Planning for Results: A Public Library Transformation Process : The Guidebook - Softcover

What difference do public libraries make? Planning for Results can help planners articulate the answers to this question. Commissioned by the Public Library Association to update Charles McClure and others' Planning & Role Setting for Public Libraries (ALA, 1987), this product represents a natural evolution of the community-based planning movement. Roles from the earlier process have been transmuted into more specific, tailored "service responses." Heightened emphasis on both relevance to community needs and effective resource allocation should help libraries provide more responsive services and demonstrate greater accountability. The package includes an introduction to the process called The Guidebook and a more detailed How-To Manual. Both offer well-written, lay reader-friendly presentations. A companion document further exploring the link between planning and resource allocation is under development. Essential for public library administrators, trustees, and planners as well as library educators.?Lyn Hopper, Chestatee Regional Lib. System, Dahlonega, GA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Challenged to do more, better, at less cost, libraries need to plan so that today's decisions will still be successful tomorrow. The two-volume Planning for Results lays out a new planning process, developed by the Public Library Association, to transform a library to realize a higher level of service that becomes the starting point for the next step in ongoing planning. One volume is a guidebook that introduces the process, explains each step, and in its second part, presents responses to such service demands as basic literacy, community referral, government information, and lifelong learning. Each chapter in part 2 gives examples of needs addressed, possible basic response components, target audiences, resource allocation, and methods of evaluating effectiveness. The other volume is a how-to manual that details each of the planning steps. An appendix contains a complete set of sample work forms. Although aimed specifically at public libraries, the process can be adapted for other types of libraries or for service areas within a particular library. Edward Swanson