A preliminary guideline to support strategic planning in libraries of Iran’s University of Medical Sciences

Developing strategic planning in libraries depends on identifying different dimensions of its activities and services. In this research we proposing a lens for strategic planning in libraries of Iran medical science universities.

After adopting a qualitative survey design, 21 academic library managers were interviewed. Snowball sampling method was used to select the Samples and the data analysis was done using the thematic analysis method by MAXQDA 10.

The study revealed nine main themes and over 54 sub-themes. Resources and librarian specialists identified as an important libraries property. Customer expectations, The Mission of Upstream Organizations and Current Status of Library Performance were identified as three factors influencing the formulation of library missions. In libraries, for drawing up perspectives, the most important issue was the available facilities and services. Considering the librarians' professional ethics and user feedback from most interviewees, it was raised as a value for the library. The majority of interviewees considered Up-to-date services to be important strategic goals and stated that if they had the necessary delegation of responsibility, they would be able to formulate better goals. The most important environmental factors affecting strategic planning referred to modern information and communication technologies, lack of librarian’s motivation, participate in educational and research programs and lack of human resources in libraries.

Strategic planning for each library was different from others. But, attention to the Common influential factors and used of proposed integrated framework in this study can be facilitate strategic planning.