know thyself. what is a swot analysis? swotswot trengths eaknesses pportunities hreats
TRANSCRIPT
What we’ve doneO Blue Ridge Branch (MCPL)
10 Questions
1.What do you brag about when you talk about your work?
2.What are the three most critical issues facing our community today?
3.Why are these issues important?
4.If you could change anything about the way we serve the community, what would you change and why?
5.What operational investments would significantly improve the impact we have on the community?
6.What one thing would have the biggest impact?
7.Looking to the future, what worries you the most?
8.What makes you most hopeful?
9.If all your dreams could come true, what would you wish for your work? For the library system as a whole?
10.Who has a stake in the library’s success over the next three years?
What we’ve doneO Blue Ridge Branch (MCPL)
10 Questions
1.What do you brag about when you talk about your work?
2.What are the three most critical issues facing our community today?
3.Why are these issues important?
4.If you could change anything about the way we serve the community, what would you change and why?
5.What operational investments would significantly improve the impact we have on the community?
6.What one thing would have the biggest impact?
7.Looking to the future, what worries you the most?
8.What makes you most hopeful?
9.If all your dreams could come true, what would you wish for your work? For the library system as a whole?
10.Who has a stake in the library’s success over the next three years?
Weaknesses
ThreatsOpportunities
Strengths
• Customer Service• Staff• Our ties to the
community
• Staffing Levels• Budget
• Database promotion• Promotion of early literacy• Time for 1-on-1 assistance
• Lack of dedicated prog./study areas
• Training• Outreach
• Emergency preparedness• Weeding
• Access to & assistance with tech
• Early literacy awareness• Job search assistance• Browsing copies of
books• Outreach• Emergency
preparedness
• Violence/Crime• Poverty/Economic
issues• Library becoming
irrelevant?
What we’ve doneO Blue Ridge Branch (MCPL)O Blue Springs City Theatre
(Blue Springs, MO)
What are 5 things we do really well?
What are 5 things that we may not
do well?
What are 5 things that
you’d like to see us do
outside our organization
?
What are 5 barriers to
our organization’s success?
Blue Springs City Theatre
O Key ThreatO Other theatre organizations have
conflicting showtimes and weekendsO We communicated and adjusted our
show weekends to benefit everyone
O This analysis helped the board receive a grant to assist in strategic planning
What we’ve doneO Blue Ridge Branch (MCPL)O Blue Springs City Theatre
(Blue Springs, MO)
O Colbern Road Branch (MCPL)
When to call in SWOTO As part of strategic planning
O used to create and set goals
O Apart from strategic planningO used to accomplish goals
O AnnuallyO revisit
The SWOT PlanO Decide how to gather data
O SurveyO Focus GroupsO Bulletin Board/White Board
Brainstorming
O Choose your SWOT Team
The SWOT PlanO Decide how to gather data
O SurveyO Focus GroupsO Bulletin Board/White Board
Brainstorming
O Choose your SWOT Team
O Conduct itO gather and narrow results
Strengths Weaknesses
Opportunities Threats
MLA Annual Conference• Networking
• Education• Library-specific• Meeting Vendors• Fun/Social Events• Exchange of Ideas• Chance to travel and see other libraries• Location (if centrally located)• Rotation of location (reaches smaller libs)• Helps academics meet presentation
requirements• Relatively Inexpensive• Committee Involvement• New technology
• Hit or Miss Sessions• Location• Technology Issues• Unfamiliar to New Members• Scheduling events• Session conflicts• Content may not pertain to special or
school libraries
• Funding• Decline in speakers• Competing conferences• Membership• Attendance• Tracking can harm attendance/interest
• Diversify Sessions (pertain to more libraries)
• Use conference as a forum for national lib issues
• Network with other associations• Solicit ideas from small/rural libraries• Reaching very small or rural libraries• Open-ended sessions (participation based)• Virtual sessions (broadcast/record)
eliminate conflicts• Carpooling/bussing to conference (link on
web?)• More scholarships• “Ask Dr. Librarian” session• More real-life xp panels• Regional mini-conferences
The SWOT PlanO Putting it to use
O Match Strengths with OpportunitiesO Take a hard, close look at WeaknessesO Allay Threats
O What can you do to improve?O What if you stop doing it? Is there
another organization that fills that need? Is it even needed?
ConclusionsO “Know Thyself”
O You have to know where you are before you know where you’re going
O Be deliberate about what we do and what we don’t do
O SWOT Analyses can help determine your focus
O This is the best session you will see all week
ReferencesHammerstein NYC. SWAT. Photo. Accessed 1 Oct 2014 from https://www.flickr.com/photos/strawdog316/8369913481/in/photolist-dKBZF8-fowQxE-dcfgXe-bdf6hc-fEwy6J-d56WRS-8mz2Q-ecMFMa-7zADpQ-dA3yoj-2qzEpa-6EcWx6-dcfpzS-9ReoN8-5c5Mk3-52rXrc-83un8g-iavncK-dkfC1x-5jC7Qs-ytjAS-ytjAL-5ZQjNS-djcWN8-Jqp8G-8gSZz-ytoCT-eZuxHQ-aEzXiP-ytoCP-eZicwk-618qgz-58ZEdJ-fBo5Uu-f18mk4-aWNJYx-trRMS-5WdVAw-e2bujL-6qCg3A-f1nGid-f6e7Ga-68STiJ-574iNa-2P3W7m-ELHp3-6M5H2j-4akWrd-7ELDsG-NXFyT
Lake, N. (2012). The Strategic Planning Workbook (3rd ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Kogan Page
Peterson, S. Temple of Apollo. Photo. Accessed 22 Sep 2014 from https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevepeterson433/14932287048/in/photolist-f5Qf6M-brgvXi-ntw5AR-anvKJm-eAnZM-oKvSGY-8utWmu-obSRkK-x1h2Q-oVrc7w-pgRsDb-4W4tnG-be2Zja-eT5h8E-8Y2fug-hpiR7m-7uvL6f-nAutY5-azArDc-5A9CzZ-bk6fXZ-anUV2Q-72J6Y5-poKhAL-79tTyP-eAo6p-eZKWkd-f3YBwt-5nK9io-jwwmNf-eAo36-p5UsKy-avtKBa-eAo9J-pgTntv-jwuN7J-jwsuWB-a2suyz-2tyAZD-64z7qs-fmd6tS-fmdaSm-CLUVv-hJsPCi-8Y5irQ-dTUdEF-aqa2Mh-3VnHWu-hVvX8q-7e9KUY
Contact
Seth MosesColbern Road Branch ManagerMid-Continent Public Library
Dan BrowerParkville Branch ManagerMid-Continent Public Library