6 THE MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING
OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES
1. Introduction: to be effective, a successful
library requires experienced, flexible and
well-trained managers and staff able to use a
range of management techniques.
2. Management Skills
A. Leadership and Motivation: the Library
Manager must promote the library to
politicians and key stakeholders…
 ensure the governing authorities are
informed of new developments that may
impact on public library services…
 responsible fore the motivation of staff
and bringing energy, vitality and strength
into the library service and staff…
 managing the development of physical
facilities and ensuring the most effective
use…
B. Relationships with Governing and
Funding Bodies: the Library Manager as
head of the Public Library Service should
have direct access to and involvement
with the board or committee that is
directly responsible for the library
service…
C. Planning and Policy Development:
determination of public library goals,
short and long term objectives, strategies
and performance measurement…
 Strategic and Operational Plans require
formulation, documentation and
adoption; a strategic plan must be user-
focused…
D. Operational Planning: to ensure that
activities of the library service are
focused on achieving the priorities and
goals identified in the strategic plan - - -
 Planning for the future should advocate
positive change and flexibility and aim to
minimize the impact of transitions on
services, staff and users…
3. Building and Maintaining Networks: the
Library Manager should develop good
working relationships with other agencies in
the community for the benefit of the users;
and to confirm the public library’s role at the
center of the community level; active &
positive role of the parent organization…
4. Financial Management: and Financial
Planning are vitally important to ensure that
the library operates efficiently (optimum
performance), economically (minimum cost)
and effectively (maximum benefit) …
5. Management of Library Resources: a major
element of a library’s budget is expenditure
on library materials; the library manager
should ensure that these funds are spent
properly and in accordance with the agreed
priorities…
6. Staff Management: staff salaries are
normally the largest part of the library
budget; management of staff should be
sensitive, consistent, and based on sound
principles – with high levels of motivation
and job satisfaction…
a. an equitable procedure for staff
appointment; job and person
specification; interviews…
b. good communication between staff at all
levels…
c. the opportunity for staff to participate in
the development of policy and
operational procedures…
d. the principles of affirmative action – the
creation of nominated positions for
special needs…
7. Planning and Development of Library
Systems: variety of systems – circulation
control, financial management, internal
communications; the library manager should
ensure that appropriate systems are
introduced, making use of specialist staff for
their development; staff must be given
adequate training in the use of such
systems…
8. The Management of Change: Information
Provision is one of its primary roles; library
manages must be aware of the issues arising
from continuous and fundamental change
and establish methods of dealing with them…
A. Planning for the Future: library
manager should make time to read and
study so that they can anticipate the effect
 of changes (technological), on the future
shape of the service; ensure policy-
makers and other staff are kept informed
of future developments…
9. Delegation: all library staff have a
managerial role; should be given appropriate
managerial training and participate in the
policy development; managerial
responsibility should be delegated to staff at
an appropriate lower level…
10. Management Tools - - -
A. Community Needs Analysis: a communications,
community needs assessment is process
in which the library collects detailed
information about the local community
and its library and information needs; the
principle of preparing a community
profile; the assessment should be
complemented by regular customer
surveys…
B. Monitoring & Evaluation: management
must continually monitor the
performance of the library service to
ensure that strategies and operational
results are achieving the set objectives;
statistics should be collected over time to
allow trends to be identified; techniques
should be developed to measure the
quality of the services provided and their
impact on the community…
C. Performance Indicators: tool for
evaluation and the improvement of
efficiency, effectiveness and quality of
service:
a. Usage Indictors: total library visits…
b. Resource Indicators: total stock per
capita; computers…
c. Human Resource Indicators: ratio of
professional staff to population…
d. Qualitative Indicators: user
satisfaction surveys; enquiries…
e. Cost Indicators: unit costs, staff
costs..
f. Comparative Indicators: bench-mark
statistical data against other relevant
and comparable library services,
internationally, nationally, and locally
D. Performance Measurement: to measure
the input to libraries, the resources
devoted to the whole or particular
services and the output – what is achieved
as a result of the activity being carried
out; to compare key input and output
measurements with other public libraries
of similar size and characteristics…
11. Marketing and Promotion: library
managers can use marketing techniques to
enable them to understand the needs of their
users and to plan effectively to meet those
needs; promote its services to the public…
A. Marketing and Promotion Policy: the
library should have a written
marketing and
promotions policy to enable it to
undertake a planned promotion of its
services to the public…
B. Marketing and Promotion Plan: a
coherent marketing and promotion plan
should be developed based on the agreed
policy…
C. Working with the Media: library staff
should be trained to use communication
media to promote the library service and
respond to media enquiries; they should
be able to write articles for local
newspapers and prepare press releases…
D. Community Support: library managers
must ensure that the community is aware
of the importance of library service;
municipal, regional and national
funding…
E. Gaining Community Support: the
support of the community depends on the
library delivering the services it has
promised to deliver!
F. Advocacy: a library should have
established and adopted written policies
that define its role in generating public
support for the library service…
G. Working with Governing Bodies:
library managers should meet at least
annually with the library’s principal
governing and funding body to review the
library’s services, development plans,
achievements and obstacles…
H. Participation in Community Life:
presenting book and activity reviews on
radio and television; working with
cultural groups; writing a newspaper
column; assisting school-based initiatives;
 being a member of a service
organization…
I. Evaluation: the library should carry out a
regular evaluation of its marketing and
promotion programme and ensure the
results of the evaluation are taken into
account when planning future
programmes