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Bottom-Up Strategic Planning: The UC San Diego Libraries Experience

This case study describes a large-scale, highly participatory strategic planning process employed at a large public academic research library. In academic year 2008-2009, The University of California San Diego Libraries faced unprecedented budget reductions that, along with the continuing shift from print to digital content, called for a different approach to strategic planning. Based on this, the Libraries’ Administration charged a 22-member Strategic Planning Working Group to develop a draft strategic plan based on extensive solicitation of ideas and perspectives from Libraries staff, users, and partners. After gathering, distilling, and synthesizing this information, the Working Group identified six main themes. These themes were presented to, and accepted by, the Libraries Administration, and formed the basis for the Libraries’ 2011-2014 strategic plan. Following the completion of the plan, the Libraries continued to use participatory approaches in developing action plans in support of the strategic plan. These included an internal call for Libraries staff to submit action ideas and vote for action items they supported. Staff also had the chance to serve on teams that developed implementation plans for turning action ideas. Benefits of the process included increasing staff engagement, creating a sense of ownership of the strategic plan, and developing action ideas. Drawbacks included the significant investment of time and a need to avoid over-engineering parts of the process. Overall the process resulted in an energized staff committed to charting the Libraries' future.