The highest rank a Boy Scout can aspire to be is that of Eagle Scout. To obtain the rank, boys must earn twenty-two merit badges and successfully plan, conduct and present a service project that will positively serve the community. One month before my eighteenth birthday, I undertook the monumental task of completing my Eagle service project. My project helped my local high school store their choir risers. My leaders taught me how to plan a project, submit and present a proposal, modify my proposed plans to better meet the needs of those who will benefit from the project, carry out the project and evaluate how the project went. My project went well, and I presented my completed project to my review board days before the deadline of my eighteenth birthday.

Now I find myself as the leader of the same Boy Scout troop that I grew up in. It was time for a young man in our troop to begin work on his Eagle project. His mother worked as a library assistant, and told him that a new branch of the library would be opening in a few months. Stocking a new library is a daunting task. The young man in my troop saw this as the perfect opportunity to serve his community. He learned, by speaking with his mother and her colleagues, what it would take to accomplish this project. He then presented a plan to the County Library Director, who was impressed and further discussed with him what this project would entail. It was my responsibility to train the volunteer scout workers to locate and shelve items according to the Dewey Decimal System. The date on which we could carry out the project changed several times due to situations beyond our control, so we had to keep adapting and reorganizing our workforces. When the time came to carry out the project, the professional library staff was impressed that the youth were so well-trained and prepared to stock the shelves for this new library. I was so thankful to be able to be a part of this project, not only to see this young man succeed, but to get a sneak peek at the process libraries go through in planning, managing and marketing a new branch of a library.

Libraries are in the business of information. Like any other business, their success is dependent upon how well their administrators can plan for their libraries and patrons effectively manage their service items and staff and market their products and items to their target community. These three important business roles of the library are thrust far into the background because the library is more focused on the development of its collections and providing quality services to the community. Yet, without these the library would not be able to provide these services.

Planning provides purpose. Planning involves the brainstorming of ideas to create a goal or series of goals that will be achieved through some action. Every library should have a vision statement or some type of central goal that it is always working to achieve. For every task that is undertaken, there must be a plan associated with it. This ranges from high level to low priority tasks, individual or group projects. Anything worth doing well deserves to have a plan. Every plan should consist of backup plans. You can count on obstacles emerging along the course that will cause leaders to need to be able to adapt, improvise and overcome the obstacles to achieve their goals. I learned long ago that improvisation is not the ability to create a plan on the spot, but the application of a premeditated plan that can be implemented at a moment’s notice to fit the needed situation. Planning is not a quick process. It should be methodic and deliberate. When performed in a group, it should allow for free expression of thought in a hope to prepare for any contingency they may encounter. As a leader, you should never feel that once a plan has been set into motion it cannot be reexamined and changed. Plans need to be periodically evaluated, especially in service industries such as libraries. When a plan is being formulated, you need to be able to consider many different influences, such as financial restraints, workforce, time and deadlines. Each one of these can vastly affect a plan unless they are already accounted for.

The manner in which a library is managed will reflect in the services it provides. Being a service industry, patrons will interact with library staff, and administrators need to know that the staff they have working with the public will comport themselves as professionals. To manage a service, we must refer back to the concept of planning and consider the various aspects a project will entail. Workforce, materials and time all must be managed to successfully accomplish the goals set out in your plan.

Marketing relies upon the previous two concepts. In order to successfully market or publicize something, there must be a goal and plan associated with the product being marketed. To market something effectively, you must have a target audience in mind and cater specifically to their needs and ways of thinking in order for them to buy in and utilize the product you are pushing. Libraries will need to market their various collections, their reference, research, homework assistance and literacy services to the community, the technology available at the library and possibly even the building itself. Libraries and the information they contain are good for nothing unless people come to utilize it.

Planning, management and marketing have an interconnected relationship. They provide basis to one another and build upon each other to allow leaders to meet the goals of their organization. In LIBR 204, Information Organizations and Management with Dr. Bill Fisher, we studied different types of information professions and the best way to organize and lead them. For an assignment, Dr. Fisher asked us to envision what type of leader we would be. He asked us to pay specific attention to what type of attitude we would take into leadership roles, and how effective of a planner we think we are. In my personal leadership profile, I explain that I would be someone who leads by example. It is important that my colleagues know that I have the confidence to try something that may not work in order to inspire ideas that will work. Leaders should be willing to individually do every task that they assign another to do, instilling the confidence to carry out the plan they have come up with, without any regard to its outcome. This is not to say that I put off accountability, but individuals entrusted with a project should adjust their plans quickly to meet deadlines that may be imposed. When in leadership roles, you should never plan on failure, but use any mistakes as a growing experience and to modify your plans so that success will come on the next attempt. With the completion of this assignment, I have gained a clearer view of how I will act as a leader and to effectively plan for the libraries I work for in the future. I will take this introspection to help me develop a management style that will help me effectively lead in libraries.

For another assignment in LIBR 204, Dr. Fisher asked us to explore and comment on current management issues in libraries. Library administration manages how the individual parts of the library work together to achieve the overall goals of the institution. A key to the successful management of a library is recruiting and retaining good personnel. Personnel can make or break a library. When staffing the library, administrators need to consider the personality and skill sets that make each staff member the best at what they do and contribute to the well-being of the library. Library staff must also be able to adapt and know what to expect from one another in regards to duties and performance. Administrators should invest in training that promotes the development of interpersonal communication skills. Administration needs to also pay heed to the generational differences among its staff members.

In a research paper I wrote for LIBR 204, I examined the role and effects of generational differences in libraries. Within the next few years over 50% of the current library workforce will retire. My research for my paper showed that many members of the Baby Boomer Generation, who have been waiting their turn and climbed every rung on the ladder, will now be ascending to the positions after which they have been seeking. At the same time, librarians comprised of Generation X and NexGen will be entering in at their positions. This infusion of new librarians has acquired the skills to take librarianship into the future faster than any other generation. They possess high competency in technology and a disregard for the concept of paying your dues in order to advance. They stand as near polar opposites to the Baby Boomer Generation. In my paper, I argue that one of the only feasible ways to keep these two generations from destroying one another is to develop mentoring programs in libraries now. The Baby Boomers will be able to impart the experience and library conservatism they have developed to Generation Xers and NexGeners. At the same time, the NexGeners will share new concepts and theories of librarianship and technology with the Baby Boomers. The result will be the future of libraries.

I have already begun to see the effect of my Baby Boomer mentors on me. They are helping me plan projects through to completion before jumping headlong into them. With me coming fresh out of library school, many of the ideas and theories that were taught to me in class are new to my established librarian mentor. My mentor has also managed to instill in me a measure of the rung by rung advancement concept. I understand the value of working in a position to gain the knowledge I need from the position and experience in developing relationships. I plan to spend time working in the leg position and arm positions of libraries to develop skills I will need to quickly ascend the ladder into library administration.

While serving as an intern at The California Maritime Academy Historical Archives, I have been given my first opportunity to plan and market a library service. Historical Archive has recently begun an Oral History Project whose goal is to document the influence of The California Maritime Academy and its alumni in modern maritime history. With that goal in mind, I collaborated with the Vice President of Public Affairs, the Library Director and the Archivist to most effectively market this project to alumni and retired staff. We came up with multiple methods, such as publication and advertisement of the project in campus magazines and alumni newsletters. We developed a plan to contact the Alumni Chapter Presidents to recruit individuals to participate. Another plan was established in which the Archivist and the Office of Public Affairs specifically identify alumni they wish to target for participation in the project. It was my responsibility to research other oral history projects on the Internet conducted by universities and government organizations. I had to analyze and evaluate each of their web sites and programs with a focus on layout, marketability and allure. My foray into each projects’ presentation yielded a large variation in approaches and wording. The Library Director worked with me to develop language that would be found on the site and downloadable packets that would invite and encourage participation of Academy alumni and retired staff.

My participation in creating the Oral History Packet demonstrates my ability to market a service and program to the community of The California Maritime Academy. Through this packet, we are sharing the goals of the program, providing participants with all of the necessary forms needed to submit an oral history and the procedures and suggestions to conduct their own oral history interviews. This project shows that I possess the skills needed to market services in an information organization. I will use this experience to promote my active participation in future marketing ventures for other library or information organizations.

Developing the traits to be an effective planner, manager and marketer does not need to wait until college or professional training. I did not know at the time when I was doing my Eagle project that it would be my first foray into this realm, but it did prepare me to learn. I have been able to share my meager knowledge of these skills with others who will in turn be able to develop them in their own rights. I take great pride in seeing the young men that I serve in my Boy Scout troop develop these same skills. I have had the great privilege in the last few months to award four accomplished young men and future leaders their rank of Eagle Scout. As a library leader, I will effectively plan programs that will affect the utilization of my library. I know that it is imperative that I understand the needs of the community I am serving so that I may specifically appeal to them to utilize the services at my library. Management is much more than just the effective and responsible allocation of resources, but a tool to build a cohesive organization. Planning, management and marketing should be viewed as surgical tools that I will use to transform my library to meet the ever changing needs of the community.