Evaluating the strategic plans of public libraries: an inspection-based approach

Steven Buchanan, Fionnuala Cousins

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Citations (Scopus)
229 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

For public libraries, as with most organisations, effective strategic planning is critical to longevity, facilitating cohesive and coordinated responses to ever present and ever changing political, economic, social, and technological (PEST) forces which shape and influence direction. However, strategic planning is widely recognised as a challenging activity, which can be both time consuming and unproductive, and there exists limited guidance regarding how to evaluate documented and disseminated strategic plans, particularly within the not-for-profit sector. In response, this research proposes and tests an inspection-based approach to the evaluation of strategic plans, based upon a rubric specifying the key attributes of each of the core components of a plan, combined with an appropriate assessment scale. The rubric provides a method to identify and assess completeness of strategic plan, extending to qualitative assessment of communication aspects such as specification and terminology, and synergistic aspects such as cohesion and integration. The method is successfully trialled across the devolved Scottish public library sector with the strategic plans of 28 of the 32 regional networks evaluated. 17 of 28 plans (61%) were found to be incomplete and/or to contain contradictory or uncoordinated components, with it recommended that Scottish public libraries improve not only completeness of plans, but also their precision, specificity, explicitness, coordination, and consistency, and overall mapping to library services. Recommendations are made for further widespread application of the rubric.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)125-130
Number of pages6
JournalLibrary and Information Science Research
Volume34
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 30 Apr 2012

Keywords

  • public libraries
  • strategic planning
  • library planning
  • inspection based approach

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