INFO 289 ePortfolio – Dr. Patricia Franks
SJSU School of Information / Fall 2015
Patricia Ayame Thomson
Competency D
Apply the Fundamental Principles of Planning, Management,
Marketing, and Advocacy
Introduction
Although information organizations have non-profit status and altruistic views, it is imperative to approach the organization like any other business. Without community support and participation, the information organization will have a difficult time proving its value in order to receive funding from the city and donations from the community. Just as it applies to any other business or organization, the reality is that information organizations can be either successful or struggle to survive.
There are four fundamental principles that make a significant difference in whether the information organization will succeed or not. The four principles are planning, management, marketing, and advocacy. I will elaborate on each of the four principles below.
Planning
Planning is the first step towards achieving a goal. Without a clear plan, the information professional’s efforts will be aimless and without purpose. As a result, creating a strategic plan is an effective way to clarify goals, visions, and missions for the future of the information organization. In addition, strategic planning can provide information professionals with a guideline that leads to a more effective and successful outcome.
Management
In order for the information organization to grow and thrive, it is imperative to have a strong and effective management team. Information organizations have a multi-tiered management system with the library director at the helm. Supervisors from library administration and various levels of management oversee the current employees, library budgets, employee payroll, library programs, recruiting and hiring new employees, landscaping, janitorial services, building upkeep, and technical maintenance.
Marketing
As with other competitive businesses, it is important for information professionals to market and advertise library services to the members of the community. Marketing and promoting the library is just as important as providing excellent service. The library does not do anyone any good if the patrons do not know about the library and/or its services.
Advocacy
Advocacy is to promote the library itself and the value it brings to the community. The reason to advocate for the library is to obtain funding from the city as well as donations from the community. In order for information organizations to thrive, funding is a necessary and important part of the operation. As a result, management must continue to find new, innovative, and effective ways to raise funds for the library.
Three Evidences as Proof for Competency D
To prove my competency for Competency D, applying the fundamental principles of planning, management, marketing, and advocacy, I respectfully present three artifacts.
First Artifact
Project-specific Strategic Plan Targeting Gen Y Demographic
LIBR 204 – Organizations and Management
I present this team project from the course, LIBR 204—Organizations and Management taught by Brian Reynolds at the San Jose State University, School of Library and Information Science as my first evidence to fulfill the requirements for Competency D. The primary reason I selected this assignment as evidence is because we had to create a strategic plan for a long-term project. Developing a project-specific strategic plan incorporates all of the fundamental principles of planning, management, marketing, and advocacy.
Plan #1 of the strategic plan first articulates the overall vision of the project. The vision is to create and improve library serviced for Gen Y, defined as adults ages 21-36, which is a group that is generally not actively targeted by libraries. Apart from the vision, the goal is to assess the library services and information needs of the targeted demographic.
Next, the plan is broken down into four objectives including the use of focus groups, surveys, feedback, and supplemental online surveys. Goal #2 is to attract the Gen Y demographic group to the library, and establish it as a gathering place and a second home. Goal #2 involves the steps of three objectives including establishing an action plan for each special event, contacting local businesses to form partnerships, and creating a regular series of evening events for the Gen Y community.
Goal #3 is to promote the library having Internet access and wireless hotspots to attract the Gen Y demographics to the library. The three objectives for Goal #3 are to organize a social media team, maintain the library’s social media presence, and to publicize technical services using traditional and online media.
The strategic plan goes on to discuss the possible constraints and costs. One of the primary constraints or challenges mentioned is the difficulty of finding Gen Y adults to volunteer and participate in focus groups. The budget is divided into two sections “Salaries/Benefits” and “Operating Expenses.” As indicated in one of the fundamental principle of Competency D, marketing is an important part of the project and there should be a budget set aside specifically for publicity.
In completing this assignment I learned to work as a member of a team in order to organize and assemble a long-term project. Through the development of a strategic plan, I learned the principles of planning, management, marketing, and advocacy for Competency D.
Second Artifact
Project-specific Strategic Plan Targeting Asian-Americans
LIBR 204 – Organizations and Management
The first artifact is from the San Jose State University, School of Library and Information Science program’s course called LIBR 204—Organizations and Management taught by Professor Brian Reynolds. In the course, we learned how to develop a project-specific strategic plan. For the assignment, I chose to target the demographic groups of third and fourth generation Asian Americans in the City of Santa Monica. Due to the fact that third and fourth generation Asian Americans are born in the United States, they are losing touch with their cultural heritage, language, and traditions.
Since there are a variety of Asian-American countries and customs, I decided to narrow the demographic groups down to target Japanese Americans initially to make the project more manageable. Depending on how successful this project turns out to be, the library will provide future services targeting other Asian American communities such as Chinese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, and Filipino Americans in the City of Santa Monica.
The strategic plan is broken down into the following sections: vision statement, goal, objectives, and evaluation process. The assignment ends with bullet-points describing the various costs involved in the experimental project.
Third Artifact
Advocacy
LIBR 204 – Organizations and Management
In order to be an advocate for any organization, it is important for the professional to understand and be able to communicate the many benefits offered by the organization. This artifact is an essay from the course LIBR 204—Organizations and Management in the San Jose State University, School of Library and Information Science program. For the assignment, Professor Brian Reynolds instructed us to articulate the value and benefits that information organizations provide to their communities. I chose to include this essay as evidence, since I believe it successfully articulates my realizations about the many valuable services libraries offer to members of the community.
The American Library Association (ALA) defines the term as follows: “Advocacy, the process of acting on behalf of the public library to increase public funds and ensure that it has the resources need to be up to date, is critical to the success of libraries” (ALA, Advocacy). According to the American Library Association’s definition, it is imperative for information professionals to proactively advocate for the library to raise funds in order to keep the resources and services current.
In addition, I recall a salient point Professor Brian Reynolds made in the course stating that: “As libraries, we should stay one step ahead of the public with the latest technology, but not too far ahead that we lose them.” I believe this artifact demonstrates my knowledge, and as a result, I am now able to be a strong advocate for the library.
Conclusion: I Learned That Brevity is Important
By completing this assignment, I learned that project-specific strategic plans and proposals have to be concise, brief, and to the point. Professionals in any field are busy and do not have the time to read exhaustive and extensive plans. I am glad I learned how to organize and compose a concise project-specific strategic plan. I feel I am capable of preparing and writing a project-specific strategic plan for any information organization in the future.
References:
American Library Association (ALA), Advocacy