By now in the process of marketing planning for engagement you will have an emerging set of opportunities for engagement activity. Having set ambition (Chapter 3), reflected on users’ and potential users’needs and wants (Chapter 4), identified the value the library can offer, and segmented library markets into practical groups of users (Chapter 5), and looked for stakeholders to help create and deliver a library offer to each segment (Chapter 6) you can now choose where the library can make the most impact. Then the library can attend to finalising engaging offers.

Unfortunately there will not be enough financial and other resources to implement all your ideas and you have to choose which engagement options to develop into detailed strategies and action plans. Making decisions and choices within a wide analytical planning framework can be done at many levels. Some library staff simply reflect the current priorities of their funding body and ensure it is supported by a detailed action plan reflecting the vocabulary and language of the funding bodies. Others take a broader view.

Priorities

Library and information professionals are often creative, and there is no shortage of ideas to develop and market libraries. However, there is never enough time or money to do everything that library managers would like to do all at once. If priorities are not set then there is a danger that the library resorts to the easiest or most interesting activities rather than addresses difficult issues which have the greatest potential impact and urgency.

It can be daunting to set priorities if they have not already been set by the top team who makes decisions on library funding. Where do you start? These are some of the most important questions to consider for those setting priorities:

• ■ What are the fundamental activities members of the funding body believe that the library has to do? What is the library ‘in business’ to do? An existing mission–vision–values statement should be of considerable use here.

• ■ Which activities contribute most to the library achieving that value to its stakeholders?

• ■ What are the clear outcomes that demonstrate excellence? There are likely to be a mix of quantitative and qualitative indicators.