Tools Managed By The Spanish Academic Libraries In The Web Service:Setting Up E-Branding
Creators: name: Menendez, Jose Luis
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: academic libraries
ebranding
social media
bibliotecas universitarias
marca
facebook
app
blog
sitio web
website

description: The possible emigration of users of the website to any of the new communication channels is based on easier access to the library's services, as they are offered via tools and applications that are already used by the audience. Moreover, the link between library and users is strengthened, as the audience's needs are totally covered, thus creating a feeling of loyalty to the library. It should also be borne in mind that the large number of such channels gives a wider public access to the library's services in a shorter time, contributing to virality. And in general the institution's visibility and reputation in the web ecosystem are enhanced.

As part of the process of constructing the on-line brand of Spanish university libraries, the services they offer can be identified under a unified banner in an environment where the growing use of mobile devices facilitates simultaneous access via various channels. However, this means our objectives both for the web services offered and the development of the on-line brand need to be associated with this identity, while the library in question must avoid becoming lost among all the content offered by competitors.

This research is intended to show the need for Spanish university libraries to create an on-line brand, in the light of the possible existence of a linear correlation between the increase in the use of certain web environments (social media, apps and specific tools, which can only be viewed on mobile devices), as indicated by appropriate metrics, and the decrease in the use of the website tool, also measurable in this way. It also aims to compare the influence of tactical objectives such as popularity, activity, social perception, commitment and conversion on the possible increase in the use of these web environments and the possible decrease in the use of the website.

This quantitative descriptive research proposes to compile information on the number of Spanish university libraries for which the tactical objectives of popularity, activity, social perception, commitment and conversion are pursued more effectively in the above web environments than via the website, when promoting the visibility of the libraries and their brand identity.

We also try to predict, using simple regression analysis, whether the increase in the number of libraries where the use of web environments is growing coincides with an increase in the number of libraries where the use of the website is decreasing.  

Of the possible combinations between the website and each of the web environments analysed, the variables giving the highest Pearson linear correlation coefficient were the number of libraries where the use of each of the web tools grew and the number of libraries the use of whose website decreased. There was a strong positive correlation as both increased in parallel. Using the tabulated data for both variables, and in order to verify the prediction, in the regression formula: , the variable <em>x</em>, (number of libraries where the number of visits to each of the web environments increased) was replaced by a random value in the range between the minimum and maximum tabulated values for both variables. The process was carried out with two values in order to obtain two pairs of data (<em>x, y</em>), which were used as coordinates, so that results falling on the regression line for these data would confirm the hypothesis of an increase in both variables, as was the case.  To verify the validity of the prediction line in the regression equation, the value of the variable <em>x</em> was replaced by its average, giving the average value of the variable <em>y</em> as a result. When these two values were added to the regression line, the point at which they met also fell on the line. Finally the coefficient of determination was measured, with a view to confirming that the variable for the number of libraries where the use of each of the web tools increased accounted for the variable for the number of libraries where the use of the website decreased in almost 100% of cases.

One of the conclusions of this research is that it confirms the prediction that a greater increase in the number of Spanish university libraries using <em>REBIUN</em> where the number of accesses or visits to the website between 2004 and 2012 inclusive fell matches a greater increase in the number of Spanish university libraries using <em>REBIUN</em> where the number of visits and downloads using the web environments analysed in the same period rose.

The results for Popularity, Influence, Commitment and Conversion were considered neutral, as it was not possible to establish a greater or lesser predominance for these indicators in relation to the web environments analysed compared to the website. However, the result for Activity showed a higher level of influence with the web environments than in the case of the website.