Creating a Staff-Led Strategic Plan: A Practical Guide for Libraries

Taking a staff-led approach, this book helps libraries of all types create their own meaningful and authentic strategic plans while demystifying a process that can bring many benefits to the organization.

With dwindling budgets to pay for consultants and a growing interest in collaboration across the organization, libraries are increasingly taking a do-it-yourself approach to strategic planning.

This book takes a step-by-step approach to grassroots strategic planning for libraries of all types. The authors, who led a successful strategic planning process at their own library, provide practical advice and detailed information to guide library personnel through their own process. Topics include aligning with institutional and community values, creating vision and mission statements, researching stakeholder needs, conducting environmental scans, collaborative drafting of the plan, communication strategies, and implementation and assessment of the plan. Each chapter helps librarians create a strategic plan for a broad spectrum of libraries, including K-12, post-secondary, public, and special libraries. A unique feature of the book is its emphasis on the ways in which different library types can collaborate to meet shared goals.

This book is a one-stop-shop, providing everything library staff will need to create a strategic plan without searching for additional sources.

Katy B. Mathuews, PhD, is the senior director of administration at Ohio University Libraries in Athens, OH.

Ryan A. Spellman is a library support specialist in the User Services Department at Ohio University Libraries’ Alden Library in Athens, OH.