Introduction

Managing an information organization requires careful strategic planning, as well as management, marketing, and advocacy skills. There is a need for managers who can deal with an ever-changing information world.

Planning

Strategic planning is a way for information organizations to achieve their “goals and objections by identifying those projects, programs, and activities that are essential to and consistent with its core mission and overarching vision” (Rosenblum, 2022). Strategic plans often have a long-term scope of 3-5 years, since they “focus on high-level outcomes rather than immediate outputs” (Rosenblum, 2022). Planning is especially important in an archival setting, because “without forethought and planning, the repository can lose its focus and become a proverbial ‘junk drawer’ of valuable materials” (Nutt & Worrell, 2015, p. 318).

A strategic plan is important to have when budgeting for an information organization, since it gives “a solid position from which to direct the allocation of resources” (Rosenblum, 2022). Creating a strategic plan can be broken up into four stages: preparation, development, implementation, and measurement of results. Preparation involves developing a mission statement, interviewing internal and external stakeholders, and performing assessments such as an environmental scan and a SWOT analysis. After the plan has been developed, management can begin the process of implementation and measurement.

Management

According to Kurtz (2004), “the archival manager … faces certain challenges particular to the archival environment,” such as being located within a larger institution with a different mission, rapidly changing technology, and “changes in how records are created, used, and preserved” (p. 7). Change is inevitable, so information organization management need to develop change management skills to ensure their organization’s success. These skills include understanding what drives change, how to support people through change, and how to demonstrate change leadership (Barefoot, 2022).

Marketing

Marketing is essential communication for any information organization. It is how information organizations “promote the resources and services that are available and … provide evidence that they add value to the communities served” (Alman, 2022). A marketing plan should be created using the strategic plan’s goals and objectives as a guide. Some things to consider are what the organization’s key audiences are, communication strengths, and what “competitors” are doing that’s working well (Huntsha, 2018).

Advocacy

An important part of information organizations’ work is advocating for funding. Successful libraries do not need to have more programming or bigger collections. “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). In an archival context, it is becoming more common for archivists “to include a section in the deed of gift [of a collection] that gives the donor the option to include a financial gift” (Purcell, 2015, p. 149). The majority of information organizations cannot rely on patron donations alone, so advocacy is key to keeping things running. In 2018, the library organization OCLC surveyed US voters and found that people were less likely to vote in support of library funding than they were a decade earlier — from 73% in 2008 to 58% in 2018 (OCLC, 2018, p. 10).

Evidence

Artifact 1

Assignment: Exhibition Marketing and Promotion
Course: INFO 284, Curating Exhibitions from Archival Collections
Description: The objective of this course was to learn how exhibitions are curated from archival collections and create our own exhibition, including writing proposals, proposed budgets, and marketing materials. This assignment required me to write a short promotional text that could be posted on social media, a tweet, and promotional images for the exhibition.

This assignment demonstrates my ability to apply the principles of marketing to promote an exhibition. My exhibition, Into the Streets: Images of Queer Life in 20th Century San Francisco, contained a lot of different materials, including photographs, video footage, and poetry, that relate to many aspects of queer life. I needed to write a blurb and tweet that would create interest for the exhibition, as well as its host museum. I was able to take some of the key objects from the exhibition and present them in a way that would excite people to visit. I created a promotional image that uses striking colors (pink and blue, referencing the trans pride flag) to catch potential visitors’ attention.

Artifact 2

Assignment: Getty Villa Strategic Plan
Course: INFO 204, Information Professions
Description: In this group assignment, we needed to select a real information organization and develop a strategic plan for it. Our report needed to include the historical background information of the institution, an environmental scan including SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis, our goals and strategies for the institution, and an assessment plan. We chose the Getty Villa Museum in Los Angeles for this project.

This assignment demonstrates my ability to apply the fundamental principles of planning. My main contribution to the report was researching and writing the environmental scan and SWOT analysis, which is a major part of creating a strategic plan. I discovered that the Getty Villa has serious problems with accessibility that should be addressed by management so that more people can enjoy the museum. Its biggest weakness is how difficult it is to get to the museum, as visitors are not even allowed to walk in (they have to pay to park or prove that they arrived by bus). However, the Getty Villa’s huge endowment (the J. Paul Getty Trust is the world’s wealthiest art institution) is its biggest strength. This assignment helped me understand the kind of group effort that needs to go into creating a strategic plan.

Artifact 3

Assignment: Game Night Flyer, Consider Publicity & Budget Post
Course: INFO 287, Gamifying Information
Description: For this assignment, I needed to make a flyer advertising a game event at an information organization, as well as create a budget for the event. I created a game like Cards Against Humanity for information science students that could be played at a game night. Students would come to the archives, get snacks, and play a silly game to introduce them to LIS topics and their fellow students.

My discussion post and flyer demonstrate my understanding of marketing, specifically in an academic archive setting. I designed the flyer so it would pique the interest of LIS students interested in getting to know each other in a lighthearted setting. I used a simple, but colorful design to catch the attention of students, either in-person or through email blasts.

Conclusion

Going forward in my career, I will use the management skills I have learned in the MLIS program whenever I can. I am especially dedicated to being a change leader in any organization I work at. Resources like the Society of American Archivists’ Archival Outlook will be useful in helping me navigate management issues.

References

Alman, S. W. (2022). Communication, marketing, and outreach strategies. In S. Hirsh (Ed.), Information services today: An introduction. Rowman & Littlefield.

Barefoot, R. (2022). Change management. In S. Hirsh (Ed.), Information services today: An introduction. Rowman & Littlefield.

Huntsha, L. R. (2018, March 23). One more hat: Communication and marketing for archivists. MAC Annual Meeting 2018, Chicago, IL, United States. https://dr.lib.iastate.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/7a26c78b-a5c7-4829-a29a-fb40dd3b2175/content

Kurtz, M. J. (2004). Managing archival & manuscript repositories. Society of American Archivists.

Nutt, T. G., & Worrell, D. F. (2015). Planning for archival repositories: A common-sense approach. The American Archivist, 78(2), 317-338. https://doi.org/10.17723/0360-9081.78.2.317

OCLC. (2018). From awareness to funding: Voter perceptions and support of public libraries in 2018. https://doi.org/10.25333/C3M92X

Purcell, A. D. (2015). Donors and archives: A guidebook for successful programs. Rowman & Littlefield.

Rosenblum, L. G. (2022). Strategic planning. In S. Hirsh (Ed.), Information services today: An introduction. Rowman & Littlefield.

Sweeney, P. (2022). Advocacy. In S. Hirsh (Ed.), Information services today: An introduction. Rowman & Littlefield.