Strategic management for today's libraries / Marilyn Gell Mason.

Includes index.

Introduction to Strategic Management --
pt. I. Trend Analysis. 1. Trends Challenging the Library: Technological, Economic, Social, Political. 2. The Future of the Public Library. 3. The Future Revisited --
pt. II. Political Context. 4. The Politics of Cooperation. 5. The Politics of Information. 6. The Fortune Cookie: Socio-Political Impact of Information Technology. 7. Washington Update. 8. Politics and the Public Library: A Management Guide --
pt. III. Innovation. 9. Managing Innovation --
pt. IV. Economic Issues. 10. User Fees I: The Economic Argument. 11. User Fees II: The Library Response --
pt. V. The Impact of Technology. 12. Library Automation: The Next Wave. 13. Sex, Kids, and the Public Library. 14. Reference Revolutions. 15. Educational Programming in the Digital Era. 16. The Yin and Yang of Knowing --
pt. VI. Literacy. 17. Libraries, Literacy, and the Future --
pt. VII. What "Global" Means for Libraries. 18. Is There a Global Role for Metropolitan City Libraries? --
pt. VIII. The Library of Congress. 19. More than a Library for Congress: Making LC the Nation's Library --
pt. IX. Personal Style. 20. Five Women --
pt. X. Measuring Success--
Index.

Strategic management arms librarians with the ability to work proactively with external changes to achieve the library's mission. Marilyn Gell Mason outlines the different forces affecting libraries and explains how and why librarians must manage external changes just as they manage internal resources. Among the external factors are: political context, innovation, economic issues, the impact of technology, and intellectual freedom." "Mason then explains how librarians can transform external forces into positive outcomes for the library, their patrons, and themselves. She maintains strategic management can spell the difference between a positive role for libraries in their communities and a library unable to keep up with the forces affecting it.