"Covering governance and organizational structure, management policies, and services relating to customers, circulation, information, and groups, this comprehensive how-to addresses each major library area. Follow these guidelines to: create sound and legally defensible policies; customize policies appropriate to your library's specific mission, customers, and size using proven work forms; serve customers more effectively by updating, clarifying, and communicating new and revised policies; address needs of a changing customer base; create guidance and contingency plans for emergencies; and add details and enforcement procedures for as many situations as possible."--Page 4 of cover.

The PLA Results Series has long served to help public librarians envision, evaluate, and respond to community needs with distinctive programs and services. Building from this proven model, Strategic Planning for Results is the fully revised version of Planning for Results, the foundational book in this groundbreaking series. Sandra Nelson, senior editor of the Results Series, focuses on the essential steps to draft a results-driven, strategic planning process that libraries can complete over the course of four months, regardless of organizational structure or size. Reflecting on the current planning environment for public libraries, Nelson makes the case for strategic rather than long-term planning and includes a wealth of information about understanding and managing the change process to help staff Assess the change-readiness of the library and preparing staff to implement forthcoming changes Simplify data collection and decision-making processes through the use of 14 reproducible workforms Identify service priority options and reach agreement as a group Successfully present and communicate within their library Including the newly revised and adopted Public Library Service Responses, along with case studies, workforms, and tool kits, Strategic Planning for Results offers librarians a wealth of ideas to effectively meet changing community needs.

Policy design efforts are hampered by inadequate understanding of how policy tools and actions promote effective policies. The objective of this book is to address this gap in understanding by proposing a causal theory of the linkages between policy actions and policy effects. Adopting a mechanistic perspective, the book identifies the causal processes that activate effects and help achieve goals. It thus offers a powerful analytical tool to both scholars and practitioners of public policy seeking to design effective policies.

Many tools are on offer to politicians and other policy-makers when they seek to change policy outcomes. Often they choose to concentrate on one set of tools, but fail to see the costs as well as the benefits – and may not consider the available evidence regarding their effectiveness. This innovative new textbook clearly sets out the main tools of government, and provides an analysis of their efficacy when applied to public problems. Each chapter examines the relative benefits and costs of using a key tool that is available to improve policy outcomes, drawing on a diverse literature, a large number of empirical studies and a range of contexts. Areas covered include: governments and policy outcomes law and regulation public spending and taxation bureaucracy and public management institutions information, persuasion and deliberation networks and governance. Offering a clear and comprehensive evaluation, and highlighting the set of powerful tools commonly available, this text encourages students to consider the most effective combination in order to manage key issues successfully. Including a useful glossary of key terms, this book will be of great interest to all students of public policy, administration and management.

To inform researchers and provide guidance to policy-makers inside and outside government who participate in federal decision-making affecting children, a study was conducted under the auspices of the Administration for Children, Youth and Families. Specific objectives of the study were (1) to develop a better understanding of how federal policies affecting children and their families are formulated, (2) to identify factors likely to influence the content of such policies in the near future, and (3) to offer observations concerning how participants in policy debates concerning children and their families can most effectively pursue their interests. In the first phase of the project the literature on policy determination was reviewed in order to examine existing theories of policy formation and to assess their potential as analytic frameworks. Then, three case studies of federal policy developments were made. Each of the case studies focused on one of the following areas: the special supplemental food program for women, infants, and children; the federal interagency day care requirements; and the child care tax deduction/credit. The case studies were analyzed and a new framework was devised for understanding and participating in the policy-making process. Conclusions concerning the nature of federal policy-making affecting children and effective participation in the policy-making process are drawn. Related materials are appended at the conclusion of each case study. (RH)

Discusses the problems of fostering economic growth and combating poverty in developing countries. Provides insight into how the process of economic growth really works and explores how economic policy can operate to liberate the forces of growth. Calls attention to the fact that increased productivity has historically been the most reliable path to poverty reduction, and hence merits a position of high priority in national and international efforts.

Policies aimed at reducing the environmental impact of human activities have important consequences for labour markets, jobs, and skills. As employment is shifting towards more sustainable activities, workers are increasingly expected to have skills that support the transition to a greener economy.