Part of the Striving for Excellence program of the Utah State Library requires participating public libraries to conduct community needs assessments. This is a way for library directors and trustees to find out if the mission they have chosen and the policies they have written are still appropriate as they identify the strengths and weaknesses of…

Nine Canadian health libraries participated in a pilot test of the Benchmarking Tool Kit between January and April, 1998. Although the Tool Kit was designed specifically for health libraries, the content and approach are useful to other types of libraries as well. Used to its full potential, benchmarking can provide a common measuring stick to…

This publication contains the 3-year plan of a three-county school library system located in central New York State. The system is funded by the state, and the contents of the plan are mandated by state regulation. The plan provides the following: (1) organizational information; (2) a membership list of the School Library System Council; (3)…