ALIA West

March 2006

More information on e-commerce

Historically, libraries have been progressive institutions which undertake constant reassessment in order to stay relevant. As the internet becomes widely available, the provision of value added services, such as a virtual reference, e-reserves and WiFi networking, further contribute to transactions and services traditionally provided by institutions such as libraries.

These services and transactions use business models to justify funding and ongoing support. It can therefore be argued that libraries must keep abreast of new models of e-commerce to provide relevant services and develop input where necessary, to predict changes and suitably adapt their way of interacting online or doing business, whether it is free, fee for service or cost recovery.

Such is the competitive nature of business that has come to the world wide web that libraries are being challenged to justify their existence and budgets. As we come to understand the increasingly complex business of surviving in an era of decreasing budgets and large-scale advances in technology, it is very clearly evident that we can no longer rely totally on traditional ways to run libraries. With the spectre of actual competition for libraries, real or perceived, from developments in search engine technology and the wide-spread use of the internet by library users, we need to advance our thinking on how to market and promote libraries in the online environment. To do this, we need to utilise and develop principles that have proved successful, when and where appropriate. This presentation will explore e-commerce to determine how developments in technology, promotion and marketing in the commercial arena may be adapted for libraries, so they can utilise services and create infrastructure to ensure the use of the internet benefits libraries in maintaining future funding, relevance and existence.

What is e-commerce?
E-commerce, in its broadest sense, can encompass any form of business interaction which makes use of information and communications technology. E-commerce can be defined as the buying and selling of information, products and services via computer networks, today and in the future, using any one of the myriad networks that make up the internet.

What is e-business
E-business is the wider concept of managing organisations electronically, however businesses are learning that the Internet is a new area that involves new rules and trial and error speculation. What passes for conventional e-commerce wisdom today mutates tomorrow.