, but throughout your state, and throughout the rest of the United States and worldwide. You may also reach those patrons who may be unable to come to your library not only for geographic reasons, but also because of disability or illness. Broadening your market not only increases awareness of your library and the services it offers, but may generate more visitors to your library and possible donations to the library in the future.
Developing an E-commerce Strategy
As is evident, in the twenty-first century, improving your library's information services means developing and continually enhancing your online presence. By doing so, you ensure a large number of people will have access to information that is rapidly available to them around the clock. Before you decide to develop your library's online presence, take a look at your overall picture and develop an e-commerce strategy.
What is an e-commerce strategy? An e-commerce strategy is a well thought-out document clearly setting out how e-commerce and the online environment may assist your institution to make money either directly or indirectly from the Internet. The strategy is based on your current offline and online goals and provides a step-by-step process of either beginning or improving your library's e-commerce and online activities. It should be customized to meet the needs of your library. It should provide a blue print of how best to implement e-commerce in your library and will help convince others in your library of the importance of your presence online. As the goal is to improve information services in your library, your e-commerce strategy should be designed to reflect this goal.
There are a number of things to consider when developing an e-commerce strategy for your library.
Determine your library's primary goal in relation to e-commerce. What is it you want to achieve? Do you want to increase revenue or efficiency? Do you want to market your library? Decide what your goal is and remember that these goals should be reassessed often, as they may change over time.
Study how others have met this goal - examine other web sites and ask yourself what you like about their e-commerce and how you would change it. For example, the Central Washington University Library allows patrons to renew materials and provides individual circulation records (see http://www.lib.cwu.edu/circulation/renewals.html). The Seattle Public Library will answer questions from its patrons and will allow patrons to apply for cards online (see http://www.spl.org/quickinfo/formexpl.html)
Register your domain name - your name is the key to e-commerce, so select and register an appropriate domain name if you have not already done so. Even if you have a URL registered, consider whether it is the best one for you. For example, www.cityofwashvillelib.com might not be the best url as it is too long and difficult to remember; maybe www.wlibrary.com would be more appropriate. Also, you may want more than one URL, for instance, one URL for your indirect e-commerce portion, and a separate URL for your direct e-commerce portion or cybershop.
Determine five non-remunerative services/content appropriate for your web site - will these bring people to your web site who may be interested in your paying services? These are your indirect e-commerce items. For example, giving patrons the opportunity to ask simple research questions or browse your catalogue.
Determine five remunerative services/content appropriate for your library's web site-- why will people pay? Speed? Reasonable pricing? Quality and reliability of services/content? Is it more detailed or customized than what is available for free on the Internet? Examples include allowing patrons to order articles, images, presentations and books online.
Assess your technical capabilities--do you need to train digital workers, hire employees or work with consultants? If this is your first time developing your online presence, you will need to assess what goes into creating and maintaining a web site.
What are your monetary realities--what is your budget for setting up an e-commerce site?
Should you sell from your own web site?--do you have loyal customers to your web site? Do you have a good relationship with an online vendor?
When is the best time to launch your e-commerce initiative? Should you launch it all at once, or launch it in portions? Partially launching it may provide you with a "test" to evaluate its positive and negative aspects. However, make sure you launch enough of it to make it worthwhile for your clientele.
Will you be providing goods and services to the public that requires payment, or not? If so, how will you collect payments? - credit card or checks? Digital cash? Offline or online?
Do you want to make money without "selling" from your web site? You may sell advertising on your web site--banner ads, bounty deals and displaying content on a commissioned basis (i.e., content owner sells content and institution obtains a portion of the moneys obtained)
Establish both online and offline marketing plan--mail out, brochures, traditional press; register with search engines every six to eight weeks (i.e., Yahoo!), third party web sites and/or links to your web site, and email broadcasts.
Examine the legal issues--intellectual property (i.e., trademarks, copyright), taxation, privacy, and advertising. A lawyer specializing in intellectual property or Internet law may be able to advise you on these issues.
Conclusion
One consistent goal of libraries is to improve information services--by improving access to information, increasing your market, increasing resources available and delivering information in a timely fashion. However, goals of special libraries may differ and change over time. Once you have established your goals, it is important to keep reassessing them over time so that they remain relevant to your library. Use your e-commerce strategy as a blue print which needs revision as the "world" , i.e., Internet, keeps changing. And keep in mind, e-commerce is new to everyone, and there is lots of room for innovation and creativity.
Lesley Ellen Harris is a copyright and e-commerce lawyer/consultant and author of a series of four e-reports on e-commerce for libraries, archives and museums to be published in 2000 (see http://copyrightlaws.com.) She is also the author of Digital Property: Currency of the 21st Century (McGrawHill). She may be reached at lesley@copyrightlaws.com.
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