AAQ: European travel videos...

Hello and thank you for using the “Ask A Question” service.

You are inquiring whether or not we have videos for travel/tourism destinations in Europe.

By employing the “Advanced Search” feature in the library’s online catalogue (which you can access by selecting “Books and Audiovisuals” from the library’s homepage (http://www.mhc.ab.ca/library) and then selecting “Advanced Search” under the “Search by:” heading), you will be able to locate such materials.

Once you are at the “Advanced Search” page (http://darius.uleth.ca/search~S2/X), select “Subject:” from the first drop box in the form (the drop box will say “Any Field:”), and in the field to the right, type: “description and travel” (you can use quotation marks around the phrase). In the second line, select “Subject:” from the drop box again, and enter the desired destination in the box to the right. To narrow it down to videos, select “FILM/VIDEO” from the “Material Type” drop box – this is second drop box below the text form where you enter your search terms.

A generic search (without a destination term to limit the search), yielded 270 “description and travel” videos – 38 of which are DVDs. Those DVDs, include:

• Passport to Europe: United Kingdom, Ireland (DA 11 P37 2007)
• Cruise Northern Europe (D 965 C78 2003)
• The Algarve, Portugal (DP 526.5 A43 2000)
• Paris (DC 707 P35 2000)
• Greece, Turkey, Israel & Egypt (DF 728 G73 1995)

VHS titles include:

• Istanbul (DR 723 I87 2001)
• Russia: Moscow, St. Petersburg and Murmansk (DK 29.2 R87 2000)
• Greek Islands (DF 895 G74 2000)
• Turkey: The enchanted land of Cappadocia (DS 156 C3 T87 1999)
• Notes from Russia: A young woman's video journal (DK 510.29 N67 1999)
• Ireland (DA 978.2 I73 2002)
• Over Ireland (DA 982 O93 1998)
• The Greek Explorer (DF 728 G72 1998)
• Riviera Bound (DC 29.3 R58 1998)
• London (DA 679 L66 1998)
• Exotic Islands Of Europe (D 923 E96 1998)
• Finland & The Baltics (DL 1015.4 F57 1998)
• London City Guide (DA 679 L67 1998)
• Southern Italy (DG 821 S68 1998)
• Paris City Guide (DC 707 P36 1998)
• Southwestern presents... (G 153 T7 v. 1-4)
• Travels in Europe (DL 11.5 T72 1997)
• Travels in Europe (DP 43.2 T72 1997)
• Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily (D 973 C6 1996)
• Iceland and Greenland (DL 315 I25 1996)
• Travels in Europe (DF 728 T72 1995)
• Germany (DD 43 G44 1995)
• Turkey: West coast of Turkey, central Turkey (DR 416 T8 1995)
• Greece, Turkey, Israel & Egypt (DF 728 G73 1995)
• Spain (FC 3067.5 O5 1992)
• Insight: simply the best: Europe, Britain, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Eastern Mediterranean (G 155.5 I5 1991)
• The eastern treasures of Germany (DD 43 E2 1991)
• Travels in Europe (D 923 T72 1991)
• Travels in Europe (DD 43 T72 1991)
• London, England (DA 684.25 L65 1990)
• Voices of Leningrad (DK 552 V6 1990)
• Poland: A Proud Heritage (DK 4037 P6 1989)
• Madeira, Portugal (DP 516 M33 1988)
• Paris, France (DC 29.3 P37 1988)
• Scotland (DA 867.5 S36 1988)
• The turquoise coast via Istanbul (DR 429.4 T87 1988)
• Switzerland now! (DQ 25 I58 1986)
• Greece (DF 728 G7 1985)
• Lisbon, Portugal (DP 516 L57 1985)
• Sunny Canary Islands, Spain & Morocco (D 973 S8)
• Yacht charters in Greece (DF 728 Y3)
• Dubrovnik and Riviera: Welcome to Dubrovnik (DR 396 D83 D83 198?)
• Focus on Ireland (DA 978 I58 1985)
• Fantastic Finland (DK 450.2 I58 1986)
• Europe by train: Relive the past...discover the future (D 907 E9)
• Great Britain by Train (DA 11 G7)

Eurasian countries (Russia and Turkey) were also included in this list of materials. All titles are located in the “Audio Visuals” collection of the Vera Bracken Library (Medicine Hat Campus). Each video’s corresponding call number is in parenthesis following the title of the video.

There are no travel videos located in the Brooks Campus Library; however, you can see the General Services Desk (phone: (403) 362-1690) at that library for direction about how to acquire any of the listed videos.

Thank you again for using the “Ask A Question” service. If you need more help, please use the service again or see the Information Desk in the Medicine Hat College Library (phone #: (403) 529-3867; Toll Free: 1 (866) 282-8394 (Ext. 3867)).

AAQ #: 43012

AAQ: Finding target market...

Hello and thank you for using the “Ask A Question” service.

You are asking: “What formula do you use to find target market?”

There does not seem to be any one surefire method of identifying target markets. The most common means of determining target market seems to employ “segmentation”. This process involves breaking down all the market into a variety of gender, cultural, geographic, political, social, and economic groups.

Once you have defined the categories in each group (e.g., Race: Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, Asians, etc.; Income: $10,000-20,00/year earners, $20,001-30,000/year earners, etc.; Age: 18-25 year olds; 26-35 year olds, etc.; Sexes: Male, Female, Transgender, etc.) select which category or categories is arguably more inclined to purchase the product – or whom you would like to purchase the product. From the selected segmentations, you would cross reference them and develop a matrix that defines your target market.

It is important to understand that no one product will appeal to all consumers, so the matrix will be different for each product – the best example is the wide variety of vehicle styles and colours that are available. Gone are the days of Henry Ford’s Model T and his assertion that, “Any customer can have a car painted any colour he wants so long as it is black.”

For example (without displaying the full market segmentation), if you were selling $100,000 coupe roadsters you would probably target people:

• making in excess of $100,000/year (because if a person made less, that person might have other priorities)
• males (not to say to say that females would not, but males might be more inclined)
• North American or European markets (because of the well developed road infrastructure and economies in these places, you might not be as concerned about targeting tolower per capita GDP nations such as China or India – despite their high GDPs and populations)
• 25-55 years old (a large spread, because the young hipster with money might “feel the need for speed” and the affluent Baby Boomer might have the disposable income; younger people in school might have other priorities and seniors might not seek the “status” that some seek in owning such vehicles)
• singles or childless couples (families need not apply, these cars are built for two and a baby seat would not fit)
  

Another means might be examining available statistics and trends that currently exist in the market – from the existing data, you might be able to answer, “Who is buying similar products now?” Additionally, the employment of focus groups or polls could also be used in determining what a “target market” is.

There is a good deal more to know about developing a scheme that would help you determine what your target market is. To learn more about determining target markets, search the library’s catalogue (http://darius.uleth.ca/search~S2) and use the “Basic Search”. Input a term such as “marketing” or phrases such as “target marketing” or “market segmentation”, and you are bound to discover many titles that are relevant to your needs. You can also use our
business databases (http://www.mhc.ab.ca/library/databases/business.html) to discover journal and magazine articles about this subject.

Thank you again for using the “Ask A Question” service. If you need more help, please use the service again or see the Information Desk in the Medicine Hat College Library (phone #: (403) 529-3867; Toll Free: 1 (866) 282-8394 (Ext. 3867)).

AAQ #: 43013

General Update - 2008 Projects

Well, I did finish cleaning-up the database pages and everything seems to be functioning properly. The projects that I am working to now include:

• modifying/up-dating PowerPoint shows for various presentations
• preparing handouts for the history and political science classes that I work with
• redesign the layout of the library's website - primarily integrating the Brooks Campus site into the existing Vera Bracken library site
• preparing for an assortment of instructional classes

That should be enough to keep me busy for a bit. Well, it is time to get busy.