Competency D

Apply the fundamental principles of planning, management, marketing, and advocacy.

Introduction

For Information institutions and organizations, and other fields and industries, long-term success heavily relies on how well it is organized and managed. Strategic planning, management, marketing, and advocacy are all essential functions that ensure institutions, like public libraries, operate to the best of their abilities and remain relevant to their communities. With the rapid changes that can occur within communities and their information needs, organizations need to be able to redefine their goals and adopt new strategies to adapt to challenges that may result.

Explication

Planning

Much like individual professional planning, libraries need to assess where they are and where they need or want to be. Strategic planning provides an institution with direction and guidance. Through the strategic planning process, libraries can ensure that the existing programs, services, and resources are fulfilling the needs of their customers and adhering to their mission, vision, and core values (Rosenblum, 2022).

During the strategic planning process, the libraries consider various questions and conduct internal and external interviews when assessing the current performance and planning enhancements for the future, such as:

● What is the library doing well?

● What areas need improvement?

● What are our currently available resources?

● What are the current and anticipated future community needs?

● What additional programs, services, and resources are wanted or needed?

As another part of the planning process, libraries perform needs assessments which come in the form of environmental scans and SWOT analyses. Environmental scans examine past and existing conditions, trends, and behaviors that affect the effectiveness of library services in planning for the future. They then perform an internal and external analysis of what influences them and identify their Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and threats in a SWOT analysis.

With feedback from the stakeholder interviews and observations from the needs assessments, the library gains valuable insight on where to focus their attention and efforts. From here, they develop goals, define strategies, and highlight key programs that benefit the community for the next three to five years.

Management

How an organization is managed plays a significant role in how successful it is, especially when it consists of many moving parts and is affected by rapidly changing environments. Libraries have many aspects to take into consideration, including collections, budgets, staff, community engagement, and physical facilities. As a result, managing libraries is a huge endeavor that requires library managers and supervisors to possess various skills and competencies. These skills and competencies may include leadership and team management, creative problem-solving, communication, and conflict resolution (Mavrinac, 2022).

Another critical management skill that influences all sections of library administration and service is change management and leadership. Communities and the needs of community members are constantly and rapidly changing. In order to effectively serve their communities, information institutions need proactive change leaders and agents to develop, facilitate, and implement necessary changes to promote growth within an institution and ensure that they can continue to support the needs of their community members. (Barefoot, 2022).

Marketing

Marketing is often associated with businesses, corporations, and earning money; however, libraries and other information institutions also benefit from promoting themselves and creating a brand. It has become more important than ever to promote and market library resources, materials, and services because “new resources often remain hidden from users unless they are making extensive use of the library’s website” (Cassell and Hiremath, 2018, p. 357). Like with any product sold on the market today, many customers won’t know about what an organization has to offer unless it is advertised in one way or another.

An example that has been incorporated into the practices of many libraries is consistently and continually utilizing communication tools like email newsletters and social media as part of their marketing plan, which “increases awareness of programs, resources, and reasons for patrons to visit” (Sanchez and Van Stralendorff, 2018, p. 37). By being proactive and engaging with customers, libraries cultivate relationships, demonstrate their value to the community, and reaffirm their reputation as community hubs and anchors.

Advocacy

Garnering support is another essential function of organizational management. This is especially true for public libraries that rely on state, federal, or local funding. Without the support from members of the community who pay taxes and vote on tax measures and elected officials who make important decisions about budgets and fiscal policies, public libraries would not have the funds to provide the necessary resources, programs, and services to the community.

How do libraries gain support? By actively engaging with their community members, growing their support base, and continually demonstrating their value to the community. “Libraries with high levels of funding are successful because of strong public support— regardless of how much the library offers or how high usage is” (Sweeney, 2022, p. 390). Much like the adage “the squeaky wheel gets the oil,” libraries need their supporters to be vocal in obtaining much-needed funding. Success can’t be measured by metrics alone, but by the relationships that libraries build with their communities.

Evidence

INFO 204 - Information Professions: Strategic Plan

In this group project, my teammates and I developed a strategic plan for the Sonoma County Library. Before the strategic plan’s development, we gathered information about the library, analyzed the community demographics, evaluated the existing library services, and interviewed the Public Service Managers. During the process, we divided ourselves up into pairs to tackle various sections. My partner and I gathered information about the library products and performed the SWOT analysis to pinpoint areas where the library performs well and where enhancements can be considered. As a team, we drafted four goals – equity and inclusion, financial security and investment, branch cohesiveness, and supportive organizational culture. We recommended strategies for each goal and provided examples of measurable outcomes. While I have already recognized the purpose of strategic plans from the job I had at the time, this project was my first experience participating in the development of a strategic plan. The process provided me with a lot of insight into why strategic plans are essential.

INFO 204 - Information Professions: Change Management

My earliest introduction to change management during the program was for one of the assignments in INFO 204 that required me to read Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson. The assignment taught me about the different responses and strategies when one encounters changes and challenges. I was able to reflect on my own personal experience and then connect the concepts to information institutions and professionals. Change in our communities is constant, and with this change, the needs of customers change as well. In order to be effective and sustainable, information institutions need to be able to manage change and adapt to innovative approaches in how they manage their operations.

INFO 210 - Reference Information Services: Marketing Discussion Post

One of the discussions in INFO 210 was about marketing. My classmates and I were asked to discuss a marketing issue of our choosing. For my discussion post, I decided to talk about the Libby App from Overdrive – an app that allows library members to borrow a variety of digital content in a library’s Overdrive collection, such as eBooks, audiobooks, and magazines. At the time of the post, there were still people who had no idea that Overdrive had developed a new app as a new way for people to access digital collections. This fact surprised me. How did more people not know about this app? My theory was the lack of marketing outside of library websites. While websites are great, actively engaging with your targeted audience through other mediums, like social media platforms, extends your reach. If people don’t know what products a library has to offer, those products won’t be utilized.

INFO 287 - Adult Literacy: Community Assets and Needs Assessment

One of the preliminary stages of developing a strategic plan or an action plan is to perform an assessment of the community’s assets and needs. Community assets refer to what the community currently has to offer in terms of programs and services. Community needs refer to the gap between what is currently offered and what should be offered. This assignment required me to look at my local community’s organizations and institutions and analyze the demographics, socio-economic conditions, and literacy statistics. Afterward, I performed a SWOT analysis to determine what informational, educational, and social service gaps exist. I completed the assignment by providing recommendations, including changing how resources are organized within the facility and developing partnerships with community organizations to provide needed services that the library currently doesn’t (or can’t) provide.

Conclusion

Libraries and other information institutions do not run on their own. Changes are continuous and result from several factors - such as social, cultural, technological, and political - making the various functions of organizational management critical to effectively operate and support the needs of their communities. Strategic planning guides libraries in adjusting their services and ensuring they can fulfill their missions. Management enables the various operations and coordination of tasks to achieve the institution's goals. Marketing and advocacy play a critical role in demonstrating the value of libraries and assisting sustainability efforts through engaging with the community and creating a strong support base. Without such systems in place, libraries will fail to grow and operate in the best interests of their communities.

References

Barefoot, R. (2022). Change management. In S. Hirsh (Ed.), Information services today: An introduction (3rd

ed., pp. 271-281). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Cassell, K. A., & Hiremath, U. (2018, June 30). Reference and information services: An introduction (4th ed.).

Facet Publishing.

Mavrinac, M. A. (2022). Learning and research institutions. In S. Hirsh (Ed.), Information services today: An

introduction (3rd ed., pp. 102–112). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Rosenblum, L. (2022). Strategic planning. In S. Hirsh (Ed.), Information services today: An introduction (3rd

ed., pp. 255-270). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.