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PLANNING

The advisory board's role in planning is to assist the library director in formulating plans for the library. Assistance may take the form of surveying the community, speaking with community organizations, receiving input, generating support, or securing data. Knowledge of the community is vital, and board participation is important in the planning process.

3.1 THE LONG RANGE PLAN

The planning function of any public library is essential. It is based on the assumption that planning provides a realistic means to better allocate existing resources, identify service priorities, demonstrate accountability, and accomplish stated objectives--regardless of library size, local community conditions, or funding levels. An action-oriented long range plan is more than simply a statement of the board members' philosophies about how the library will be operated. The final plan should reflect the following components:

Think long range. A plan that is considered long range will span a minimum of five years. The goals set should be broad and visionary so they will take some time to complete. The director and staff will then build the annual objectives based on the long range goals.
Be flexible. It is a common misconception that a long range plan is locked into place once it is written. Consider the library's long range plan to be a flexible and changeable document.
Have accountability. Every written objective should be measurable so that it can be determined whether or not it was completed. Each goal will then have objectives or action plans that will provide details such as a time line and responsible parties.
Be visionary. Long range planning means thinking big. That can be difficult for library boards and governments which are accustomed to working with tight budgets. However, a plan without a vision is worse than no plan at all. Vision requires one to temporarily forget budgetary constraints and dream about what the library could be. Vision and progress always require risk.

3.2 THE MISSION STATEMENT

Creating the mission statement is the first step in the planning process. The mission statement defines the goals and objectives. It is a broad statement of the purpose for the library and specifies the fundamental reasons for the library's existence. It establishes the scope of the library's activities and provides overall direction for the library. The mission statement acts as a foundation for the development of general and specific objectives, as well as programming plans. It is a clear statement of where the library wants to go, and the cornerstone around which all other planning for the library takes place. The library's mission should be related to the major roles chosen for the library. Three sample mission statements follow.

"The XYZ Public Library shall function as the central access point of information media for the education, enlightenment, and enjoyment of all of the people in the community."

"The purpose of the XYZ Public Library is to provide the members of its community with access to materials that can improve their minds, broaden their lives, and fulfill their cultural, intellectual, educational, and recreational needs."

"The mission of the XYZ Public Library is to provide all persons in the community with a safe and confidential environment in which they may freely pursue intellectual, educational, and recreational interests through diverse services and resources collected in a variety of formats."

After the mission statement has been written, evaluate where the library is right now. This self-examination should examine strengths and weaknesses of the library, opportunities for the library, and threats to the continued operation of the library.

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3.3 EVALUATING THE COMMUNITY

The community is crucial to the library and its services. It is important to develop a strategy to research community needs. Evaluate the social conditions and political climate of the service area along with the population climate and growth projections. How does the economy and the demographics of the community affect the library? What are the trends affecting public libraries? Information on the economy and demographics of any area can be obtained from your local council of governments, from your city or county planning department, and from your school district. You may also want to consider doing a survey to determine and evaluate community needs. (Some resources explaining how to do surveys and analyze their results are listed in Appendix D of this handbook.)

3.4 EVALUATING THE LIBRARY

If the board would like to determine how the library compares to others, statistical information is available from the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC). Each year the Library Development Division publishes Texas Public Library Statistics, which provides extensive data on each public library filing an annual report to TSLAC. It includes information on populations served, financial resources and expenditures, staffing, holdings, program attendance, hours of operations, circulation and reference transactions, and other comparative data. This document is available on the Internet from the Library Development Division of TSLAC (www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/publibs/).

3.5 EVALUATING THE PLAN

Evaluating the plan is crucial component of the planning process. The evaluation procedure should be built into the plan itself and will state the criteria that determine whether or not the plan's goals and objectives have been met. The standard tools for developing criteria and interpreting data used for evaluation are Planning and Role Setting for Public Libraries, Output Measures for Public Libraries, and The Tell It! Manual. Evaluation is important because it provides an opportunity for the library to promote its improvements when goals are met, and to analyze and correct its problems when goals are not achieved.

As of this writing, the current standard for a public library planning model is the newly published book, Planning for Results: A Public Library Transformation Process; The Guidebook and How-to Manual. This book describes a new process involving "service responses" to meet community needs and anticipate future demands. It was developed by the Public Library Association in 1998 and updates the planning model described in Planning and Role Setting for Public Libraries. (All of these books are listed in Appendix D of this handbook and may be purchased from the American Library Association.) A library director or board member may borrow them for review from the TSLAC Library Science Collection, or from the regional system office of which the library is a member.