Integrated Library Planning

Integrated Library Planning for dynamic, changing libraries

Integrated Library Planning is Fosgail’s strategic approach to planning that helps libraries stay responsive to changing needs instead of feeling locked into a static three- or five-year plan. Drawing on Myka’s book, Integrated Library Planning, and real-world experience as a library director, this work supports leaders who want their plans to be living tools for decision-making, not documents that gather dust.

Why a different planning model?

Many library plans are linear: write the plan, implement the plan, review it at the end of the cycle. In a fast-changing environment, that often means the plan is outdated within months, staff feel unheard, and planning becomes something done to them rather than with them.

Integrated Library Planning offers a cyclical, information-rich model with a rolling planning horizon and regular review points, so goals, outcomes, and action plans can adapt as new information and opportunities emerge.

What Integrated Library Planning can help you do

Fosgail’s Integrated Library Planning support is tailored to your library’s size, mission, and context, but common focus areas include:

• Developing or refreshing a strategic or integrated plan that can adapt over time
• Aligning mission, goals, outcomes, and action plans across collections, services, staffing, and spaces
• Building a planning structure with clear roles, rhythms, and communication channels
• Designing monthly or quarterly review cycles that use evidence and staff input to update the plan
• Engaging stakeholders—staff, faculty, students, board members, community partners—in meaningful, honest conversation about the library’s direction

Whether you are starting from scratch or trying to revive a plan that has stalled, Integrated Library Planning gives you a framework and partner for creating a plan that stays relevant.

Ways we can work together

There are several ways to engage Fosgail around Integrated Library Planning, depending on your needs and capacity.

• Planning consultation
  Work with a Fosgail consultant to design or refine your planning process, from initial assessment through plan drafting and implementation support.
• Facilitation and engagement
  Invite Fosgail to facilitate retreats, focus groups, or planning sessions that bring staff and stakeholders into honest, constructive conversation about the library’s future.
• Coaching for directors and planning leads
  For directors who are developing and implementing an integrated plan themselves, ongoing one-to-one coaching provides a space to think through next steps, troubleshoot challenges, and stay grounded in the model’s principles over the course of a year.

In every mode, the work is collaborative and adapted to your local context rather than imposing a rigid template.

Our approach to integrated planning

Integrated Library Planning is fueled by open communication, honest assessment, and careful attention to how people experience change. Fosgail brings Attendant Leadership and the Fosgail Mindset to this work, making space for multiple voices at and around the planning table and pacing the process in ways that support sustainable practice instead of burnout.

The model’s rolling horizon and regular review cycles help your plan remain a living document that can respond to new information, instead of waiting for the end of a fixed term to adjust course.

Is Integrated Library Planning with Fosgail a good fit?

This offering may be a good fit if:

• You are a library director, dean, or manager responsible for planning and want a process that is dynamic and people centered.
• Your current or past planning processes have felt performative, top-down, or out of sync with daily realities.
• You are ready to commit time and attention to building a planning rhythm, but would value a thought partner who has walked this path before.

If you are looking for a quick, one-time strategic planning retreat with a generic template, this approach may not be the best fit, and we can help you think about other options.

Next steps

If Integrated Library Planning sounds like the kind of support your library needs, the best next step is to schedule a free Discovery Meeting to talk through your context, planning history, and hopes for the future.

You can also learn more by exploring Integrated Library Planning: A New Model for Strategic and Dynamic Planning, Management, and Assessment and reading the related articles and conversations about planning and change in libraries highlighted below.