Technology Planning

It seems often easy to forget that technology is an end to itself. Great are the demands of keeping a library technologically up-to-date. As libraries become increasingly technological, technophobia will reduce.

Technology plans can help as coordinating documents. Not infrequently such documents are created, filed, and forgotten. Staff buy-in correlates with whether or not the technology plan is a "living document." (Stephens, 2004)

Indeed, libraries need to know their communities. In practice, libraries now spend an increasing amount of time studying their "competitors" (Amazon, Google, etc.) I think this is because the latter is now changing faster than the former. (Sager, 1999)

Government library environmental scanning can be a complex task. Formal explicit identification of user needs can be difficult. (Sager, 1999)

The Schools and Libraries Division of the Universal Service Fund (E-Rate) provides discounted computing and networking resources for schools and libraries. E-Rate was authorized under the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Technology planning can improve the efficiencies of expenditures, competitive bidding, auditing processes, and procurements. (Bertot, 2002)

The 1995 Standish Group Study underscores the challenges to technology project, and puts those of E-Rate into perspective. "Poor project planning" was identified as the primary cause of project failure. "Poor project planning" specifically entailed that "risks were not addressed" or the "project plan was weak." The extent which technology plans address technology project risks is unclear. Such risk include "slippage from the schedule, "changes in the scope of technology, functionality, or business case," cost overruns, and changes in key individuals including managers or sponsors. (Whittaker, 2007)

Technology plans should acknowledge realities referenced in the 2003 OCLC Environmental Scan. These realities include that users are usually satisfied with information search results from open-web search engines, libraries can expect increasing competition for funding, and (most surprisingly) libraries are still spending a relatively small part of their budgets (3%) on digital content. (OCLC, 2003)