An investigation into designing strategic plan for developing and enhancing library services in Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

For aims and preventing the University libraries, which are one of the main organizations within the university, should support educational and research activities. To fulfill this aim, they should direct their services with environmental changes and the mission of the university. In this regard, strategic planning seems a suitable approach. Brayson's strategies planning model and SWOT analysis model were used for planning and specifying the strategies. The needed information was collected via three data gathering instruments, i.e., questionnaire, semi structured interview questions and a checklist. Twenty-six librarians, who were managers of the faculty libraries or heads of different sections of the central library, completed the questionnaire. Four deputy managers of the university participated in the interviews. Eight areas of library activities, which provide suitable ground for the library to enhance the quantity and quality of its services were used to design the data collection instruments and analyze the collected data. Based on this analysis, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats were identified. They provided the knowledge to specify the strategic aims and the related strategies for enhancing library services.