Leadership and Management

Students will be able to perform effectively in the library and information professions by demonstrating competency in leadership and management. By the conclusion of the master's degree program, students should be able to:

• identify and define goals; develop measurable and single-outcome objectives for each goal and define effective strategies for achieving objectives as part of the strategic planning process

• design and conduct community analysis, needs assessment, and/or outcome evaluation

• develop appropriate content for funding proposals

• explain supervisory styles and organizational/management structures

• explain strategies for successful financial management, public relations, and marketing

• explain and design effective strategies for community and institutional advocacy

• promote the role of information services in facilitating diversity and global awareness

• analyze ethical issues and develop strategies to address them

Description - Analysis - Reflection

ISCI 702 with Dr. Mónica Colón-Aguirre in Fall 2024 required working with a small group to complete the final Advocacy Plan assignment, focused on UC Berkeley’s Doe Memorial Library. The components include a description of library setting; reworked vision, mission, and values statements; community profile/needs assessment for 3 different user groups; proposals for new programs as well as changes to existing ones; identification of potential partners; proposed timeline and evaluation metrics. Many of these components were completed individually throughout the semester and then our group collaborated to choose the strongest versions in the final project. There was some “divide and conquer” strategy employed at the end of the semester, which required me to describe programs I originally suggested, like the Food Pantry and Makerspace. I consider myself a decent writer and editor so I was happy to compose the introduction, conclusion, and edit draft versions throughout. 

This was a great experience for iSchool students because it was the most reliant I have been on classmates throughout the program. There is a stereotype of librarians as somewhat reserved and intellectual, and I felt this generalization to be apparent in initial video meetings. It can be difficult to gain traction on group projects early on, but in my humble opinion, far more efficient than trying to manage a team entirely via email. I found myself taking the lead on assigning tasks and defining roles, while others in the group stepped up to organize documents or suggest programs (like GroupMe) to support our workflow. Between this class and ISCI 704, I gained confidence in my ability to advocate for library programs and resources, along with a better understanding of support required from partners, donors, and grant funding. (This actually felt like a sort of “road not taken” in my MLIS journey, because I would like to learn more about technical grant writing at some point in my career...)