INLS 131
Management of Information Agencies
Fall 1999

Getting Ready for Class of Sept. 27, 1999

INTRODUCTION TO THE PLANNING PROCESS

For this class, please find an article or chapter on the planning process. You may either choose a reading related to your context of choice (academic library or systems shop, public library, corporate IT dept., school library, software development agency, law library, whatever) or you may choose a chapter on planning from a general management text (many are available in Davis; some are on reserve reading list for class; others in SILS collection). I will be interested in what you choose.

In your portfolio, provide a complete citation to the article, book chapter, or web site (author, title, name of journal or book title or website, place and publisher (if it's a book), volume number (if a journal), date, inclusive pages). Provide a short summary (like an abstract) and then provide your own application and analysis to a situation you're familiar with (personal or family situations are certainly acceptable. The questions listed below may help you think about what to write.

Some elementary concepts we will use in our class discussion on Monday include things like the strategic planning process, SWOT or situation audits or needs analysis, mission and goals, hierarchy of objectives, activity planning, project planning, policy-making. If you are familiar with how these fit together, we will have some common ground to compare successful and unsuccessful planning efforts.

Some questions you wish to reflect about and possibly comment on in your portfolio include:

• Are you a "planner" in your personal and or your work life? What tools and techniques do you use? What sorts of plans do you make?

• Has what you do been influenced by the plans of others? If so, what advice would you have give to those planners re information that might have helped them improve their plans and their planning ability?

  Based on your experiences and your reading, what would your life be like without plans and planning? Is planning a necessity or something that we can make do without?