Financial managers should act with peace, precision and pride
Financial managers should act with peace, precision and pride
In thinking about this issue of the journal and reviewing the articles and columns within, I believe the work here could be best captured by looking at what essential qualities financial managers must call upon in these financial times: peace, precision and pride. While each of these may not exist in equal amounts in each type of library, a little of each may assist in meeting your financial goals.
Peace
Why would financial managers be involved in peace making in their libraries?Patrons are involved in problems, but financial managers cannot make or break such problems, can they? When you think of what problems are caused by finances,several quick ones come to mind. No budget for training, no budget for maintenance, no budget for capital expenditures, no budget for renovations, no budget for new materials or continuations on current materials. Financial managers in charge of allocating budgets can, in a sense, become peace managers,by finding ways to create budget and allocate finances to meet user expectations in these areas.
Furthermore, financial managers will be seen as problem solvers by having a thought-through business plan and budget to meet needs pre-emptively. Especially in some of the products and services described in the articles in this issue,peace-making options abound when financial managers and collection development teams are working together to purchase the best materials for their user groups. These are the toughest of decisions to make, when one financial decision to purchase may mean a decision not to purchase something else. Financial managers successfully working through these issues will be seen as strategists, solvers and thinkers, essential to the lifeblood of the library and organization and users they serve.
Precision
Second, we see from Dr Holt's and Dr Fitzsimons' columns that financial precision is the name of the game today. My derivation of precision here is the ability to have goals married effectively with worthwhile data collection. Being able to have the answer to such questions of, "What percentage of the budget we spend on …" will give your work the needed precision your users and your funders are expecting financial managers in libraries to possess today. Having the right data when you need it is matched best with having a plan for your daily, monthly, yearly or multi-year needs, goals and expectations. Each of these types of financial plans or lists of things to do will keep you prepared to plan for the needs of your libraries.
Pride
Lastly, libraries should possess a fraction of financial pride. In her article, "A case study of successful library fund-raising: the right mix of deliberate strategy, 'opportunity knocks' and 'Lady Luck"', Gillian M. McCombs points to this element of showing how, organizationally, great libraries make the entire organization look better. Financial (pride) managers should provide evidence and showcase how well they have spent their dollars. By documenting and, more importantly, illuminating how dollars well spent, will correlate to mean users well served and ensure well-funded libraries in the future. Anecdotes of "how the library served me well" or "how I couldn't have accomplished this without the library" should be highlighted not only as service successes, but as financial successes. Without the financial planning to create and sustain such services, the user's comment would not have been uttered.
Within these pages, you should find even more examples of how financial managers act with peace, precision and pride. I trust you will be able to integrate these elements into your libraries to assist in the financial health of your activities.
James H. Walther
