Libraries and the ROPO effect

Abstract

The ROPO effect (research online, purchase offline) corresponds to the process by which customers first search for information on the web and then finalize the transaction in a physical store. Like "showrooming", the opposite trend, ROPO is a natural and common human behaviour that will not die off as digital consumer culture continues to evolve. Libraries can benefit from these practices if they are able to align their contents with user needs, offer library web sites with a user-centred design, and improve the user-experience. In this way, users can search for information on Internet, find and evaluate their library´s contents, and then go to the physical library to use its collections and services.