4 PRACTICAL MARKETING FOR THE ACADEMIC LIBRARY this writing, I (Shotick) serve with Villamor as outgoing co-conveners, the University Libraries Section, and general Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) groups are a few places to start. Librarians are generally generous with sharing their job descriptions and offering mentorship to oth- ers, especially when it comes to advocacy. Using the job descriptions of oth- ers doing marketing work, you may want to draft your own marketing-related primary duties to present to your supervisor for inclusion in your formal job description and, if appropriate, a recommendation for a title change. Keep in mind that if you are adding to your job duties, you will need to give some- thing up. It is likely that marketing efforts relate to an existing duty and specifying the marketing aspect would be a minor reworking of existing duties, but there is a danger of overloading yourself without rebalancing your workload. If it simply cannot fit, then the institution needs to make choices about what is most important. While we argue that library market- ing is essential for the success of an academic library, chronically underre- sourced libraries may just need to keep the doors open and lights on. It is the administration’s duty, in those cases, to identify bare-bones duties while advocating for appropriate resources. The second function of formally identifying a library marketing team’s work in an employee’s job is that the employee is then evaluated on that work. This is not to say that employees will not do work that they will not be evaluated on. On the contrary, work will get done because we are a dedi- cated profession, but the employee will receive no recognition for the work (and, as already mentioned, could easily become overloaded). Further, other formally assigned tasks may need to take a back seat if the team is engaged in a lot of work, so not having these duties in the employee’s job description can actually, in theory, wind up being a detriment to the employee’s evaluation. In a 2011 study of academic librarians engaged in marketing and out- reach work, 78% indicated they were juggling too many responsibilities, and over half cited a lack of time, resources, and staff to complete their marketing-related work (Polger & Okamoto, 2013). Library workers doing marketing and outreach work without having it reflected in their job duties can advocate to their supervisors for formally adding the duties. Using data that will resonate with the supervisor, from literature reviews on the impact of library marketing efforts to a localized case study, can help make the case. Also, tying the efforts back to the library and/or institution’s strategic plan can help contextualize marketing work for those unfamiliar with it. INFORMAL TEAMS Informal teams are often necessary to take on specific events or initiatives. Informal teams may complement formal teams, working together to achieve marketing goals, or they may take the place of formal teams when formal
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