Perkins Library System Planning Process
Deborah Jakubs
Our own strategic plan, Critical Choices, covering the period
2000-2005, was developed in response to the University’s planning
efforts. By clearly reflecting university priorities, our plan was
enriched and well regarded, and has remained relevant over the past
five years. The four major themes of Critical Choices have served
as an excellent blueprint for the library’s activities as well as
guiding us in identifying priorities for the Perkins Library system
during this period. It is now time to initiate a new planning
process and to appoint a new strategic planning group to prepare a
plan for the period 2006-2010.
In appointing the new Library Planning Committee, the Executive
Group seeks both to build upon the Library’s previous planning
efforts and to respond to the University’s broader plans and
priorities.
The Library Planning Committee is charged to:
- Review the school and university planning documents as they become available;
- Review Critical Choices and determine progress made toward the goals identified there, as well as gaps and exclusions;
- Determine and assess the internal and external environmental factors that affect all research libraries at present, and especially Duke’s, identifying strengths, challenges and opportunities;
- Design a planning process for the Library that takes full advantage of the knowledge and insights of the entire Library staff as well as the experiences and needs of Duke faculty, students, and administrators;
- Identify areas in which the relationship of the Perkins system to other campus libraries is especially important to planning, and where synergies may be found, to help orient the development of a campus-wide plan for library services;
- Develop a plan that establishes goals for the Library for the next five years, describes strategies, and identifies resources needed to accomplish these goals;
- Recommend procedures for evaluating the Library’s progress
toward its goals.
The Library Planning Committee cannot accomplish these goals by
itself. It will be vital to the planning process to establish
subgroups that will focus their efforts on particular themes or
functions. One of the first steps of the Committee will be to
develop a list of themes and appoint these topical working groups.
A very significant number of library staff have indicated that they
would like to play an active role in the planning process; they
will be invited, along with others, to serve on the working groups.
I am very encouraged by the strong demonstration of interest in
this process.
The Planning Committee should aim to complete a draft of its plan
by the end of June 2006. The schedule may be altered depending on
coordination with the school and University planning process and
the availability of documents related to that process.
I thank all the members of the Library Planning Committee for
their willingness to take on this responsibility, and I extend my
gratitude as well to the other members of the library staff who
will be contributing through the working groups. The challenge
before us is large, but the benefits are innumerable. The process
itself, which will bring the library staff together across
departmental lines to work toward a common goal, will be extremely
valuable. Planning for the future of our library collections,
services, organization, and integration with the University is of
the utmost importance at this particular time.
I look forward to working closely with the library staff to create
a strategic plan that expresses our aspirations, calls on our
essential creativity, and inspires us to the next phase of our
collective work at Duke University.
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