Imagine Your Library's Future: Scenario Planning for Libraries and information Organisations (Chandos Information Professional Series)

In this information age it is widely recognised that, in order to maintain relevance and to gain a competitive edge, libraries and other organisations in the business of information must continuously assess their roles, collections, services and perhaps most importantly, their business practices. Scenarios are a way of predicting and describing a future three to five years away while strongly engaging one's community in choosing the future which is preferable. The horizon in which assessments about future roles change is growing shorter and shorter. While it is almost clichéd to state that change is the only constant, differing scenarios of what libraries might be allow all of us to contemplate futures we might otherwise not allow. Drawing on extensive experience in libraries in different parts of the globe, the authors provide a rich analysis of planning, managing and implementing change in information organisations through scenario planning. Through extensive practical applications, both actual and theoretical, the authors provide a strong background understanding and direct the reader through a planning process that is both readily applicable and innovative for all information organisations, irrespective of their size or client base. Extensive exploration of what it means to 'shape our futures' rather than having our future shaped for us Valuable techniques for understanding futures and creating different scenarios Practical applications are illustrated through examples and real life experience In this information age it is widely recognised that, in order to maintain relevance and to gain a competitive edge, libraries and other organisations in the business of information must continuously assess their roles, collections, services and perhaps most importantly, their business practices. Scenarios are a way of predicting and describing a future three to five years away while strongly engaging one’s community in choosing the future which is preferable. The horizon in which assessments about future roles change is growing shorter and shorter. While it is almost clichéd to state that change is the only constant, differing scenarios of what libraries might be allow all of us to contemplate futures we might otherwise not allow. Drawing on extensive experience in libraries in different parts of the globe, the authors provide a rich analysis of planning, managing and implementing change in information organisations through scenario planning. Through extensive practical applications, both actual and theoretical, the authors provide a strong background understanding and direct the reader through a planning process that is both readily applicable and innovative for all information organisations, irrespective of their size or client base.

• Extensive exploration of what it means to ‘shape our futures’ rather than having our future shaped for us
• Valuable techniques for understanding futures and creating different scenarios
• Practical applications are illustrated through examples and real life experience

Content: Front matter , Pages i-iii Copyright , Page iv Dedication , Page v Preface , Pages xi-xvi Acknowledgments , Page xvii List of figures, table and case studies , Pages xix-xx About the authors , Pages xxi-xxii 1 - What are scenarios? , Pages 1-31 2 - The complexities of our informational environment , Pages 33-60 3 - The future and the past: models are changing , Pages 61-75 4 - Understanding choices , Pages 77-94 5 - Toward a new way of thinking , Pages 95-112 6 - Designing your process , Pages 113-126 7 - Scenarios and implementation , Pages 127-135 8 - Choice, chance and (less than) certainty , Pages 137-155 9 - Case studies , Pages 157-188 10 - Implementation and the impact of change , Pages 189-203 Further reading , Pages 205-209 Index , Pages 211-213