The terminology of planning: part 1

Pages17-23
Date01 March 1996
Published date01 March 1996
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/01435129610108234
AuthorGuy A. Marco
Subject MatterLibrary & information science
If the first round of discourse be not defini-
tion…then the end or conclusion is opinion
(Hegel).
Of all the difficult tasks that a librarian
encounters (tasks like collection development,
reference service, and the incorporation of
new technologies), none is more difficult than
planning. Indeed, it is so difficult to make a
useful plan that hardly anyone does it;
although there is evidence that many librari-
ans think they are doing it. A fundamental
challenge to the planner is that of definition.
The professional literature presents a wide
range of planning terms, many of them over-
lapping in significance, most of them without
accepted definitions. It is the purpose of this
essay to examine some of the basic concepts
of a library plan, and the words attached to
those concepts, and to suggest a kind of stan-
dardized vocabulary for the process.
To begin, let me offer a working definition
of plan: “a statement which describes the
important steps to be taken for the accom-
plishment of a mission or the solution of a
problem”. Planning is the act of making such
a statement. A number of words in this defini-
tion call for particular consideration. A state-
ment is an overt expression of what is in one’s
mind. It may take the form of a written docu-
ment, or an oral pronouncement. (A state-
ment may also be visual, musical, or gestural,
but such forms do not apply to planning.)
Although we might suppose that library plan-
ning statements will be written, I think that
most are not. Historically, libraries have been
making written planning statements for only
about 50 or 60 years; in earlier times such
planning as there might have been was con-
tained in oral pronouncements and agree-
ments (at administrative meetings, for exam-
ple). And in most cases libraries of the eigh-
teenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth cen-
turies had no discernible plans at all. In 1627,
Naudé’s[1] pioneering treatise on library
economy offered useful ideas regarding what
should be in a library, and about organization
of the contents, but nothing like a plan in the
definition above. The same may be said of the
library activity and thoughts of the philoso-
pher-librarian Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
17
Library Management
Volume 17 · Number 2 · 1996 · pp. 17–23
© MCB University Press · ISSN 0143-5124
The terminology of
planning: part 1
Guy A. Marco
The author
Guy A. Marco is a Senior Fellow in the Graduate School of
Library and Information Science, Rosary College, River
Forest, Illinois, USA.
Abstract
Considers the vocabulary employed by writers of library
planning documents, and analyses the terms used for the
various concepts. Notes that concepts are often given
diverse terminology in planning documents, and that
frequently there are inconsistencies in the application of
concepts as well as terms. Proposes definitions for three
key concepts: mission, plan and goal.
This is the first of two (or possibly more) articles by
Guy Marco on terminology. Further considera-
tions of this topic will appear in Library Manage-
ment in future.

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