Planning

General Resources

Imperatives for Planning, Wisconsin Public Library Standards

An excellent, brief overview of the planning process that incorporates the use of the Standards both to assess where the library is now and to establish goals and objectives.

The Planning Cycle: A Planning Process for Middle-Sized Projects

Oriented toward project planning and looked at within a broad context of management tools. The evaluation tools suggested are more elaborate than libraries generally use, but definitely worth browsing. From Mind Tools, a fascinating site to explore; its purpose used to be described as "helping you to think your way to an excellent life." Now it's defined more prosaically as "Mind Tools mission is to help you understand the essential skills and techniques that will help you to excel in your career, whatever your profession."

Resources on Specific Planning Topics

Public Library Space Needs: A Planning Outline

The document developed by Anders Dahlgren when he was a consultant at the Division that is the standard guide to evaluating and planning for your space needs. "This outline defines six broad types of library space-collection space, reader seating space, staff work space, meeting space, special use space, and nonassignable space (including mechanical space). It suggests how library goals relating to each of these areas can be projected to meet future needs and provides a way to translate resulting service assumptions into space needs."

Disaster Planning for Libraries and Archives: Understanding the Essential Issues

A disaster plan is a document which describes the procedures devised to prevent and prepare for disasters, and those proposed to respond to and recover from disasters when they occur. This paper, last updated in 1998, concentrates on the management aspects of disaster planning. For more resources on this topic, see Disaster Planning.

Library Technology Planning

From Bob Bocher at DLTCL. "Computing and networking technologies, in all their various forms, are becoming an integral part of almost all library services. To help make certain these technologies are used in an efficient and cost effective manner, libraries should develop a technology plan. Ideally, any technology plan will be part of a broader long-range plan encompassing all library services. This page is designed to provide basic information on the planning process and assist actual development of the plan.

Developing Effective Technology Plans

This brief article is incomplete and directed toward school libraries, but makes several excellent points to remember in planning. For 'curriculum' just substitute 'library services'.

Samples

2013 Appleton Public Library Strategic Plan

A community-based strategic plan to help determine the future of the library

Kimberly-Little Chute Public Library Plan: 2011-2015

This plan includes evaluation of current library programs and services,  analysis of community needs, and development of a service plan.

Public Library Mission Statements

From the Mid-Hudson Library System, including mission statements from MHLS and from other libraries.