Academic Libraries

Abstract As strategic plans developed in the 1990s reach maturity, it is crucial to question the use and impact of strategic planning in academic libraries. This article reviews the origins of strategic planning and its various uses in academic libraries, and then discusses several positive and negative impacts of strategic planning on academic libraries and associations. The inclusion of fundraising, the acknowledgment of the political impact to strategic planning, the continued preparation in the use of technology and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the process may have a positive impact for academic libraries. Until empirical evidence of the strategic planning process in libraries is shared with the academic community, researchers must look to literature reviews, cited application of the strategic planning process, and the advice of the experienced for a renewed vision of the strategic planning process. Thirty-five years after strategic planning checked into the library, can strategic planning effectively contribute to managing academic libraries for the future?