Comprehensive planning has become an essential element in the management of the modern university library. The purpose of this book is to help those now engaged in this important management function by summarizing the history of academic library planning and analyzing its practice in a group of major libraries over the past several decades. The most significant changes confronting academic libraries for the past several decades have been technological, social, and economic. Strategic planning is used as the tool for making these libraries more responsive to their environments and for helping them anticipate and prepare for change. Stanton F. Biddle examines the extent to which strategic planning is being employed, analyzes the planning documents, and develops guidelines for improving the quality of future planning efforts. The volume begins with a discussion of strategic or long-range planning taken from the literature of management and organizational theory. The next chapter reviews the historical development of large academic libraries and the history of the application of contemporary management theories and practices to their administrations through the 1970s. The following chapter focuses on the widespread dissatisfaction with traditional approaches to library management in the 1960s and 1970s. The next two chapters compare library planning source documents, and the final chapter concludes with recommendations.

In this refreshing new volume, strategic planning of budget management is looked at with a broad, positive perspective. Whether because of cuts in funding, enrollment decline, or academic cutbacks, the necessity for strategic planning in a university comes out of unfavorable circumstances. The chapters cover the planning process from start to finish, with an emphasis on a final goal of bringing the library’s status from one of an economic competitor to a deserving equal in the eyes of the academic community. The development of programs and long--term goals for various programs with realistic results in mind are stressed in this timely book. Strategic planning can be an effective managing tool in the midst of uncertainty and constant change. Cooperation, collaboration, and communication are all essentials for reaching this goal, and the authors of the 13 chapters describe in detail past instances in which these were successful. Readers will find that several major themes tie the diverse chapters of this book together, such as becoming successful in applying for limited institutional resources; giving the library’s goals a more prominent position among the members of the campus administration; and using the planning exercise to help the members of the academic community better understand the administrative decision-making process. Written by college and university presidents, campus planners, and librarians, this book clearly outlines the methods and benefits of strategic planning and provides an encouraging picture of what can be achieved when the process is used.

Textbook on planning and architecture of librarys, with particular reference to practices and needs in respect of university libraries in the USA - includes guidance on planning in respect of storage, audiovisual aids, general equipment, etc., and contains brief case studies and diagrams of actual library layout in various parts of the world. Bibliography pp. 139 and 140.

In the seven chapters of this book, first published in 1991, the topics of planning and creativity as they apply to the management of academic libraries are discussed fully, with specific examples and detailed guidelines. Topics such as involving all members of the library staff in decision making and encouraging creativity in an unstable work environment are explored, as are new developments like performance measures.

Written by a team of authors with decades of library administration experience between them, this powerful resource enables academic libraries to produce plans that will offer directional guidance to employees while also demonstrating the library's power to meet institutional goals.