Planning to plan

I just completed my second summer session and the class was entitled Administration and Management. One section we covered was the Environmental Scan. Boy that would have come in handy in June when I was writing this paper. It was exciting to be learning something in school that not only has practical applications but is already put into practice. So many times I have wondered "when will I ever use this?" Planning to plan was something we covered in great detail. I learned a valuable life lesson this week as a very close family member stayed in the hospital for 3 nights/4days. Juggling life responsibilities along with visitation was difficult. It taught me to be prepared not only for what you think will happen but also for what you don't think can possibly happen. In a convoluted way it reminded me of the last exercise we did at the Strategic Planning Committee Meeting. We dreamed about what our libraries would look like in 2015 and money was no object. We came up with some great ideas. Maybe they aren't so far outside the box after all. Perhaps we will have a library within 15 minutes of every resident of Georgia in the future. It is quite possible that libraries will be technology leaders and not the ones playing catch up. Maybe just maybe the value of the library will be so high that we are the center of the community and when anybody wants to know whats going on in the community or needs information we will be the ones thought of first and not the Internet because we will be known for our knowledge, technology, information and especially our friendliness.

I am looking forward to a planning to plan with you!

Leslie