Using Qualitative Approach for a Psychographic Segmentation of the Users of Library Services

The paper reflects on the methods used to carry out user segmentation and the positioning of library services in comparison to other forms of cultural offers through the use of the qualitative approach. The reflection is based on the results of an in-progress investigation into the users of four libraries belonging to the City Library Network (one main library and three satellite public libraries) in Perugia, a city in the centre of Italy with 160,000 inhabitants. On an operational level, the investigation foresaw the use of questionnaires, face-to-face interviews and focus group interviews. Regarding user segmentation, specifically the possibility to simplify the market (in our case both real and potential) by dividing it into the most homogeneous segments of users possible and also the most different, we are encouraged to enquire if when examining libraries, like other forms of cultural consumption, the socio-demographic variables are still efficiently discriminating.

Demographic and socio-economic variables, such as age, gender, income and social class, widely used in analyses of library service users due to the fact they are easily accessed and inexpensive, nowadays risk being considered out-dated, as their treatment of user needs and desires is superficial and leaves a discrete margin of imprecision in dealing with the advantages and disadvantages of library services. Using qualitative survey techniques, our aim was to carry out a psychographic segmentation of the library user which would allow us to identify within the potential user basin homogeneous groups characterized by a shared image of what the library represents to them, sharing similar tastes, perceptions and habits, to whom the library can offer made-to-measure services through appropriate strategies in line with their preferences and expectations.