Imagine your Library's Future. Scenario Planning for Libraries and Information Organisations

223 Pages·2010·2.018 MB·English

by  Steve O'Connor and Peter Sidorko (Auth.)

Imagine Your Library’s Future
CHANDOS
INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL SERIES
Series Editor: Ruth Rikowski
(email: [email protected])
Chandos’ new series of books are aimed at the busy information professional.
They have been specially commissioned to provide the reader with an authoritative
view of current thinking. They are designed to provide easy-to-read and (most
importantly) practical coverage of topics that are of interest to librarians and
other information professionals. If you would like a full listing of current and
forthcoming titles, please visit our web site www.chandospublishing.com or email
[email protected] or telephone [phone].
New authors: we are always pleased to receive ideas for new titles; if you
would like to write a book for Chandos, please contact Dr Glyn Jones on email
[email protected] or telephone number [phone].
Bulk orders: some organisations buy a number of copies of our books. If you
are interested in doing this, we would be pleased to discuss a discount. Please
email [email protected] or telephone [phone].
Imagine Your Library’s
Future
Scenario planning for libraries
and information organisations
S O’C
TEVE ONNOR
AND
P S
ETER IDORKO
Chandos Publishing
Oxford (cid:129) Cambridge (cid:129) New Delhi
Chandos Publishing
TBAC Business Centre
Avenue 4
Station Lane
Witney
Oxford OX28 4BN
UK
Tel: [phone]
Email: [email protected]
www.chandospublishing.com
Chandos Publishing is an imprint of Woodhead Publishing Limited
Woodhead Publishing Limited
Abington Hall
Granta Park
Great Abington
Cambridge CB21 6AH
UK
www.woodheadpublishing.com
First published in 2010
ISBN:
978 1 84334 600 5
© S. O’Connor and P. Sidorko, 2010
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
The right of Steve O’Connor and Peter Sidorko to be identifi ed as authors of this work
has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or
introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means
(electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior
written permission of the Publishers. This publication may not be lent, resold, hired
out or otherwise disposed of by way of trade in any form of binding or cover other
than that in which it is published without the prior consent of the Publishers. Any
person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to
criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The Publishers make no representation, express or implied, with regard to the accuracy
of the information contained in this publication and cannot accept any legal
responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions.
The material contained in this publication constitutes general guidelines only and does
not represent to be advice on any particular matter. No reader or purchaser should act
on the basis of material contained in this publication without fi rst taking professional
advice appropriate to their particular circumstances. All screenshots in this publication
are the copyright of the website owner(s), unless indicated otherwise.
Typeset by Refi neCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk.
Printed in the UK and USA.
To Julia,
who is inspiring, challenging and encouraging.
In so many ways, you created this book.
Steve
For Nicole, Hannah and Maya.
For helping me imagine.
Peter
Preface
The environment in which libraries exist is made more
diffi cult by three driving factors: fi rstly, the pervasive nature
of the web; secondly, the fi nancial pressures on libraries and
their funding institutions; and thirdly, the perception that
libraries no longer play a dominant role in the future of their
institutions or communities. Indeed, the view is often held
that libraries are ‘leftovers’ from bygone eras.
These factors are creating entirely new operating conditions
for libraries. Library planners need fresh tools to revitalise
their understanding of this new ‘set of conditions’. Scenario
planning, as a planning tool, has an impressive track record
for organisational future-setting. Scenario planning does not
provide the ‘answer’ but rather a series of viable options.
This technique successfully offers fresh perspectives on
organisational futures. In the library environment it is equally
appropriate for different library sectors as well as for small
and large consortium organisations.
Scenario planning is a tool used as a precursor to strategic
planning. There is a clear distinction between strategic
planning and scenario planning. Scenario planning is an
imaginative process, creating stories of the different futures
from which each organisation, their users and staff may
choose. It is a series of tools to engage stakeholders, users
and staff in the creation of new vital futures for the library or
information agency. Strategic planning, on the other hand, is
an administrative tool, often formulaic, allocating resources
with which to meet the chosen future.
xi
Imagine Your Library’s Future
Without augmentation, the Strategic Planning tool does
not visualise new futures for the library or information
agency. Strategic Planning without prior Scenario Planning
most often perpetuates the past; it allocates resources to
projects and directions but does not have the capability to let
go of former practices. Unaided, Strategic Planning was the
dominant Planning tool of the 1960s and 1970s. Not now!
Those older style Strategic Planners are retiring and the new
generation of library managers – facing a future of ever
accelerating change – need Scenario Planning to help their
thinking.
The book
The book is a thought-provoking development of thinking
on the future of libraries. It provides tools to assist all
library and information professionals to re-conceptualise
their future and that of their organisations. It challenges the
foundations of many an understanding of what libraries
could be. Infused into the text is the means by which the
reader can benefi t from the processes of Scenario Planning.
The tools to draw insight and inspiration are those used
in Scenario Planning. The chapters in this volume are
new Scenarios for libraries. They are partly derived from
successful Scenario Planning exercises actually completed
over recent years. The readers of this book will gain new
perspectives through developing different scenarios of library
futures, as well as a clear understanding of how to replicate
them in their own environment.
The book is presented in the following manner:
xii
Preface
What are scenarios?
The fi rst chapter will draw the readers immediately to the
potential of new approaches when thinking about the futures
of their libraries. It will briefl y highlight what Scenarios are
and how they can impact so strongly on the well-being and
vitality of an organisation, its stakeholders and staff. It will
discuss the merits of having different options to allow new
and imaginative approaches to library futures.
The complexities of our informational
environment
Looking at our current operating environment will be
tempered here by creating perspectives of what has happened
to our operations and what could happen. Before we can
create Scenarios we need to understand what is happening in
our immediate and wider environments. Attempts are made
here to highlight the ‘left-fi eld’ infl uences as we often do not
see them until they are right upon us. Various tools and
techniques will be used to illustrate these points and to use a
backward-looking view to actually look forward. This will
help the readers to understand the nature and power of
Scenarios as stories of what has been and what could be.
The future and the past: models are
changing
This chapter will look at where libraries and consortia have
come from and the characteristics of their development,
drawing on global examples as much as possible. The concept
of the future will come into sharper relief as it is diffi cult to
understand, let alone predict. This chapter will also deal
xiii
Imagine Your Library’s Future
with what has happened, what is happening and what will
happen. It will especially deal with how we might begin to
re-focus our thinking so that we can more easily and readily
see the trends affecting us and our organisations. It will begin
to refl ect on how our library business models are changing.
Consortia are a relatively recent phenomenon emerging to
meet needs of individual libraries to gain more traction on
price and other negotiating issues. Consortia are now
themselves merging and seeking new perspectives to assist
their member libraries. There will be a discussion on how to
begin the hard decisions to break out of the established
mould; how to show leadership in achieving this. Strategies
will be discussed as to how to assist in convincing others of
the merits of a new approach and how to design relevant
processes.
Understanding choices
When dealing with choices and ambiguity it is easy to become
confi ned. This chapter will discuss this issue in the context of
how to establish and execute the Scenario Planning process.
There will be exercises designed to create a frame of mind in
which we know that ‘we can choose’. The Scenario Planning
process is described in terms of how it operates, what the
variable components are, what the critical success factors are
and how to optimise application of the process. Implications
of seemingly simple decisions are explored, as are the
consequences of not looking forward and acting accordingly.
Toward a new way of thinking
The purpose of this chapter is to move ourselves and
our staffs into a space where good ideas are not dismissed
xiv
Preface
because they are too expensive, too staff intensive, too
this or that. ‘We cannot do this because of this or that or
that or this!’ It is a matter of moving people out of that
mental space. This requires some effort and some skill.
The skills and appropriate outlook will be explored in
this chapter.
Designing your process
Scenarios can be best understood in everyday work and life
situations. This chapter develops techniques to enable this to
happen. This will grow the understanding of the Scenario
approach at the institutional level.
Scenarios and implementation
This chapter is very practical, exploring techniques to get
different forces in the institution to agree, to work together
and to enable ‘buy-in’ to the process and the outcomes. This
describes various approaches available to move toward the
actual scenario construction. This approach will note that
most processes will develop multiple Scenarios refl ecting the
range of choices which libraries have. How to deal with
multiple scenarios will be crucial.
Choice, chance and (less than) certainty
It will be important to take stock as the Scenario creation
process draws to a close and prepares for implementation.
This chapter looks at the creation of an alignment between
the Strategic Planning process and the operations plans.
Identifying immediate/short-term/longer-term actions will be
discussed from political and operational viewpoints.
xv