Planning Library Services
ecolibrarian.org, Jonathan Betz-Zall, last updated September 28, 2006
An effective library is much more than books and magazines on shelves; it’s an organization that makes those materials useful to the people who need them.
Here are some questions that will help the organizing process:
How will the library help achieve the goals of your organization?
What specific services will it provide?
- Technical information
- Historical documentation
- Social analyses for use in compiling studies
- Displays for public (“coffee table” function)
Who will use the library, and how?
- Internal customers, interested specialists, general public, other special characteristics (e.g. high school students)
- Visit in person, remote by web, remote by other means (includes asking staff to obtain information from collection)
How should they be able to find their way to the information they need?
- Traditional catalog
- Keyword search (like Google)
- Subject list
- Other
How will you let potential users know about the library?
- General publicity (e.g. link on agency website)
- Specific publicity campaign
- Shared links with like-minded agencies
How you will allocate tasks for maintenance among staff, volunteers and contractors?
How you will evaluate the effectiveness of your library?
- Observation of condition
- Observation of behavior
- Surveys
What types of resources are currently available? How many of each? How are they stored? How are they organized?
- Printed
- Audio-Visual
- Digital
- Other
Questions for individuals within the organization:
- Which information materials located here do you use in your work?
- How do you find them?
- Which materials do you have to find elsewhere?
- How do you find them?
- Where do you find them?
- How much time/energy/money do you spend finding those outside resources?
[adapted and expanded from ONE Northwest’s Online Strategy Planning document: http://www.onenw.org/bin/page.cfm?secid=146]
For more information on library organizing, please consult the list of Books on Organizing a Library in the file list on the left.
To contact ecolibrarian, email us at ecolibrarian@gmail.com