RLI 278 17 March 2012R esearch Library Issues: A Quarterly Report from ARL, CNI, and SPARCarc The ARL Balanced Scorecard Initiative Meets the ARL 2030 Scenarios Kathryn Ball, Director, Assessment and Accountability, McMaster University Library Raynna Bowlby, Consultant to ARL Statistics and Assessment Margaret Burri, Associate Director, Academic Liaison, Johns Hopkins University Libraries Vivian Lewis, Acting University Librarian, McMaster University Library Elizabeth Mengel, Associate Director, Scholarly Resources and Special Collections, Johns Hopkins University Libraries A RL has a strong commitment to both assessment and strategic planning, fostered over many years. This commitment extends to the Association’s own planning activities as well as the programs and services it offers to the ARL membership. This commitment to planning is also prevalent among ARL member libraries and most are engaged in planning activities, with many using tools made available by the Association.2 The current ARL Strategic Plan 2010–2012 highlights the importance of planning and assessment. The goal to “[a]rticulate visions for the 21st-century research library and define elements for describing their value and contributions in support of research and scholarship”3 led ARL to embark on two major planning activities: balanced scorecard (BSC) and scenario planning. Two libraries, McMaster University and Johns Hopkins University, are using the BSC and the ARL 2030 Scenarios in their planning efforts. Balanced Scorecard In 2009, the ARL Library Scorecard Pilot was launched to test the use of the balanced scorecard (BSC) in research libraries. The BSC is a strategic planning and performance management system created by Harvard Business School colleagues Robert Kaplan and David Norton.4 Martha Kyrillidou, Senior Director of ARL’s Statistics and Assessment program, engaged the Ascendant Strategy Management Group to train and facilitate the use of the scorecard. Four libraries—Johns Hopkins University, McMaster University, University of Virginia, and University of Washington—volunteered to learn about and implement this planning tool.5 The perspectives shared by these participants have encouraged other ARL members to undertake this planning methodology. Ten ARL libraries are now participating in a second cohort for BSC implementation and some ARL libraries have independently utilized the balanced scorecard technique.6 The balanced scorecard implementations at the four pilot sites have been tremendously successful. As reported at recent conferences, the tool has given these research libraries a framework for implementing and managing strategy as well as a vehicle for communicating consistently about strategy within the organization and externally with other stakeholders. The scorecard, as originally conceived, is a tool for “As research library leaders confront turbulent times, they sorely need new tools to facilitate thinking about the future of the institution and to foster dialogue within the community.”1
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