Strategic Planning for School Library Media Centers

A strategic plan is a useful tool for communicating the purpose of the library media center (LMC) to the administrators, teachers, and parents of the school community. An initial benefit is an assessment of the library program's strengths, weaknesses, and impact on the teaching and learning process. The library media specialist should use the planning process to garner greater support, identify priorities for future direction, provide the basis for effective budget development, and articulate the LMC's integral role in the school's instructional program.

Based on Information Power, as well as input from focus groups of librarians, computer educators, teachers, administrators, and parents, the authors identified a core of the essential elements found in quality library media programs. Rubrics developed for this core provide a foundation for developing and prioritizing goals and objectives, as well as tools for ongoing evaluation.

School library media centers, often short of time and staff, will welcome this easy-to-follow blueprint, packed with forms, questions to consider, templates, rubrics, and charts. From forming a committee and constructing surveys, to good PR and a consistent evaluation process, this essential handbook provides the tools to create a visionary mission statement, the strategic plan that embodies it, and the steps to implement it.

Mary Frances Zilonis, Ed.D. is director of Information Technology at Newton Public Schools in Newton, MA.
Carolyn A. Markuson, Ed.D. is an educational program consultant who specializes in the areas of media and technology, instructional design skills, facilities design, and library and information programs. She is president and founder of biblioTECH Corporation, and has designed over 80 new and renovated school libraries.
Mary Beth Fincke has served as the associate director of EDCO Collaborative of Grater Boston School Services, a position in which she organized and facilitated interdistrict curriculum committees.