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The Importance of Planning Services

Abigail McLinden

Ivy Tech Community College

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“Failing to plan is planning to fail.” This quote of debatable origin contains a strong truth

to it. Any enterprise of any significance requires a certain amount of planning in order to make it

a success.

I especially need to be more deliberate in my life, having ADHD. It makes it harder for

me to get away with not planning. Which in turn helps me to see the value of it. Doesn’t mean it

makes it easier.

Strategic planners look ahead to think about what is and will be needed in the

community, as well as what the library will be able to do to meet those needs. Being deliberate

about what the library will do as well as how is essential in fully utilizing the resources available

for those goals.

It’s also important for the library to know what’s needed. Now there is a use for being

able to give an educated guess as to what might be needed, but it’s also important to know what

is needed, right now. And the way that we do that is through surveying the community and

seeing what they say. Library staff make think they’ve provided adequate computer access, only

to find out the community doesn’t think so. So then it’s time to go back to the drawing board and

figure out how to actually fulfill the communities needs.

So how do librarians go about finding and fulfilling the communities needs? Blackburn’s

article Servin Older Adults (2013) discusses how the Ottawa Public Library did exactly that.

First of all, we can see a clear example of looking ahead to see what factors will affect

the community. “By 2031, the number of seniors living in Ottawa is expected to more than

double.” Part of the survey is also checking to see how highly valued the library is by senior
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citizens—and the answer is encouraging! It’s one of the top attributes of Ottawa for the target

demographic.

This article also shows an example of considering what this demographic will need.

Shelving height, walkways, lighting and more are all considered as to their impact on senior

citizens and their ability to browse the library.

The article also discusses programming for older adults. It mentions a variety of

programs targeted for older citizens, with a special emphasis on the technology programs

available. It also mentions timing of events, around the bus schedules where seniors can ride for

free, the warm months so they don’t have to worry about the cold and slipping on ice.

So as we can see, there are a lot of considerations to go into planning for the future.

Which just goes to show how important planning is. What kind of mess might happen if the

library failed to think about what the future influx of senior citizens will need? Crowded shelves,

bad times for programming, leading to elders deciding it’s not worth the hassle and staying

home?

In the end, planning and surveys are important tools to make sure the library is the best

they can be.

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Blackburn, A. (2013). Serving Older Adults. Feliciter, 59(3), 21-23. doi:https://web-a-ebscohost-

com.allstate.libproxy.ivytech.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=8f7161e8-9736-
46d1-9dc9-0202d2027cce%40sessionmgr4007