247 

Buyer Be Wary! 

In the September 1974 issue of JOLA, the "Highlights of ISAD Board 
Meeting" reflects the library automation community's growing concern 
with misrepresentation of products and misleading or fraudulent claims. 
A proposal was made that ISAD create a mechanism to monitor relevant 
advertising in order to inform and protect' its constituency and, indeed, the 
entire profession. 

It is paradoxical that this concern is being voiced at a time when the re-
lationship between the public and private sectors seems closer than at any 
other time in the recent past. In general, librarians and vendors are good 
friends. There is an atmosphere of mutual respect, and we no longer raise 
eyebrows upon learning that a librarian-colleague has gone "commercial." 
Indeed, librarians and libraries are learning from the business world to 
create products and market them in order to support desired internal ser-
vices. The growing entrepreneurial efforts of libraries are linkirig the two 
groups with a yet firmer bond. 

Unfortunately, but inevitably, there are a few flies in the ointment. 
With regularity, we pick up professional literature to find advertising 
which sounds too good to be true. An investigation will usually indicate 
that, in fact, it is not true. We are often visited by salesmen describing in-
credible advances in their particular areas. The pressure applied by these 
people can be distasteful and even intolerable. Or we may receive a one-
page brochure from an unknown company, touting its latest, very competi-
tive system, and listing the familiar names of well-respected librarians as 
advisors. Almost always, we are lucky and are able to discover for our-
selves the true nature of the products being advertised. Our misfortune 
may begin when an ambitious salesman finds his or her way into the office 
of an administrator or politician who does not have adequate preparation 
for the onslaught of facts, figures, and fallacies. 

What are the best ways of misrepresenting a product? Most approaches 
fall into one of the following categories: ( 1) misleading advertising, 
with unclear statements and imprecise use of vocabulary; ( 2) claims that 
one, or several, or many other libraries are using the product with satisfac-
tion (when this indeed is not the case); ( 3) specific statements that a large 
and prestigious library is about to sign a contract for servic~s or products 
(although investigation will reveal no such intention); ( 4) lists of experts 
in the field who are presumed to be associated with the company in an ad-
visory or consultant role (but who are unaware of this use of their 
names); and ( 5) approaches to federal, state, or local agencies to appeal 



248 Journal of Library Automation Vol. 7/4 December 1974 

the procedures used by libraries in requesting bids or awarding contracts. 
At this point, a note of caution must be inserted. Strategies of advertis-

ing and marketing usually involve one or more of the above techniques to 
a certain extent. We all practice minor exaggerations and simplifications 
in our professional lives in order to accomplish certain goals. It would be 
unwise and unfair to accuse an advertiser of misleading his market on the 
basis of one of these "small exaggerations." In resolving this issue, our 
concern must be with those individuals or organizations who are constant-
ly found with a large discrepancy between the word and the deed. 

What methods can be used as protection against these tactics? There are 
several reliable paths: ( 1) be aware of and alert to the possibilities of 
misleading claims and misrepresentation; ( 2) follow up a sales pitch with 
a few phone calls to those institutions that are described to be using the 
product or about to sign the contract; ( 3) maintain a reasonable amount 
of resistance to the sales talk; ( 4) use the library profession's invisible col-
lege to determine the validity of the claims and the experiences that oth-
ers have had with the firm; and ( 5) support the attempts of our profes-
sional societies, such as ALA and ASIS, to require organizations to main-
tain certain advertising standards. 

The library market is expanding and maturing; therefore, these growing 
pains associated with increased marketing efforts are not unexpected. With 
adequate education and awareness on the part of the buyer, with some 
pressures placed on advertisers by the professional community, and with 
a tolerance for the normal tendencies of advertising and marketing, we 
will be able to resolve a difficult situation with grace and without hard 
feelings. 

SusAN K. MARTIN