10/15/2015
Planning activities for the future are essential, particularly in a field as ever changing as librarianship. Coeditors Giesecke and Deborah Pearson (both, Univ. of Nebraska Lincoln), along with Jon E. Cawthorne (associate dean, Florida State Univ.) describe an alternative to traditional strategic planning, which relies on incremental change in response to a single path to the future. Instead, scenario planning addresses potential challenges to multiple plausible futures. Thus, decision makers are granted a broader understanding of issues and forces acting upon the organization, as well as greater flexibility in responding to a changing environment. This book is an update to Giesecke's Scenario Planning for Libraries, providing further context to the 2010 ACRL report Futures Thinking for Academic Libraries by David J. Staley and Kara J. Malenfant. VERDICT The authors present a step-by-step approach to the topic through case studies and a thorough exposition of the theory behind scenario planning. This book is recommended, particularly in conjunction with Futures Thinking, for planning and assessment tasks to be carried out by librarians, library administrators, and other library decision makers interested in alternative methods.—Jennifer A. Townes, Atlanta Univ. Ctr. Lib.
