Steven Bell wrote an interesting article in the October 2010 American Libraries – “Fit Libraries Are Future-Proof”. He writes “to achieve fitness libraries need to adapt to change and to stay relevant”. He shares his 12 Steps to Library Fitness.  They are very similar with the PLA Planning and Managing for Results.
1)Â Listen and observe what our users want and are using – for example mobile devices.
2) Does being fit involve our resources – including money, staff, collections, equipment and building?
3) What does our community want and expect? A fit library must know the community and serve it.
4) Get out of the building and visit community agencies, businesses, schools, etc and let them know what our libraries have to offer.
5) Take a good hard look at ourselves – what are our sacred cows? Why are we doing certain things? Is it what the community and our users need? Is there a better way to do our jobs? What is broken and needs to change?
6) Are we flexible? Can we adapt to change and new technologies?
7) Stay up to date and allow yourself time to learn about new things and ideas.
8) Who are your passionate users? How are they using your library? Will they support us as budgets get tighter?
9) Be proactive to solve problems that affect our users and as a result, improve our services.
10) Is the library important in the community? Is it perceived as essential?
11) What are the core values in our library? Have the staff and the trustees internalized them? Are we speaking with one voice?
12)Â Continually evaluate our services and make changes as necessary if something is not working.