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COMPETENCY D DANZIGER-RUSSELL

Competency D: Apply the Fundamental Principles of Planning, Management, Marketing,

and Advocacy

Introduction to Competency D

The LIS professional must understand and be able to apply the fundamental

principles of planning, management, marketing, and advocacy in order to perform

competently in her or his profession. Through my work in the MLIS program, I feel that I

have been introduced to these principles through various classes. I have also worked

closely under these principles throughout different projects and personal experiences,

getting to know how these principles operate and how I might put them to use in various

settings within the LIS profession.

Planning

Planning is essential to the operation of a library, and should involve careful

consideration in order to be effective. According to Evans and Ward (2007), there are

three major types of planning: strategic plans, tactical plans, and operational plans (p.

148). Operational planning helps organize short-term goals and is created in order to

direct workers in their everyday tasks (the length of this type of planning can vary from

one day to one year), while tactical planning is focused on mid-term goals (Evans and

Ward, 2007, p 148). Tactical planning, which is typically six months to two years in

length, directly supports the goals of the strategic plan (Evans and Ward, 2007, p 148).

The strategic plan should describe the long-term goals and objectives of the organization

and typically last from two to five years (Evans and Ward, 2007, p 148). A strategic plan

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is essential to the organization because it allows the organization to define its mission,

vision, and values. When the strategic plan is made clear, tactical and operational

planning can be directed toward fulfilling the long-term, overarching organizational goals

and values defined and identified within the strategic plan (Evans and Ward, 2007, p

149). The strategic plan, according to Evans and Ward (2007), “identifies and sets the

overall direction of an organization. Strategic planning is the process of creating action

steps designed to achieve the overall strategy” (p. 149). Without a solid strategic plan,

shorter-term planning can lack focus and create disorder and division within the

organization.

In order to create an effective strategic plan that addresses the needs of its users,

the plan must be rooted in research into the organization’s and users’ needs. An

environmental scan should be performed, feedback from the user communities should be

collected, and the data extrapolated. It is ideal for input from all members of staff to be

taken into consideration in this planning stage. A SWOT (strengths, weaknesses,

opportunities, and threats) analysis can also be of great benefit in the development of a

strategic plan. Once themes emerge from the environmental scan, SWOT, and any other

supporting research, the organization can then prepare new (or revised) mission, vision,

and values statements. The mission statement helps to define the goals of the

organization. With this information, a strategy can be devised that helps the organization

move toward objectives and individual tasks that need to be performed in order to meet

these goals, thus fulfilling the organization’s mission. Evans and Ward (2007) write that,

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The mission, vision, and value statements draw on both the environmental

information and the organizational internal capabilities, resources, and

parent body limitations. All these factors create the context for setting the

strategy and designing a plan to move in the direction of the strategy.

Once the strategic plan is set, work begins on identifying a set of goals and

objectives. (p. 149)

The strategic plan should be a long-term goal for the organization, but are typically

limited to a five-year scope as the organization and user communities change and

different needs arise. The strategic plan should be allowed to change and evolve in an

iterative process. Other planning that the LIS professional must consider includes the

development of policies and rules, procedures, programs, services, collection

development, and the budget.

Evidence of Planning Competency

In order to display my understanding of and competency in planning, I would like

to share a few pieces of past work with you. The first piece is a mock strategic plan

collaboratively created by myself and three other students for LIBR 204: Information

Organization and Management. We called it, “Strategic Plan: Louisville Free Public

Library’s Teen Outpost.” The paper details our environmental scan and SWOT analysis,

as well as an outline for a strategic plan based around our findings and goals, focusing on

the teen user community at the Louisville Free Public Library.

A second piece that confirms the fulfillment of competency M, planning, is my

design for a multicultural summer reading program (SRP) for my local public library.

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The document is entitled, “A Yolo County Library Summer Reading Program For

Tweens and Teens: ‘Where We Are Coming From: Cultures and Perspectives.’” The

project, created as the final for LIBR 271-A: Genres and Topics in Youth Literature:

Motivational Reading Programs, was devised through the use of data gathered from the

library, community statistics, library circulation statistics and trends, interviews with

librarians, and consultation of relevant research papers on teens and SRPs. A reasonable

budget was decided upon, and the plan for the program explained and justified. The final

part of this document details my reflections on the process of creating the SRP proposal.

Management

Strong library management skills are key to running a thriving, relevant library.

There are different management and supervisory roles throughout the LIS profession, but,

as Evans and Ward (2007) put it, “[m]anagement, at its most basic level, is the process of

accomplishing things through people” (p. 5). There are various management styles, and a

multitude of theories on the subject of management, but, at its core, management involves

a set of basic skills that allows understanding, communication, and action to occur. In

Haycock and Sheldon, Moran (2008) describes three major skills that a successful

manager should have: “technical, human, and conceptual skills” (p. 71). Technical skills

are important—for example, a manager must understand the work that staff members are

doing in order to supervise those employees effectively. Training and refreshing skills is

necessary for managers to constantly pursue in order to remain in touch with the

operations of the organization as well as the employees that they supervise.

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Human skills are, in my opinion, one of the greatest skills that a manager can

have and hone. An effective manager is an expert communicator. S/he has empathy for

employees and users, alike, values others, and listens to employees at any level in the

organization, as well as users, and does so with open ears and mind. A feeling of being

heard and of being valued goes a long way to ensure that employees are happy, and

happy employees are productive employees. The cultivation of a healthy morale

reverberates throughout the entire organization, and this should be imperative to any

manager.

Conceptual skills, which, according to Moran (2008) become more important in

upper-level management (whereas human skills are needed at any level of management)

allow managers to be able to “look at the ‘big picture’ of the organization” (p. 71). Moran

(2008) continues to describe how managers that have conceptual skills should be able to

“communicate what is going on in the library to the outside world,” and be able to project

the organization’s vision in its current state as well as anticipate future change and plan

accordingly (p. 71). Conceptual skills are the far-reaching skills that allow the manager to

keep a broad view of the organization and the community (or communities) that it serves,

and remain flexible enough to lead the organization with some educated foresight. Of

course, conceptual skills will not be used effectively, if human skills are underdeveloped.

This magical balance of technical, human and conceptual skills is what gives managers

the ability to run a happy, cooperative team or organization, and it is also the combination

of abilities that allows a manager to advocate effectively for the library.

Evidence of Management Competency

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In a discussion for LIBR 204: Information Organization and Management, I

reviewed an article that discusses worker motivation. The original article concludes that

progress—more than incentives or even praise—influences worker motivation positively.

In my discussion post, I reflect on the notion of progress and what makes up good

management skills, as I reminisce about personal work experiences. I conclude that,

should I end up working in a management role, I must remember that progress will be

tremendously important to the group(s) that I may work with. As a manager, I should

strive to do everything within my power to create concise goals, open up dialogue with

staff, make resources available, and remove any hindrance toward communication and

the achievement of these goals. In my professional life, I have worked as part of a team

and have been in a management position several times, so I know how important

communication and achievement is to worker satisfaction. I believe that when the

employees of an organization are happy and work well together, this ease is also felt by

the clientele, therefore setting the tone for the organization, itself. This must not be

forgotten.

Marketing

Marketing is essential to the success of a library. Some may think that marketing

is a strange term to use, especially when it comes to libraries, because of some of the

negative associations with the word. Many think of “marketing” as for-profit and even

slimy business jargon meaning that product is being pushed on a consumer. Koontz

(2008) explains that this a narrow definition of marketing, and explains that “marketing

currently is perceived in two ways: one, selling, influencing, and persuading people to

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buy things they do not necessarily want; and two, … is the concept of sensitively serving

and satisfying human needs” (p. 78). When marketing is discussed in terms of the library,

it refers to this second and more apt definition. Marketing, therefore, allows the library to

assess the particular needs of the community, the strengths and weaknesses of the library,

and build the library up and reach out to users and potential users, through offering useful

programs and services. If library a library can assess and then reach out to the community

with programs and services tailored to actual need, then a library can remain a relevant

part of that community. With the ongoing cuts to funding that many libraries have had to

struggle through, as well as competition from the Internet, television, and other

information purveyors and media, successful marketing becomes an essential part of what

enables a library to thrive.

The first step toward successful marketing in the library is embarking on market

research. The LIS professional can use such internal records such as circulation data,

reference surveys, statistics, and other in-library-gathered data (Koontz, 2008, p. 79).

External data can be gleaned about key stakeholders, and the greater community’s census

data can be utilized (Koontz, 2008, pp. 79-80). If a library tries to operate unaware of this

essential data, then it risks creating programming and services that do not fit the needs of

the library’s users, nor the library’s potential users, and also runs the risk of not reaching

some users, at all.

The library’s mission statement is also essential to marketing. It helps clarify the

function of the library and whom it serves. However, a mission statement must be

developed around actual analysis of the user population(s) as well as potential users’

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needs, the community that the organization is seated in, as well as analysis of the library,

itself. Koontz (2008) explains:

All organizations that market must have a mission statement. The mission

statement answer what business are we in? What are our goals and

objectives? How will these be accomplished? Who are our customers? The

answers to these questions depend on a detailed analysis of the population

to be served, and analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of your

collection, staff, facilities, and image, and developing a new sense of

opportunities or even threats to the agency. In marketing this is called the

“SWOT” list, assessing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.”

(p. 79)

Once a SWOT is performed, and both internal and external data extrapolated, then the

library can better understand how to develop their mission and values statement, and

goals. A strategic plan can be developed, and programs and services can be developed in

support of the library’s new, informed mission. Effective marketing cannot happen until

the library understands user needs and its own mission in serving the community.

Koontz (2008) identifies four distinct steps to marketing. Step 1 consists of the

above-mentioned market research, step 2 involves market segmentation, step 3 considers

the “marketing mix,” and step 4 evaluates and measures productivity (p.79). Step 2,

market segmentation, breaks clientele down into different user-groups, such as age

groups, or, in an academic library, it can be by discipline studied, for example. Studying

these different groups and their separate needs helps libraries to develop services,

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programs, and a collection that will be relevant to various user groups. There is never just

one type of user, therefore careful consideration of the needs of different user groups

helps to keep the library well-rounded and relevant to a variety of clientele. Market

segmentation also informs the third step in marketing, referred to as the “marketing mix.”

When information from market research and segmentation is taken, the library can then

develop “product, price, place, and promotion of materials and services and programs”

which can then be directed to the appropriate market segments (Koontz, 2008, p. 83).

Koontz (2008) explains that the marketing mix is referred to in business literature as “the

4 Ps” (p. 83). However, Koontz (2008) is careful to point out that the mix isn’t always the

focus of marketing:

While the mix is the most visible part of the marketing model, it is not

exclusively the most important. Librarians historically participate heavily

in the promotion arm of the mix. Little explicit regard is given to aspects

of price, place, and product when considering which segments to prioritize

service to. (p. 83)

Although the mix is an important part of the marketing strategies of LIS professionals,

there will often be more emphasis on promotion activities, as promotion is linked to

outreach in the community.

The final ingredient in marketing strategies is evaluation of the library. Marketing

is an ongoing process. The community or parent organization in which the library is

seated changes over time, and user segments’ needs change, as well. Changes in

technology are also some of the many factors that cause change in user needs. In order

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for the library to remain relevant, librarians must constantly update their market research,

look into market segmentation, assess the SWOT, and revise the mission statement, as

needed—thereby keeping their finger on the pulse of their community, and the

organization, itself. It should be an iterative process and the end-results of changes in

marketing should be examined, accordingly. Evaluation and the measurement of

productivity (sometimes in the form of an audit) enable the librarian to gain a clear

picture of whether changes are working and user needs are being met.

In order to show evidence that I understand the concept of marketing and why it is

needed in libraries, I am submitting a paper that I wrote for LIBR 204: Information

Organization and Management, entitled: “Marketing materials assignment: The Yolo

County Library, Mary L. Stephens (Davis) Branch.” For this assignment, I was asked to

visit a library and report back on at least three different publications used for marketing

the library. In my paper, I recall my visit to the library, my interview with a librarian, and

I consider the strengths and weaknesses of the marketing materials that I found there. It

was an interesting time to observe this library branch, as it was being housed in a

temporary location during a period of major renovation to the original site. The paper

discusses the library’s current state of transition, and in this discussion, I delve into

documents that I that appear to be part of a county audit of the library branch, shedding

light on the reasoning behind the current renovations. I also discuss their current

marketing materials and strategies in light of the library’s mission statement, and make

observations and suggestions for how the library could use marketing to meet the needs

of certain market segments. I feel that this paper takes a well-rounded approach to

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investigating how the library branch uses marketing strategy, displaying understanding

and sensitivity to the concepts of marketing and library productivity.

Advocacy

Of course, marketing is part of advocacy in the library. Koontz (2008), states that,

“[t]rue marketing is …the heart of any advocacy effort that attempts to communicate the

library’s value to key stakeholders and funders. Advocacy in some ways is ‘simply’

marketing an issue” (p. 77). However, there are more dimensions to advocacy than the

marketing side. Advocacy must be a major component of the LIS profession that the

librarian must always be working toward achieving. Advocacy is how librarians fight for

the funds to be able to provide quality materials, programs, and services to all users, and

what allows them to reach out to potential users. Advocacy is the vehicle with which

libraries justify their place within their communities. While many different types of

libraries, such as academic libraries and school libraries, must be able to advocate for

themselves (especially in an era where budgets are constantly shrinking) the public

library must make advocacy a priority, always. The Public Library Association, or PLA

(1996-2014), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), defines advocacy

as, “the process of acting on behalf of the public library to increase public funds and

ensure that it has the resources need [sic] to be up to date” (“Advocacy,” para. 1). The

PLA (1996-2014) insist that advocacy “is critical to the success of libraries”

(“Advocacy,” para. 1). However, other types of libraries, must similarly advocate for

funding, against book/materials challenges, and for the rights of users. The ALA have

web pages dedicated to advocacy issues, and one of the greatest of these resources for

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advocacy education and tools can be found on the ALA’s “Advocacy University” page:

http://www.ala.org/advocacy/advocacy-university.

One of issues that is dearest to me in my professional goals is advocacy for teens

in the public library. Through my observations in volunteering and visiting libraries, I

have observed that is that there is a lot of emphasis put on the needs of younger children

(and rightly so), with special spaces and a multitude of programs available to them. There

is usually a dedicated children’s librarian, as well. However, programs, services, space,

and even staffing is often lacking for that Adolescents. This particular age group is in a

tough position within our society. Many adolescents are minors who do not have the

same rights as adults, but they are not quite children, either. Recent studies in

neuroscience have shown that their brains are still forming, and that adolescence is a

crucial period in brain development. According to Spinks (1995-2014), a study by Dr. Jay

Giedd found that although about 95% of the human brain’s structure is formed by the

time a child is five or six years of age, recent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) shows

that the prefrontal cortex has a growth spurt preceding puberty (Spinks, 1995-2014, para.

5-6). Furthermore, Spinks (1995-2014) reports that Giedd and his team found compelling

evidence that the brain restructures itself during adolescence in a process called

“pruning” where the brain cuts back on synapses that are not being used (Spinks, 1995-

2014, para. 7). Spinks (1995-2014) writes,

Even though it may seem that having a lot of synapses is a particularly

good thing, the brain actually consolidates learning by pruning away

synapses and wrapping white matter (myelin) around other connections to

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http://www.ala.org/advocacy/advocacy-university


stabilize and strengthen them. The period of pruning, in which the brain

actually loses gray matter, is as important for brain development as is the

period of growth. For instance, even though the brain of a teenager

between 13 and 18 is maturing, they are losing 1 percent of their gray

matter every year. Giedd hypothesizes that the growth in gray matter

followed by the pruning of connections is a particularly important stage of

brain development in which what teens do or do not do can affect them for

the rest of their lives. He calls this the “use it or lose it principle,” and tells

FRONTLINE, “If a teen is doing music or sports or academics, those are

the cells and connections that will be hardwired. If they're lying on the

couch or playing video games or MTV, those are the cells and connections

that are going to survive.” (para. 8-9)

If we now know that the preadolescent and adolescent periods are crucial for brain

development, then why do so many public libraries’ programs, services, and general

attention drop away from adolescent youth? YALSA (1996-2014) reports that, “only 1 in

3 public libraries has a young adult specialist on staff” (“Advocacy,” para. 1). If I were

working in youth services and/or in a management role within a public library, I would

use such articles as well as other studies featuring peer-reviewed research in order to

advocate for funds to be put toward hiring a dedicated teen librarian, or else, to allow me

to take on that role, myself, to advocate for a teen space to be created, and to ask for

money to be allocated for teen-specific programs and services.

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In order to demonstrate my understanding of advocacy, I would like to submit a

work sample entitled, “Advocacy” that I wrote for LIBR: Archives and Manuscripts. In

this piece, I respond to an article that calls for the defense of the archives profession and

for archivists and curators to become proactive advocates for their profession. I comment

on some disparaging remarks that have been made about the relevancy of the archivist

profession, and I display clear reasoning arguing for the necessity of archives and

archivists. Although the archives and manuscripts professions are specialized branches of

the LIS field, the arguments that I make for the continuing relevancy of archives can be

easily translated to defend and advocate for libraries, too.

In another work example, I advocate for the needs of special populations in a

discussion paper entitled, “R8 Discussion: Special and Underserved Populations.” The

“paper” was originally posted to a discussion board where my classmates had access to

read and respond to my thoughts and findings. In this piece, I review an article that

focuses on advocating for fair treatment, access, services, and programs for homeless

people in the community. Homeless people are library patrons that have specific needs

that the library can be instrumental in providing. This discussion paper states that bias

against this special population is against ALA standards of professional commitment.

Through the extrapolation of the ideas brought forth in the article that I reviewed for this

discussion, I suggest how libraries can better attend to the needs of this underserved

segment of the population.

There are many special user groups, or market segments, if we must use business

terms, which deserve such fervent advocacy, such as LGBTQ users, English language

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learners, veterans, and homeless community members. Each member of a community

deserves to have their needs represented, equally, for that is one of the basic tenets of the

librarian’s belief system, as illuminated by the ALA’s Code of Ethics and the Library Bill

of Rights. In my professional career, I would take every chance I can get to advocate for

all of them. When we ask for funding from our governing bodies and from the public, we

are asking to be given the ability to serve our community as they deserve. It is especially

important that libraries advocate for marginalized groups, because when we advocate for

them, we are advocating for the relevance of the library, itself, which is nothing without

providing equal access to all users.

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References

American Library Association. (1996-2014) Advocacy University. Retrieved from:

http://www.ala.org/advocacy/advocacy-university.

Evans, G. E. & Ward, Patricia Layzell. (2007). Management basics for information

professionals, 2nd ed. New York, NY: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc.

Koontz, C. (2008) in Haycock, K., & Sheldon, B. E. (Eds.). The portable MLIS: Insights

from the experts. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

Spinks, S. (1995-2014). Frontline: Adolescent brains are works in progress: Here’s why.

Retrieved from:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/teenbrain/work/adolescent.html

Young Adult Library Services Association. (1996-2014). Advocacy. Retrieved from:

http://www.ala.org/yalsa/advocacy

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http://www.ala.org/yalsa/advocacy

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/teenbrain/work/adolescent.html

http://www.ala.org/advocacy/advocacy-university

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