Environmental factors influencing the strategic planning of academic libraries : a comparative case study of the universities of Fort Hare and Port Elizabeth libraries

Academic libraries play an important role in academic institutions by supporting teaching, research and learning processes. However, it does seem that sustainability of these vital information centres is increasingly below their utility value leading to poor information services. Factors such as increase in student numbers, budget cuts, dependency on foreign sources and falling exchange rates affect acquisitions, quantity and quality of information services. Strategic planning, that is widely propagated in business, is being increasingly considered by academic libraries to offer opportunities for proactive planning that can support uncertainties arising from internal and external environments. The aim of this thesis is to investigate and analyze the environmental factors that may affect an academic library's strategic planning. The relevant literature on strategic planning, not only in libraries but also in the wider field of management has been reviewed. The research traces the origins of strategic planning from military science through the corporate world and to non-profit organizations like academic libraries.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Library and Information Studies Centre (LISC)

Year dc:date.issued

1998

Author dc:creator

• Amoah, James Kwadwo

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Underwood, Peter G

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/9546

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/9546