Integrated Library Planning: A New Model for Strategic and Dynamic Planning, Management and Assessment, Myka Kennedy Stephens, Association of College and Research Libraries Publications, 2023, Softcover, 160 pages, $62.00.

Abstract

Myka Kennedy Stephens carefully presents a guide to her new, innovative, and exciting model of library strategic planning, based originally on Integrated Business Planning tenets, which she has discussed elsewhere. Too often, libraries have incorporated strategic planning as an exercise with a fixed time line and static outcomes that do not incorporate the changes that occur during the actual period for which the plan was created. Required relevant information is often siloed across the units in libraries due to historical, hierarchical, organizational structures, and value is placed on assumptions about customer or patron behavior or desires over reality- and data-based assessment results. Thus, standard library strategic plans are often inflexible and unable to adapt quickly to helpful suggestions, shifting priorities, and unexpected challenges.