Transcript Strategic Planning: Does it collect dust on your shelf?

An Integrated Approach to
Assessment and Planning
Wanda Dole, John Barnett, Maureen
James, Suzanne Martin, Donna Rose,
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
Daryl Youngman, Kansas State
University
7th Northumbria Conference, 2007
Outline
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Introduction
Strategic Planning
Assessment
Two case studies
– K-State University
– UALR
• Conclusions
Introduction
• “Are we any closer to knowing whether
performance measures lead to library
effectiveness than when the debate began 25
to 30 years ago?” Cullen (1998)
• Our response:
– Yes, in the area of library planning
Who we are
• Youngman, strategic planning at K-State: 1999 ff.
Consulting in Kansas
• Dole, UALR.
– Since Library School (UIUC)
– Strategic Planning (PSU, SUNY SB, WU, UALR)
Assessment (SUNY SB, WU)
• Barnett, James, Martin, Rose, UALR
– no experience with strategic planning or assessment
Strategic: Brief History
• Strategic Planning as a Management Tool
– 1960’s, Used in business
– 1970’s -1990’s, Adopted by academe and
libraries
• Early 1990’s, Many libraries did Strategic Planning
• 1999/2000’s, Renewed interest
• Characteristics of Strategic Planning
Strategic Planning: History
• Strategic Planning in Business
– George Steiner (1979) et al.
• Adapted for Academe
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Robert Cope (1978)
Philip Kotler & Patrick Murphy (1981)
George Keller (1983)
Richard Jonsen (1986)
Strategic Planning in Libraries
• Late 1970’s – early 1990’s
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Charles McClure (1978)
James S. Healey (1981)
Donald Riggs (1987)
Brice Hobrock (1991)
Meredith Butler & Hiram Davis (1992)
Joseph Matthew (2005)
Characteristics of Strategic
Planning
• Definition: “A planning philosophy that
links programs to the external
environment..” Hobrock (1991)
• Characteristics
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Provides a roadmap to the future
Active, not passive
Looks outward and forward
Focuses on decisions
Characteristics
Strategic Planning links library’s priorities to
-Priorities of the parent institution
-Needs of library users
-Allocation of resources
Steps in Planning
• Develop vision for “future state” of library
• Develop set of core values as framework for
staff in achieving the vision
• Identify critical issues in the environment
(SWOT)
• Develop goals and strategies to allow the
library to move toward the “future state”
Matthews (2005), Jacobs (1990)
Strategic Planning: a Change Agent
• Changing a culture requires the constant
redesign of the infrastructure and frame of
reference that that define appropriate and
inappropriate values, expectations and
activities. Covey (2002, 163)
• Strategic planning can do this
History of Assessment
• Overview
Cullen (1998)
Kyrillidou (2002)
Blixrud & Dole (2005)
Matthews (2006)
Assessment
• “From the library at Alexandria up to the
present day, libraries have judged
themselves and each other in terms of
collections” Cullen (1998, 4)
Assessment
• Input/Output Measures
– Operating budgets
– Collections, staffing, facilities
• Statistical analysis
– Bibliometrics
– Benchmarking
Assessment
• Techniques from business
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Systems analysis
Management by Objective
Total Quality Management
Re-engineering
Baldridge
Deming
Assessment
• Outcomes measurement
– Response to call for accountability in higher
education
– Difficult
• Service Quality/User Satisfaction
– ARL New Measures
Two Case Studies in Planning &
Assessment: K-State and UALR
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K-State
Carnegie Research Intensive
Enrolls 23,000 students
Over 2,000 faculty
Overall operating budget of $15 million
57 Librarians
49 Support Staff
Strategic Planning at K-State
• 1982, first 5-year plan
– Mission
– 7 goals
• 1987, “strategic plan” with
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Mission
Vision
Value
Goals & strategies
Strategic Planning at K-State
• 1992-1997, true strategic
plan
– 1st Consultant
– Broad participation of
library faculty & staff
Strategic Planning at K-State
• 1999-2004
– Integration of assessment
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SERVQUAL (local version)
Focus groups
Performance measurement (Kantor studies)
LibQUAL+®, 2003
– Organizational change
• Culture of Assessment
Planning at K-State: Current
Status
• 2005: new Dean, new Plan
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Consultant
Library-wide planning retreat
Planned organizational change
LibQUAL+®, 2005
K-State’s plan is available at
http://www.lib.k-state.edu/geninfo/plan/L
Two Case Studies in Planning &
Assessment: K-State and UALR
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UALR
Carnegie Doctoral/Research institution
Enrolls 12,000 students
Over 800 faculty
Overall operating budget of $4.8 million
13 Librarians
25 Support Staff
Strategic Planning at UALR
• 1970s, 80s, 90s
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Planning, mainly brainstorming
Top-down
Unstructured approach
No assessment
Strategic Planning at UALR
• August 2006, strategic planning retreat
– Outside consultant
– Broad participation of library faculty & staff
– Development of mission & vision statements
• 2006 – present
– Working groups revise mission & vision
– New groups formed to develop goals &
strategies
Strategic Planning at UALR
• July 2007, 2nd retreat
– Working groups ALL agree that planning must
include assessment
– Assessment plan formed
• Focus groups, fall 2007
• MTG campus survey of student satisfaction
• LibQUAL+®, spring 2008
Strategic Planning at UALR
• We will evaluate and report back to you
– What worked?
– What didn’t work?
– Effects of combining assessment & planning
Conclusions
• Combination/assessment and strategic
planning
– Not much in the literature
• K-State
– 1982-1999, planning alone
– 1999-present, assessment and planning
• UALR
– 2006, combination/assessment and planning
Questions
• Is the combination of strategic planning &
assessment a new approach?
• Is it an example of the Culture of
Assessment? (Lakos & Phipps)
• Have other libraries done the same things?
• Had the same results?