Dialogic Approaches to Strategic Planning in Academic Libraries: An Appreciative Inquiry Case Study at Oviatt Library

This article provides an overview of the status of strategic planning in academic libraries. It discusses the trend towards “dialogic” (e.g. Appreciative Inquiry) rather than “diagnostic” (e.g. SWOT) approaches to strategic planning—a trend aligned with a dialogic movement in organization development. The authors explain the difference between dialogic and diagnostic methods and what made Appreciative Inquiry (AI) a good choice for strategic planning at Oviatt Library, California State University, Northridge (CSUN). In the final section, the authors present a case study of the Oviatt Library project with information about the planning process including staffing for the project. Although focused on academic libraries, the information about strategic planning frameworks and processes is applicable to any type of library.