Competency D

Apply the fundamentals principles of planning, management and marketing/advocacy.

An absent minded professor was late for his lecture. He jumped into a cab and shouted, "Hurry! At top speed!" As the cap sped along he realized he hadn't told the driver where to go, so he shouted, "Do you know where I want to go?" "No, sir," said the cabbie, "but I'm driving as fast as I can."
Anthony de Mello

The moral of the story is, without direction, it does not matter how fast we are going, we are not going anywhere. This is true in any case, even with a non profit organization like a library. In order to reach any level of success, a library must have clear planning, strong management and resourceful marketing/advocacy.

With regard to planning, this might not be the most important factor, but it is certainly the first step which gives direction as where to go, what need to be done, and how to do it. A clear planning will direct an organization directly towards its goals and help to adjust its direction when facing unexpected changes like the present economy crisis. A clear planning in a library thus includes several important components like budget, staff, collection, equipment, technology, programs and events. It also includes a short term and a long term strategies. Short term strategies help to respond to immediate and urgent needs, and long term strategies to greater growth and development.

After a clear planning is established, strong management is expected to execute the plan. Though library is a non profit organization, library's manager should know how to manage the budget and create revenues to bring in profit. Another major part of library management is its staff. The staff should be given clear instruction how to do their jobs, and most importantly how to collaborate with one another. Strong management should also provide a deep library's collection which is expected to serve its community effectively. Other factors like equipment, technology, programs and events do play crucial roles which would attract patrons to the library.

When a manager knows how to attract patrons, he/she can create a resourceful market or advocacy for the library. This is an important factor because it will support the library's mission and plans. To succeed in this function, library manager should know his/her community and create programs and services which will respond directly to their needs. Not only does manager need to sell programs and services to patrons, but he/she also needs to sell them to his/her staff. This is called internal marketing, and it is crucial for success in external marketing. In additions, manger also needs reach out to generous supporters of the library. They could be wealthy business people, elected officials, or committed volunteers. These people will certainly increase the library's funds and reduce its expense.


In relation to this competency, I was fortunate enough to expand my knowledge through several assignments related to planning, management, and marketing. One of them has to do with a strategic plan of a teen center. This is a group assignment for LIBR 204-13 (Information Organizations and Management). Its nature is to provide a real plan for any library of our choice. Our group chose the Huntington Park Public Library in Southeast Los Angeles. My part of the assignment is to study the mission statement and develop a strategic plan. To understand the mission statement clearly, I did some research in the area to learn about the community and its needs. I learned that very few teens had used the library for any reason. So to attract them, the library must have a space for teens. Part of the mission statement says that the center would strive "to meet the informational, educational, cultural and recreational needs of the teens in their community". Then from this mission statement, I developed a strategic plan of how to use $50,000 grant from the city for the center. The plan mainly focuses on the vision that more teens will use the center to do homework, to read about personal interests, to use computer, to learn about social skills, and to socialize. My reflection from this assignment is that in order to have a plan for a library, it is important to know the environment that it is serving, especially the needs of the patrons. From this knowledge, realistic goals should be developed to respond to the needs. This assignment was quite fascinating.

Another assignment which really helps me understand better about the staff management in a library is my critique paper on staff issues. The paper is called "Critique of Case Study on Staffing Issues: The Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project." This paper is also for LIBR 204-13. The issue of the case study is to discuss how to preserve and digitalize 6,000 wax cylinders of speeches and songs at University of California, Santa Barbara. The project receives a grant of $205,682 which covered 2/3 of the expenses. The problem is how to find enough funds to keep the successful service going. In this paper, I understand better the two aspects of the management: Financial management which means in search for, securing of, and efficient use of money; and the other one is accounting aspect which deals with the information service. In additions to the authors' three solutions: "(1) training existing staff, (2) bringing on an unpaid Library and Information Science practicum student, and (3) hiring a student worker," I provide two other alternatives: (1) charge the service even as a low fee and (2) seek donations from stakeholders. The assignment certainly helps me to get to know the real situation of a library's function, and be creative in my way to accomplish a challenging project.

In additions to clear planning and strong management, a resourceful marketing should be in implemented because without it the operation will fail for lacks of support. Regarding library's marketing, I remember one of the very interesting reading assignments , a research paper, for LIBR 204-13 called, "Internal Marketing Strategies in LIS: a Strategic Management Perspective," by Judith Broady-Preston. Her discussions really fascinate me. She argues that, "companies must first sell to their employees before they can sell successfully to their customers. In order for external marketing to be successful, the employees of an organization must all be committed to marketing and be able to deliver the service promised." It is true that if there is no support from the employees, it will be very challenging to sell any service to the customers. I really use this insight right in my work place, a medical clinic, by seriously taking direction from my boss and collaborating with my coworkers. I try to resolve any conflict with them as soon as possible and focus on the service to the patients. So far it has been so good, and I am glad that I have learned this insight from the class to use it right in my current job.

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