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.

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.

This new model is structured around flexibility and collective sharing of knowledge in order to quickly react and formulate more efficient and timely responses to changing demands. Designed by the director of a seminary library who is also an executive coach and consultant, this model is intended to be incorporated into libraries of any type and size, and to be adaptable enough to subsequently incorporate applicable theories, tools, or practices developed later. The basic tenets of the cyclical Integrated Library Planning Model are monthly assessments, constant communication, and planning-based review cycles that compel the plan to adapt in real-time to emerging needs, new opportunities, or unexpected/unanticipated events to remain relevant and current.

Acknowledging in the first chapter that change is a constant force in libraries, the author introduces Integrated Library Planning (ILP) as a model that effectively “understand[s], plan[s], and act[s] on change” by progressing through four stages (6). The simple insight that change is constant persuades the reader that adherence to developing fixed, long-term strategic plans that do not sincerely engage with stakeholder and employee feedback lead to, at a minimum, employee apathy, and at worst, ineffective outcomes that are not based in the reality of modern library planning. In the initial stage, the author coaches library leaders to monitor their organizations for changes that are occurring or may be on the horizon, urging them to first examine their library’s historical strategic planning practices, arguing that libraries with positive, neutral, or negative past experiences with strategic planning are potential integrators of her plan. By taking a six- to twelve-month period to gather background information on the library and the institution, craft mission and vision statements, and draft SWOT analyses or perform needs assessments (surveys or focus groups) using appreciative inquiry, library administrators can determine the needs of the library, its employees, and its users.

The second phase of ILP is to develop the planning structure including the writing of goals, strategic outcomes, and action plans aligned with the library’s mission and vision statements. Figures and case studies (which thoughtfully employ the names of civil rights leaders) are used throughout the book, but most effectively in the section, to provide additional detail and explanations outlining these phases and processes.

Once the background and structural work has been completed, the next step is the crucial implementation of a monthly-review cycle as the third phase of ILP. The monthly review of reports not only communicates progress towards goals and provides financial updates but also allows for careful, periodic reconsideration of the action plans, goals, and strategic outcomes by documenting and assessing observed needs. The reports should be managed and analyzed so that they reveal emerging trends while analyzing behaviors and information needs in qualitative or quantitative ways so that action plans can be developed and incorporated into the ILP.

The utility in the external review process is discussed in the succeeding chapter, where the true value and work of ILP begins in the next stage, as the “library begins living into the plan” and “adapts to the library’s rhythms and challenges staff and administration to look at the plan critically and strategically as it is carried out” (95). Stephen emphasizes that as the plan matures it allows for strategic rather than reactive actions, continual assessment and review as objectives are completed and new ones added, while strategic outcomes and goals are continuously reevaluated. With the lack of a fixed end date, ILPs may cause some library administrators to feel uneasy about their blueprints remaining relevant or accomplishing outcomes, yet the author argues that “the more the plan has needed [sic] to flex or adapt to [a] current situation, the stronger it has become” (117). The integrated plan at the author’s own institution has been in place for more than seven years and has matured and stood the test of time, including accreditation visits as well as institutional strategic planning exercises. It has also weathered challenges beyond the library’s control (COVID-19), changes in student population, and those trials internal to libraries, such as major collection-review projects, a library ILS migration, and staff reorganizations and resignations (117).

Though this model certainly requires dedication and time, its beauty lies in its adaptability: by focusing on assessment, observation, and analysis, it allows for impactful adaptation to realistic behaviors and challenges in the library environment. Stephen cites it as assisting her in becoming a more effective and innovative leader and notes that it allows the library to intentionally celebrate its and its employees’ accomplishments. Along with the author’s guidance and experience in developing a strategic plan, she also provides additional resources, including detailed sample report outlines and a bibliography for referencing.

When asked to review what appeared to be yet another book about dusty library strategic planning methods, I must confess that I inwardly groaned. However, by the third page of the introduction, my attitude had completely shifted due to the author’s engaging tone; her optimistic, pragmatic, and, at times, even humorous view of the strategic planning process; and the innovative, adaptive, and inclusive new strategic planning model that she has developed. This model, which requires trust and commitment from all parties, will be immensely useful to libraries of all sizes, staffing models, and types (public, academic, or special), particularly to library directors but also to managers and directors at all levels. I am hopeful that it will be incorporated at my own institution. —Julene Jones, Director of Library Assessment and Organizational Effectiveness, University of Kentucky Libraries