Examines how and to what extent business-oriented libraries and information centers in the Nordic countries have implemented strategic quality management (SQM), drawing from theoretical considerations in an earlier article. An operational assessment model is proposed and empirical findings from a survey of business information services are…

Identifies key issues and provides strategies for building a library Web site. Highlights include defining the purpose in accordance with what is technically possible; the server; connectivity; designation of responsibilities; page and link maintenance and enhancement; administrative organization, including a Web Governing Group, Web…

According to the 1996 Phi Delta Kappan/Gallup Poll, the American public believes in removing persistent troublemakers from classrooms, banning smoking, and beefing up school security. To deal proactively with discipline problems, districts and schools need to develop community-supported strategic plans. The process involves a community survey, a…

Believes that university departments should use a business model in developing a strategic plan. Describes how to create this type of strategic plan that includes three steps: (1) developing the vision and goals; (2) marketing and evaluating the competition; and (3) using feedback and revising. (CMK)

Describes the use of small-scale change projects by Philadelphia's Department of Human Services to generate new outcomes and new skills and experience that improved basic day-to-day operations, strategic planning, and cumulatively produced larger-scale changes in service, financing, and performance. (Author/LRW)

Describes the Greensboro (North Carolina) Public Library's "Community of Readers," a network of community representatives who provide strategic planning for literacy services and act as advocates for literacy students. Also highlights the "Literacy in Libraries Across America" project as well as 13 public libraries in four…

By developing broad community input and support, a Louisiana district (Monroe City Schools) passed a $59 million property tax package. Offers 10 strategies for winning campaigns. (MLF)

Describes a needs assessment project that included the development and implementation of two distinctive features to aid in performance improvement: a pre-assessment planning process to educate clients about the analysis process and establish an outcomes-oriented strategic focus; and a theory-to-practice process to analyze team performance issues…

Of students in capstone strategic management classes, 195 (experimental group) were instructed using the case method. Compared with results from 42 controls on a tolerance for ambiguity scale, the case method not only conveyed core concepts but also increased tolerance. Locus of control had an effect on learning to tolerate ambiguity. (Contains 21…

Explores successful integration of online learning in schools by drawing a parallel between the introduction of Internet technologies and the introduction of a new vaulting pole to pole-vaulting. Highlights the need for a paradigm shift in learning to build a learning culture in schools and a strategic plan to enculturate students to be lifelong…

Discusses four key elements that comprise content for leadership development: strategic planning, shaping change, effective communication, and timely decision-making. These elements should be recurring themes in leadership institutes, along with material on needs assessment, outcomes-based schooling, evaluation, and followup activities. Includes…

This article focuses on the strategies Hands across the River used to stop a mobile incinerator from being built a short distance from their neighborhood. The group gained support from Congressional representatives and local government in a battle against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (LZ)

An approach to college budgeting that encompasses strategic as well as operational decisions is proposed. Strategic decisions focus on creation and maintenance of institutional capacity, whereas operational decisions focus on use of that capacity to accomplish specific purposes. Strategic budgeting must emphasize institutional assets and their…

Discusses school reform difficulties, profiling a suburban New York superintendent's struggle to forge an institutional mission via stakeholder surveys and strategic planning. Contrasts Seymour Sarason's pessimistic views about reform with Michael Fullan's school-renewal approach. Describes a Pennsylvania superintendent's successful employment of…

Educators' efforts to employ quality management (QM) and strategic planning (SP) processes often fail because they plan incompletely; view QM and SP as distinct, parallel efforts; or fail to establish systemic responsibility for desired changes. This article introduces a four-phase framework that integrates strategic planning and quality…