|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the past four decades, the Library has operated largely without intense or formal reexamination or strategic planning. It is now time for the Library to reconsider its purposes, its programs and its performance, reflecting on its accomplishments but focusing especially on the challenges and opportunities of the Twenty-first Century. The Library intends that in the years ahead it will be ambitious in its vision, clear in its mission, excellent in its products and services, highly effective in its operations, and entrepreneurial and collaborative in its approaches.
This strategic plan will provide direction for the Library. It is also a way to convey the Library's perspectives and intentions to others who share our interests, wish to collaborate with us on programs, and support our efforts. First and foremost is our non-profit partner, the Harry S. Truman Library Institute.
Members of the Board of Directors of the Truman Library Institute commented on partial drafts at several stages, and the full Board of Directors reviewed the draft plan to the goals and objectives level.
During the planning process, the planning team drew on a variety of assessments and planning studies. These include:
The entire planning process has been advised and facilitated very ably by the Bernard Consulting Group, Inc. of Kansas City.
Conditions
The analyses of the past several years confirm that the Library has great strengths but faces
great challenges. These are described briefly in the "framing statement" which introduces
each of the six critical issues being addressed in this plan.
The main strengths identified are Harry Truman's very positive reputation with the general public, the importance and relevance of the decisions made during the Truman presidency, the valuable, unique research collections held by the Library, and its excellent reputation for assisting scholars who come to the Library for research.
Among the key programmatic challenges are completing new permanent exhibits and creating and acquiring temporary exhibits that are attractive and engaging to a broad audience; developing innovative educational programs that relate effectively to the interests of students and teachers; offering better outreach programs beyond the Library; and systematically addressing the backlog of archival description so that the potential to share documents through new communication technologies can be seized effectively for research and education.
Other challenges include creating an organization that functions internally as one, unified institution supportive of the Library's mission and goals; developing better and more extensive marketing programs to inform and attract the public and increase net revenue; and collaborating more actively with other organizations. The library needs to adopt a stronger customer service focus and continuously evaluate its performance and reassess its methods, treating strategic planning as an ongoing process.
We will accomplish this mission by:
Commitment - We are committed to a Truman Library that is continually evolving into a more vital institution by establishing an agenda and strategies for the future, valuing resources, and seizing opportunities.
Openness to Innovation and Change - We respect the past. We also embrace the future by proposing ideas, experimenting, taking chances, seeking evaluation and advice, learning from mistakes, and being open to change.
Integrity - We will develop trust and act openly and with integrity in dealing with each other, our holdings, and the many audiences we serve.
Customer Service - We value our obligation to continuously assess the needs of our present and future customers and provide excellent service.
Communication - We accept shared responsibility to provide and seek out timely information that is important to the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum and its customers.
The identification of critical issues included a review of recent assessment activities conducted on behalf of the Truman Library. These included the 1996 market research conducted by Ann Klein and Associates, the 1996 report and recommendations of Edwin Bridges and Michael Fox on the Library's archival program, the mid-1997 program review report from the Office of Presidential Libraries, and the internal assessment and focus group discussions conducted by the Bernard Consulting Group, Inc. From this review the Strategic Planning Team identified six Critical Issues. Addressing the goals, objectives, strategies and actions formulated in the Truman Library Strategic Plan will resolve these critical issues and move the Library forward over the next five years.
The following Critical Issues are not listed in a priority order.
Products and Services - How will Harry S. Truman Library and Museum expand and improve its programs to better serve its customers?
Collection Management - How do we preserve and better manage the Library's historical materials?
Marketing - How do we improve marketing of the Library so that people are aware of our products and services, increase use of them, and provide strong support for their operation?
Resource Development and Allocation - How do we develop the continuing resources needed and allocate them to maximize their impact on our priorities?
Organizational Development - How do we build a unified and effective organizational culture?
Facilities - How do we transform our facility to successfully support the Library's 21st century programs and services?
Note: An internal version of this strategic plan includes objectives for each goal, and actions for each objective. This internal version also assigns accountability for objectives and actions to particular managers on the staff of the Truman Library or Truman Library Institute.
The Truman Library has entered a period of great challenges brought about by rapid changes in technology, increasing competition from other cultural attractions, decreases in Federal appropriations in real terms, especially for human resources, rising costs of services, and new demands for engaging and interactive exhibits and educational programs. Program evaluations, customer surveys, and focus groups have recently confirmed what the Library staff has long known: that the Library needs new permanent exhibits that appeal to the new generations who do not recall or value the Truman period; that there is a demand for programs that serve the educational needs of teachers and students and children and families; and that, while the Library has been highly proficient in on-site reference services, it has great unrealized potential to bring information in and about its collection to a much broader audience.
GOAL 1: Develop an annual operational plan that integrates and guides all product and service areas.
GOAL 2: Ensure access to the expertise necessary to develop excellent products and services.
GOAL 3: Provide exhibits that attract, engage and educate the customer.
GOAL 4: Provide public programs that attract, entertain and educate the customer.
GOAL 5: Develop educational programs consistent with the Library's "education framework" and priorities statement.
GOAL 6: Provide reference services and access tools that will serve the needs of all potential customers worldwide.
GOAL 7: Improve programs and services through increased cooperation and ongoing partnerships with appropriate organizations.
GOAL 8: Improve the quality of the customer experience in order to increase their satisfaction and their support of the Library.
The long-term survival and future use of irreplaceable documents and artifacts cannot be guaranteed unless the library is able to obtain the expertise, systems and resources required to provide state-of-the-art storage, care and retrieval of these critical historical materials. A new emphasis on systematic planning and follow through by Library staff and outside consultants is required: 1) to assure that storage conditions meet modern archival standards; 2) to advance the replication and conservation of priority materials; 3) to address the huge backlog of arrangement and description of archives; and 4) to make the historical resources of the Library readily accessible to users through electronic communication systems.
GOAL 1: Assess and describe collection management conditions and needs.
GOAL 2: Set collection management priorities and develop and carry out plans that reflect them.
GOAL 3: Seek resources needed but not presently available to carry out collections management, especially collections management priorities.
GOAL 4: Develop or refine and formally adopt policies and procedures for all collections management functions.
Studies conducted for the Truman Library indicate that the Library's purposes are not well understood by the public, including by leading individuals and organizations in Greater Kansas City; that the Library's programs and services are not advertised or otherwise promoted sufficiently to reach their potential audience; and that the Library is not perceived as friendly and helpful enough to its visitors. The Library understands also that it needs to present a clear and attractive image to the public and to potential partners and supporters.
GOAL 1: Develop the competence and capacity for the Library to operate an effective marketing program.
GOAL 2: Channel the opinions of customers and potential audiences into the Library's plans for programs and services.
GOAL 3: Expand the Library's customers through information, image and incentives.
The Truman Library, part of the National Archives and Records Administration, is funded mainly through an annual congressional appropriation and through earned income from admissions and sales administered through the National Archives Trust Fund. These resources support a minimal exhibit program, collection management, and building maintenance. Appropriations have been flat for nearly a decade and are likely to remain so. The Trust Fund balance has declined in recent years as expenses, formerly supported by appropriations, have increased more rapidly than earned income. The Truman Library Institute for National and International Affairs, the Library's non-profit partner, is undertaking a major campaign to renovate the permanent exhibits and to create strong educational and outreach programs. New one-time Federal appropriations of $8 million will upgrade public areas of the museum, prepare it for the new permanent exhibits, and create a new temporary exhibit gallery. To carry out its core responsibilities to preserve collections and make them available, and to provide the exhibits and educational and outreach programs that people say they need, the Library and the Institute will need to be highly entrepreneurial, maximize the impact of available resources, and work effectively with others.
GOAL 1: Support the Truman Library Institute in developing a comprehensive advancement program.
GOAL 2: Integrate Library and Institute planning, budgeting, evaluation and reporting to ensure accountability, effective performance and maximum impact on priorities.
GOAL 3: Increase resources, especially in-kind, from institutions and individuals that share Truman Library vision and goals.
GOAL 4: Increase gross earned revenue, and net revenue after directly related expenses, each year for the five years beginning in fiscal year 1999.
Our organization is facing mounting pressures and new challenges -- and we intend to meet them. These challenges require strong assessment and planning so that we may set a wise course and choose sound ways to pursue it. We will recognize our strengths and build upon them, understanding that change is required in virtually all areas: in our priorities, our methods, our resources, and in the way we work together and with others. In making these changes, it is crucial that we act as a unified team, confident in each other and in the vision, mission and priorities of the Library.
GOAL 1: Bring all staff to understand and share in the vision and values and will support the priorities of the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum.
GOAL 2: Lead all of the staff to understand their roles, responsibilities and what is expected of them as individuals and members of a unit.
GOAL 3: Recognize desired performance with appropriate rewards and address other performance.
GOAL 4: Bring the Library's Core Values to the level of expected behavior.
GOAL 5: Adopt systems and processes that will incorporate planning, monitoring, evaluation and reporting as a continuous process within the organization.
GOAL 6: Better equip Library staff to do their jobs through ongoing staff development.
The Truman Library and Museum is housed in an aging building racked by deferred maintenance. Continued operation can only be assured if the challenge of existing structural and mechanical deficiencies is aggressively met. Transformation to support the future needs of ambitious 21st century programs and services will require a sizable and continued expenditure of monetary and personnel resources. Also needed are a focused vision, judicious assessment and comprehensive facility use planning.
GOAL 1: Ensure that the use of the Federal funds ($8 million) appropriated for facilities work related to the "museum renovation" project is planned and executed to enhance the facilities of the Truman Library.
GOAL 2: Develop a comprehensive facility operation and maintenance plan and a process for implementation.
GOAL 3: Obtain resources to implement the priorities identified in the assessment and in the operation and maintenance plan.
Harry S. Truman Library and Museum
Creating a Classroom for Democracy
Harry S. Truman Library and Museum