Hennen's Public Library Planner: A Manual and Interactive CD-ROM
By Thomas Hennen

For any journey, it is always best to have a map. For libraries and librarians, that map is often a living document that speaks to where the organization is today, where the planners intend to take it in the future, and how to get there. Here is a structured tool for your public library’s planning process. With Coverage in key issues—budgeting, governance and administration, electronic services, collection development, technology, access and facilities, staffing and personnel—a wide range of checklists assess the quality of everything from the library director, the integrated system, or even the meeting facilities. Reference tables help evaluate your library’s needs for FTE staffing, collection holdings, hours of operation, material expenditures, and more (even better, the CD-ROM calculates many of these numbers for your particular library). Policy development is covered with sample mission statements and policies for volunteers and friends, Internet use, disasters, and more, for large and small libraries alike. The step-by-step structure answers key questions of how to create a committee, how to create long-range directives, and how to communicate the results. The numbers games of statistics, data, surveys, and even percentile comparisons are tackled in a simple manner. The companion, interactive CD-ROM features more than 50 checklists and “fill in the blank” forms. This is an essential resource for charting and navigating your public library’s future.