The Music Library Association's Plan 2001: A Final Report

The Music Library Association (MLA) formally marked the completion of its five-year strategic plan--Plan 2001--at its 70th annual meeting in February 2001. Adopted by the MLA Board of Directors in June 1996 following an intensive self-study process, the Plan was designed to establish direction and focus for the Music Library Association as it faced the challenges and opportunities of the new century. As stated in its executive summary, "Plan 2001 establishes direction for the Music Library Association for the next five years within a challenging environment of (1) rapidly accelerating change in technology, (2) changing patterns of music production, performance, and scholarship combined with mounting demands for access to music of diverse cultures, and (3) sobering declines in library resources." ¹

The self-study process that led to the establishment of the plan began in 1994 with a steering committee appointed by then-MLA President Michael Ochs and chaired by Mary Wallace Davidson (then of the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester; presently at Indiana University). ² MLA's last full-scale strategic planning process had taken place in the early 1970s. The Self-Study Steering Committee looked carefully at the reports of this earlier committee and found much that was relevant to its work nearly twenty years later. ³

In 1995 the board engaged library consultant George J. Soete to guide the self-study process. Soete worked closely with the steering committee on all aspects of the plan, which was developed from both an assessment of external environmental factors affecting the work of MLA and an identification of key issues within the association's internal environment. The association subsequently provided opportunities for the membership to consider and further distill these external and internal factors: (1) a survey, administered in late summer 1995, of members selected at random, (2) an intensive retreat of a dozen MLA members held in Chicago in November 1995, (3) a town meeting held at the February 1996 annual meeting, and (4) a revision process through which the final plan was developed. A detailed summary of the entire self-study process is provided by Davidson in her article "Music Library Association: Report of the Self-Study Steering Committee." ⁴

The plan articulates four main initiatives:

1. Increase and enhance visibility outside MLA

2. Intensify development efforts in the areas of membership and fund-raising

3. Intensify continuing education efforts

4. Enhance the effectiveness of the association's internal organization and operations

Within these initiatives are nine objectives, which provide more specific focus for particular areas.

Following adoption of the plan at its June 1996 meeting, the MLA Board of Directors developed a structure for implementation. It appointed the Ad Hoc Task Force on Plan 2001 Implementation and charged it "to assist the board and the president with implementing the plan, developing timetables, monitoring progress, communicating with the membership, and maintaining continuity throughout the implementation period." As a way of insuring continuity and close contact with the MLA board, each MLA president was appointed to the task force at the beginning of her or his term and remained as a member for the duration of the five-year plan. ⁵

The board then assigned particular initiatives and objectives to relevant groups within the association's administrative structure and appointed ad hoc and permanent committees to carry out specific objectives of the plan not otherwise covered. For example, to carry out the first initiative ("Increase and Enhance Visibility"), the board created the Organizational Liaison Committee to structure outreach efforts to other organizations and the Library School Liaison Subcommittee to assist with outreach to library schools. Five permanent committees or subcommittees and six ad hoc committees were established as part of the Plan 2001 implementation process. ⁶

The Implementation Task Force kept careful track of the organization's progress through a "Summary Document of...