TLM Networking and Advocacy: A Guide
| BEST PRACTICES FOR NETWORKING |
| SETTING GOALS FOR NETWORKING AT YOUR INSTITUTION |
| CRAFTING AN ACTION PLAN |
| CONCLUSION |
INTRODUCTION
For most of us, networking does not come easily. Many of us dread it and believe we’re not good at it. Worse, some of us fear that networking could somehow transform us into insufferable glad-handers who make used-car salespeople look subtle. We’re skeptical about whether networking can really help us advocate for our theological libraries.
Networking is a skill, just like riding a bicycle or playing tennis. Just as you don’t have to be Lance Armstrong or Serena Williams to get benefit out of biking or tennis, you can brush up on your networking skills so you can use them effectively to advance your library and your institution. Networking at its finest is much more than talking to other people – although that is the first step. Quality networking is about building sincere, mutually beneficial relationships with other people with whom you may share common interests or goals. Those shared interests and goals engender advocacy.
Networking to build relationships with key people throughout your institution can be invaluable, particularly during difficult economic times. When academic budgets need to be slashed, some might see the theological library as less essential than other areas of the university or seminary – unless the library has made it a priority to clearly and regularly demonstrate its bedrock value to the institution’s administration and thought leaders. Theological Libraries Month offers an opportunity for theological librarians to step up their networking activities with the goal of more strongly advocating for their libraries throughout the year.
An ATLA member librarian from the Northwest says, “My charge is to get out in the community.” And, says another ATLA member librarian from the South, “It’s an intentional process that takes place over time. You have to establish a relationship of trust.” The goal of your networking efforts is to build visibility and introduce the library and its services to key faculty and administrators. The end result, as one theological librarian says, is that “Our faculty and administration know our value.”
Effective Networking |
Effective Networking |
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SETTING GOALS FOR NETWORKING AT YOUR INSTITUTION
The first step in creating a networking and advocacy plan for your library is to determine your goals. What challenges are you addressing? What problems need to be solved? What will success in your advocacy efforts look like? The “Strategic Checklist” document that accompanies this guide will lead you through a process for setting goals and for identifying your target audiences for outreach.
Map Your Network
Once you have set your goals and named your target audiences it is time to map your network. Here are some suggestions:
- Make a list of those administrators and faculty members who already are champions of the library.
- Review the steps you’ve taken to build relationships with your champions.
- Discern whether any existing relationships need shoring up or other attention.
- Look beyond your current champions to identify which other individuals within your target audiences it is most important to enlist as supporters.
- Decide the best method(s) for reaching each of the prospective new supporters – ask champions for introductions, invite them to tour the library, make a lunch date, offer information.
- Pinpoint gaps between your existing network and your ideal, desired network and brainstorm ways to make connections with those on your list.
- Start by focusing on a modest list of existing supporters and a few new people whose support you would like to enlist through networking.
- Librarians and staff should carry business cards with them at all times and make sure they are used often, whether at networking events or during day-to-day job interactions. Such expressions of professionalism increase respect.
CRAFTING AN ACTION PLAN
Just as each library’s plans for Theological Library Month are unique to that institution, your networking and advocacy plan will be custom-fit to your school. Your plan should address your goals, and reflect your library, your institution, your strengths and your personality. It will be aimed at those individuals you want to cultivate as champions of your library. The following components include many best practices of ATLA member librarians. You can select from these recommended actions and develop your own plan to best achieve your outreach and advocacy objectives.
Agree on Key Messages
What are you trying to get across to those you wish to convert into library champions? Six months or a year from now, what would you most hope your advocates would say about your library if the president of your school asked them what they thought about the library? Key messages succinctly encapsulate a small handful of the most important points you want people to remember and pass along to others. Key messages should be distilled, definitive statements that are easy to remember, rather than long, descriptive paragraphs with a lot of detail. To get started on key messages or review your library’s key messages, please refer to the “Statements of Value” document that accompanies this guide.
Use Your Research Skills to Build Relationships
The best networkers do their homework before, during and after their networking meetings. Before you meet with an administrator or faculty member, learn about the person to prepare for your conversation. During a lunch meeting, at an event, or while giving the person a tour of the library, you can listen for cues about how you and the library can help the person. For example:
- Take note of his or her research preferences.
- Be aware of articles and books that he or she has recently published.
- Find out about recent career accomplishments.
- Try to identify the needs of the person’s department.
- Show how you can help a faculty member and his or her students.
- Offer to provide information or other library resources that address the person’s unique challenge or need.
- Demonstrate how the library helps achieve the administrator’s vision.
- Forward articles and information you see later that relate to the person’s interests.
- Check in periodically with your champions, throughout the year.
- Say “yes” to all reasonable requests of you or the library.
Know What You Want
A good networking conversation often starts with, “How can I help you?” When both parties ask the question, both harvest the benefits of networking. So, the flipside of offering help is to think through what sort of help you would like from others and be able to articulate it succinctly. For example, perhaps “the ask” is, “When you are with the President at the next executive leadership meeting, it would be great if you could tell him about the special program I just showed you for students.” Or, “It would really be beneficial to the library and the students if a representative from the library could participate in the preliminary budgeting discussions. Do you think we could join you?”
Challenge Assumptions
One ATLA member librarian said faculty members presumed the library had no budget to buy what faculty needed. Dialogue revealed that the library could, indeed, purchase needed curriculum resources.
Dispel the “Musty Library” Myth
It is of great value that your library offers rare, old books. In addition, focus on your best current technologies. Point out the difference between information-gathering and research and why Google will never be able to replace a fine library.
Extend a Hand
Make an effort to introduce yourself and the library to new faculty who join your school. Offer them tours of the library and keep in touch with them. Determine if you can arrange for individual “concierge” research assistance services at pre-arranged times for faculty who use the library often. Visit classes.
Make Opportunities
Beyond Theological Libraries Month, look for chances to encourage groups of people to come to the library. Carry publications in which faculty members are published and remind them and others that you do. Attend events and receptions all around campus and meet new people who can become supporters. Seek out the alumni relations director and talk regularly to determine if you can host an alumni event at the library or collaborate on other programs and events.
Keep Supporters Informed
E-blasts, newsletters, messages on social media sites, phone calls, individual short e-mail messages, occasional hand-written notes and chance meetings at other campus events are all good ways to disseminate news from the library. Keep in touch regularly with those you want to cultivate as supporters.
CONCLUSION
ATLA member librarians say good networking and advocacy boil down to a few commandments: “Get out there,” is the most important. Resist the urge to be bashful about inviting a faculty member or administrator to meet for lunch or visit the library. Several ATLA member librarians also say, “We need to stop thinking like librarians.” By that, they mean librarians need to extend their valuable roles as mentors, coaches and research guides beyond the library walls to faculty, administrators and others who can affect the success of the library. It’s important to keep in mind that building a network of advocates won’t happen overnight; it takes time. And, remember that while networking isn’t the “magic bullet” for solving all the ills that plague your library, institution or society, it can help in many tangible ways.