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.

Table of Contents:
Dedication Preface Acknowledgments List of figures, table and case studies About the authors Chapter 1: What are scenarios? The future is not linear What is the value of scenarios? The future impacting on libraries What is the future and does science fiction predict the future? Change An initial view of the Internet Change of attitudes toward the future Development of scenarios as a discipline Chapter 2: The complexities of our informational environment This chapter What is the environment? Libraries and their environments Disruptive technologies Broad disruptive technological impact on libraries Issues in the wider environment Open source Open source implications Digital content Digital content implications The author–publisher–library relationship Content balance The future of work Implications for the future of work Emerging trends Chapter 3: The future and the past: models are changing This chapter The mirror as a powerful tool Library models in transition Consortia in our corporate lives Changing roles of and pressures on consortia What are we doing, or what is our business model? Future business models Chapter 4: Understanding choices This chapter What are choices? Beginning to construct scenarios through choices Keeping options open Chapter 5: Toward a new way of thinking This chapter How to organise for decisions Is it all straightforward? Confronting sameness Research as a group Chapter 6: Designing your process This chapter Not every process is the same Scenario construction beginnings The suggested process Chapter 7: Scenarios and implementation This chapter Preferred Library Scenario Keeping the scenario alive Mid-term review The staff in the implementation of the Preferred Scenario Chapter 8: Choice, chance and (less than) certainty This chapter Chance and randomness Adoption of risk Issue 1: abundance of data Issue 2: search engine capability Issue 3: avoid group thinking Issue 4: learn to take risks Issue 5: continue to build a trust metric for the library Issue 6: so what is your future? Conclusion Chapter 9: Case studies Case study 1: A major Hong Kong university library Case study 2: A major Australian university library Case study 3: CAVAL Ltd, Melbourne, Australia Case study 4: SOLINET scenarios Case study 5: Public library Case study 6: The possible world of library consortia Chapter 10: Implementation and the impact of change This chapter Change, demolition and reconstruction The human side of change Getting involved and involvement Following through and embedding the change Change and scenario planning Further reading Index

About the Author :
Steve O’Connor is a University Librarian in Hong Kong. He has also been the CEO of a Library consortium and worked as a consultant and trainer extensively in different parts of the world, including the United States and the United Kingdom. He has written and talked extensively on issues relating to libraries, librarians and how they can not only survive but should thrive and position themselves for the benefit of their communities. He is currently working at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He is also the Editor of Library Management and created Library Management China (in Chinese). Peter Sidorko is the Deputy University Librarian at the University of Hong Kong. He has extensive senior management experience in academic libraries in Australia and Hong Kong. In addition to initiating, directing and managing change, from incremental to transformational, in the libraries in which he has worked, Peter has also provided consultancies on organisational change for other libraries. He has written extensively, and speaks regularly, on management issues in libraries with particular emphasis on organisational change. Peter also lectures on topics such as organisational change, contemporary library management, information in organisations and information policy in the information science courses taught at the University of Hong Kong.

Review :
"Because of its clear language, examples, exercises and references the book can be used both as a guide for managers implementing scenario planning in libraries and for teachers providing courses on library management, managing change and innovation within library and information science curricula." --Information Research