“Apply the fundamental principles of planning, management, marketing, and advocacy”
Introduction
Many librarians and information professionals will find themselves managing a library department or functioning as the sole librarian in their organization. Any leadership position requires certain essential skills, and for this reason LIS professionals need to understand how to plan a budget, how to effectively market their library, how to advocate for themselves and their library, and how to manage coworkers fairly and respectfully.
Planning a budget means looking carefully at several things. Examining the last few years’ budgets and tracking data on expenses can help accurately forecast the needs for the next year. It’s also important to keep track of how the last year’s budget was spent, to defend the continuing expenses of the current fiscal year plans. In evaluating costs, a manager can determine if a library service’s funding should be increased or decreased by keeping track of how often patrons use the service. There are also new costs to consider, such as changes in technologies requiring new hardware in a computer lab or the upgrading of an OPAC or similar system. Potential increases in subscription prices to databases may still amount to an opportunity for savings, if a strategy of not acquiring certain publications, or of to converting to digital, is used.
Libraries also need to consider the importance of marketing their services to the surrounding community. Wonderful and useful programs and services are not much good if no one uses them, so local outreach programs are vital for attracting patrons. Some small libraries may feel that they lack the experience to effectively market themselves, yet marketing can be as simple as putting flyers or brochures of available services in the library itself, to attract established patrons. It can also include radio spots, newspaper ads, and -arguably most importantly- an Internet presence. These larger, more specialized avenues can be the most intimidating part of marketing for people. But there are a variety of free sites, forums, feeds, and email newsletters, as well as various social media sites that to distribute news and information about the library. A library of one employee can become an effective marketing force with research and patience, even with minimal prior knowledge and no budget to hire a professional, if they are willing to learn the current technologies.
Advocating for the library, especially a library struggling to be completely funded, can be a difficult but very rewarding form of marketing. I’ve heard of school librarians appealing on Facebook to their alumni in order to raise funds to help purchase much-needed popular books for their collection. On charitable websites, under-funded school libraries in disadvantaged areas can post their most-wanted books list; anyone may then purchase these books through the site on behalf of the school’s library. Advocating for the library also includes negotiating with the larger parent institution, such as at board, departmental, or budget meetings. At such a meeting, the librarian or information professional ideally will have a collection of data on the library’s workings and budget to be able to advocate with a firm footing.
Finally, managing personnel relations is as important a part of managing a library as fully understanding the needs of its collection, such as inventory and migration. In small libraries, personnel relations may simply mean self-management and self-direction, yet most libraries are multiple-position organizations. As a manager of other library employees, there are considerations to take into account which affect the entire department: scheduling concerns, hiring and firing, navigating and upgrading technologies. Treating this these issues seriously will go a long way towards creating a motivated and effective staff, who will be willing to work through tough times like technology changes. People representing different cultures, genders, ages, experiences and abilities both serve and are served by modern libraries. Respecting these differences is of paramount importance to a manager, who naturally functions as the model example to colleagues and patrons alike.
Evidence
My first piece of evidence is a brochure project made in LIBR 204 for a fictional library. This brochure is mainly an events calendar for the monthly services offered at “Ravensden Public Library.” I created several events for adults, young adults, all ages, and for kids. Also in this brochure is a total breakdown of the entire calendar of important dates, the library’s contact information and a request for volunteers. This project demonstrates an understanding of marketing library services to patrons.
My second piece of evidence is a Workable Library Drawing I created for LIBR 204. This is a blueprint drawing of the layout of a fictional school library. It includes the entrance and exit, a book check-in slash drop area, a small self check-out area, and a check-out desk. It also has areas for shelving, seating, computers, non-print storage, and an office for the “Teacher Librarian.” This assignment required me to plan out what my library would include, and where it would be in relation to the other pieces. For example, I have the librarian’s office near the self check out, check out desk, entrance and exit, and check in drop and the seating because I see those areas as being ones where immediate assistance may be needed. The seating area may become too loud, or there is a problem in one of the check out areas, or the check in drop area is full.
My third piece of evidence is from LIBR 204. This is an emailed individual team evaluation. Our group had only a few weeks to complete a group project that analyzed an organization in multiple ways. This evaluation is a breakdown of how the team took on the project, our different contributions, and overall work. My feedback included how much I contributed to the project, both as a member as well as the group leader. As a member, I created a progress update for the instructor; another member and I conducted the environmental scan and created strategic goals for the organization. This process involved discussing the current environment of the library organization, and significant planning of future management goals. As the leader, I created multiple google documents and shared them with the group to facilitate real-time collaboration. I set up and lead meetings, keeping the group aware of and focused on project time constraints; when necessary, I successfully extended the due date of the project. I repeatedly offered assistance and advice to the group, leading to my belief that my contribution to the management and planning of our work was instrumental to our team success.
Conclusion
As librarians, we sometimes work alone or in management positions. This means that we must be ready to effectively consider all of the different aspects of running a library, to include the planning, marketing, advocacy, and personnel management. Planning means thinking ahead towards future challenges, be they budget cuts or the loss of a parking lot. Marketing, while intimidating at first, can be as simple as making sure each patron encountered knows that there is a book fair and asking that they tell their friends. Advocacy often means defending one’s position to others. This can be something like showing up to a school department meeting with a digestible breakdown of the last five years budget, illustrating an important point. Successful management means the ability to get people to work effectively and together, a task accomplished by good planning and fair treatment of employees and patrons as much as effective communication and thorough knowledge of the collection and services offered.