Change is a constant. All institutions will either change over time or cease to be relevant. For each institution, the question is not “Will we change?” but “How will we change?” The public library that does not plan for change will still change over time, but the changes will lack focus and may not result in desired outcomes. Change without a plan is change in response to immediate pressures, and not change to meet long-range needs. The library, in other words, will drift.
Change by drift is likely to make the library less and less relevant to its community’s real and current needs. Faced with the choice between an agency that is playing a dynamic role in community affairs and one that is adrift in the sea of change, the public is likely to support the agency that is truly meeting its needs.
The library board and library staff can do nothing to stem the tide of societal change, but they can make the library more efficiently responsive to change by developing a strategic plan. Such a plan usually covers a two- or three-year period. A strategic plan establishes the library’s role or roles in the community and gives the library an overall direction to pursue. From there, short-term decisions can be made taking into consideration their long-range implications.
Planning, then, is essential for the public library, and it is a vital part of the function of the library board.
Having a written plan will:
- Make it easier to justify the library’s budget to governing authorities
- Help the board prioritize programs and direct efforts that lead to the attainment of objectives.
Library boards continuously guide, shape and build library services for their communities as they make judgments on money, buildings, programs, and staff. The challenge is to make these decisions based on a carefully considered written plan. The purpose of planning is to anticipate both opportunities and problems.
Planning Tips
Planning for the future is neither easy nor quick. It requires time and careful organization to accomplish. Forming special board committees and scheduling a series of planning meetings allow ample time to explore, brainstorm, and dream before making final decisions.
Boards can create advisory committees, sponsor public meetings, encourage open staff discussions, hire outside consultants, and use public relations tools in the planning process. Participation leads to support and understanding of the plan developed. The library director and board are partners planning with the community, not just for the community.
It is important not to overlook the regional planning commission or professional planners who are part of local government. They should be kept informed of library goals and reminded to include library service in the community’s plans at every possible opportunity.
Resources to consider
- Data, including Census figures, community analysis, results of surveys or studies made by the library, and/or other community agencies and institutions.
- Local resources, including library staff, community leaders, Friends of the Library, the library’s foundation, counties, municipalities, schools, regional planning agencies, colleges, and universities with information to share.
- Groups, including counties, municipalities, schools, regional planning agencies, colleges, and universities with information to share.
- Community cooperation, such as attending public meetings and listening to community needs; making presentations to organized groups; and preparing exhibits and displays in the library and other locations.
Planning Process Elements
Below are elements of creating a strategic plan. Additionally, United for Libraries has developed A Library Board’s Practical Guide to Strategic Planning.
Planning to Plan
- Where are we going and how will we get there?
- The outline for the process the planning group will use
Vision
The library’s vision statement is a broad view of how it is going to leave an impact on customers and the greater community.
Considerations include:
- A preferred future for the library that leads the way to success
- Where you want to go
- The ideal world out there
- A better future
- A picture of:
- where the library wants to go
- what it wants to be
- Hopes and dreams
The vision statement:
- Comes from the heart, not the head
- Is proactive as well as futuristic
- Presents the “Big Picture”
- Uses future tense
- Provides motivation and inspiration for the staff and trustees
Mission
The library’s mission statement, on the other hand, tells a) what the library does, b) how this is done, c) for whom it is done, and d) what value the library brings to the community. A library’s mission statement does not have to look like any other library’s mission statement. The important thing is to figure out what is important to the library’s community and start from there.
The mission statement:
- Outlines and clarifies the library’s purpose
- Defines the focus of the library’s business
- Delineates the framework for all strategies and activities
- Identifies the library’s sphere of influence and clientele
- Serves as a valuable tool for:
- Making program and strategy decisions
- Communicating to the community
- Uses present tense
- Articulates the who, what, and why
Needs Assessment
A library’s needs assessment:
- Recognizes the current situation – internal and external
- Community analysis
- Community engagement
- Summarizes where the library is now
- Forms the foundation on which the plan is built
- Affords an understanding of the influences acting on the library
- Indicates the possible – and the most likely – futures
- Signals the opportunities that most clearly fit the library’s strengths
Strategic Issues
- Strategic issues are concerns that the organization must address in order to be effective and viable.
- The critical strategic question is not the conventional “What?,” but “Why?” or “How?”
- Strategic issues may be internal or external.
Goals
- Goals are broad, general descriptions of “end states” that indicate a strategic issue is being addressed.
- For each strategic issue there may be multiple goals.
Strategies
- Strategies are broad, general approaches to working toward the identified goals for each strategic issue
- How do we get there?
Activities
- Activities are measurable and time-restricted plan elements.
- They are specific actions the library plans to take place in order to implement its general strategy.
- What timeline will move us most effectively?
Evaluation Criteria
- Output – Measure whether or to what degree the library carried out the activities that it proposed.
- Outcomes – Measure whether the work of the library made any difference in addressing strategic issues.
- How will we know what we have accomplished?
- Informally monitor the plan regularly.
- Review and revise the plan annually.
The Written Plan
Since planning is a continuous process, based on evaluation and reassessment, a strategic plan should be a flexible document, informed by specific local needs. Most strategic plans include the following essentials:
- A preface, or very brief overview of the planning process with acknowledgements and thanks
- A description of the library’s service area and communities
- A vision statement, or broad view of how the library is going to have a direct effect or impact on its patrons and the greater community
- A mission statement that tells a) what the library does, b) how this is done, c) for whom it is done, and d) what value the library brings to the community. Your library’s mission statement does not have to look like anyone else’s. The important thing is to figure out what is important to your community and start from there.
- Strategic issues, or critical challenges facing the library
- Goals, or broader statements of what is to be achieved
- Strategies, or general approaches that will be taken to achieve those goals
- Activities, or actions that will be taken to implement the strategies
- Measures of success / evaluative criteria, or how the library will know if it has been successful in its services
- Implementation and evaluation, or a description of how the plan will be implemented and how the evaluation process will be used
- Timeline to achieve goals and evaluate and reassess the plan periodically
- Publicity plan to build awareness in the community
- Appendices, including a summary of needs assessment data
Planning for Library Facilities
As trustees face the challenges of planning library services for the future, increased space and additional locations may become a major consideration. Boards must decide whether to build a new library, renovate or expand current facilities, or find an existing space to be converted into a library.
Construction plans should be considered in the context of the total library plan. Trustees need to study service needs, explore alternatives and project funding, and establish priorities.
Planning Responsibilities
Public Library Consultant
Your public library consultant at the Idaho Commission for Libraries will serve as a resource to help with the complex process of completing a building program. Trustees, staff, consultants, architects, interior designers, city councils, county boards and regional planning departments, and community members all fit into the picture.
Library Staff
The library director and staff actively participate in planning for construction projects by compiling information, surveys, and statistics; preparing building applications and reports; and maintaining project records.
Library Building Consultant
This person is usually an experienced librarian who has participated in several successful building projects. The cost of a building consultant can usually be saved many times over in reductions in construction and operating costs. Working with board and staff, the building consultant can provide any or all of the following services:
- Surveying the library’s space needs
- Writing the library building program
- Projecting future staff and operating costs
- Preparing a preliminary project budget
- Providing site analysis and recommendations
- Providing advice on funding options
- Providing assistance in selection of the architect
- Reviewing all plans prepared by the architect and providing a written evaluation
- Reviewing needs, specifications and layout of shelving, furniture and equipment
- Providing a final inspection of the facility
Board of Trustees
The board can handle these tasks as part of the process of building or renovating a library building:
- Determining that a new building is needed
- Providing leadership in the campaign to keep the community informed and to secure necessary support for the project
- Appointing a building committee and assigning tasks
- Selecting and hiring a library building consultant
- Selecting and hiring an architect
- Selecting and hiring an interior design specialist
- Obtaining financing for the project
- Selecting and purchasing the building site
- Approving the written building program
- Approving the preliminary and final architectural plans
- Soliciting and approving bid documents
- Approving all contracts and any change orders to the contract
The board of a city library will need to work with city officials on a building or renovation project. See I.C. § 33-2607(4)(a) through (d) for details.