Strategic Planning Process

After reviewing the five strategic plans (Basic, Issue (Goal)-Based, Alignment Model, Scenario Planning and Organic Planning) as outlined by McNamara (1999), it was decided that for this library the ideal Strategic planning process to use is Issue-based planning. This model was chosen as it best fits the needs of this library and is similar to the balanced score card approach as outlined by Clagett and Ecklund (2005). However, the issue-based plan as outlined by McNamara is more straightforward to follow, so it was selected. Issue-based strategic planning involves (McNamara 1999) the following steps:
1) Exte
al/internal assessment to identify "SWOT" (Strengths and Weaknesses and Opportunities and Threats)
2) Strategic analysis to identify and rank major issues/goals
3) Design major strategies (or programs) to address issues/goals
4) Design/update vision, mission and values(some organizations may do this first in planning)
5) Establish action plans (objectives, resource needs, roles and responsibilities for implementation)
6) Record issues, goals, strategies/programs, updated mission and vision, and action plans in a Strategic Plan document, and attach SWOT, etc.
7) Develop the yearly Operating Plan document(from year one of the multi-year strategic plan)
8) Develop and authorize Budget for year one(allocation of funds needed to fund year one)
9) Conduct the organization's year-one operations
10) Monitor/review/evaluate/update Strategic Plan document

The Implementation: Required Personnel, Major Steps and Timeframen Required Staff
As noted by Claggett and Ecklund (2005), the strategic plan must involve everyone in the process with the view that the customer is always considered. Therefore, the required staff involved in this process would involve librarians from each area and also the library board would be involved. As Husler (1998) notes, the support of the board and management must be there. Husler (1998) notes that although this can be difficult to achieve at times, it is necessary for a successful strategic plan to be completed. For this specific library, the strategic planning committee would involve librarians from collection development, reference desk, cataloguing, technical services, and management. Along with the librarians, the library board would all be involved in the strategic planning process.
Major Stepsn The major steps for this strategic plan would involve those outlined by McNamara (1999) as listed above. Specifically, for this library the process would involve the following steps:
1) brainstorming session to determine which issues are priorities for this library (exte
al and internal factor)
2) be aware about any pertinent provincial and municipal initiatives with direct baring on this library
3) investigate the internal needs of the library branches
4) perform a SWOT (Strengths and Weaknesses and Opportunities and Threats) analysis
5) compare with other library strategic plans
6) discuss the recommendations at the board meeting and complete what is included in the strategic plan.