Developing a Vision

The library media specialist can become a leader in the process of restructuring a school through methods of strategic planning. Crowley, who has given workshops around the country on strategic planning for the library media center, shows library media specialists how to use their unique skills to help direct the planning team that is charged with developing a vision for the school's future. Through text and graphics, Crowley designs a roadmap to the strategic planning process and shows the pitfalls to avoid. He also outlines the parallel planning the library professional must do for the library media center itself; both planning processes are carried out simultaneously and should be closely interwoven. This work will be valuable to school library media specialists and administrators, as well as to educators who are involved in school restructuring.



This work emphasizes the role of the library professional as information expert, external environment scanner, and cataloger. The decisions a school must make as it develops a vision of the future should be based on current and accurate information, and the library media specialist is the logical choice to assume the role of information expert for the strategic planning process. The process, as outlined by Crowley, begins with the case for the strategic planning process, and follows with chapters on external scanning, internal scanning, organizational analysis, developing a vision statement, mission statement, action plans, setting priorities, and keeping strategic planning dynamic.