Managing for Results: Effective Resource Allocation for Public Libraries (PLA Results)

Successfully managing a library means doing the right things right all the time. If a library's resources are being channeled to objectives that have little or nothing to do with the library's mission and goals for its community, the library is doing the wrong things right and probably will be unable to meet its real goals.

Every public library, regardless of size, has four important resources to help meet its mission and achieve its goals in the community. Staff, the library's collection, technology, and the library facility itself all need to be effectively managed for the library to achieve the right results.

Using the Planning for Results planning process as the springboard, the Public Library Association has developed a new tool to enable librarians to allocate and reallocate to help the library achieve its goals and meet community needs.

Managing for Results requires librarians to take a proactive approach to marshaling and managing all of the library's resources effectively. Using this planning guide, librarians will be able to identify their key resources, make choices among different priorities, and assign resources to achieve results.

The key to successfully allocating resources is first knowing what you want to accomplish. Most of a library's resources are already allocated to some objective or another. However, Managing for Results forces you to evaluate whether resources are being used to achieve the real objectives of the library in the community. This may mean reallocating resources, or evaluating library goals to be sure that the library's resources are used to ensure that the library achieves its mission, serves the community, and gives patrons what they need and want.

The numerous workforms are designed to enable librarians to identify, collect, and analyze the information needed to correctly allocate resources. They focus on the factors needed to allocate resources, such as the number of professional staff needed, how to budget for library materials, the amount of space needed for programs, and the type and amount of software and hardware needed for the community served.

Using the workforms and the guidelines, librarians can focus on their specific library's needs and objectives. The process outlined in Managing for Results can be used regardless of the planning process used, the size of the facility, and the library's mission.