This plan is intended as a guide for the SWAN Board and Executive Director over the five years between 2019 – 2023. A tactical plan will be updated each year.
Defines how decisions are made.
SWAN provides resources and services to member libraries and the constituencies they serve and is governed as a representative democracy of elected Board members who represent the entire membership. Decision making is driven by the patron experience, patron rights, and security.
Defines the problem in society the organization is trying to solve.
SWAN seeks to improve patron ease of access to information, resources, and services through serving our member libraries. SWAN is dedicated to supporting our community of member libraries by sharing resources and technology.
What is the organization’s solution?
SWAN sets the standard of excellence for member and patron experience. We are the catalyst in creating and nurturing an ecosystem of ingenuity and collaboration. We engage in open dialogue with our membership and use purposeful communication in our community. We utilize careful planning of our key resources and are ready to seize opportunities as they arise.
Develop a Shared and Accurate Diagnosis of Member Dissatisfaction Around the Existing ILS and OPAC (Staff Interface and Online Catalog).
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The SWAN software platform is at the center of the chosen mission for the SWAN organization. The membership survey and interviews conducted as part of the assessment and analysis revealed member dissatisfaction exists at a meaningful enough level.
Satisfactory solutions depend on proper diagnosis: “What are the contributors for member dissatisfaction?”
There are three possible contributors to the problem:
SWAN is missing a shared diagnosis. The below actions will lead to a clearer understanding of where SWAN’s member dissatisfaction stems from and will allow us to develop adequate solutions to counter it.
At this stage, the primary goals are gaining insight and developing a culture of collective ownership of problems.
Research and performance enhancements SWAN completed within Objective 1 should not lose sight of finding ways to improve the patron experience as part of objective 4.
Open Clarity Task Force & Report of Findings configuration options
The SWAN task force that was formed to provide analysis and recommendations as part of a "shared diagnosis" for the consortium has issued its final report. The report identifies 5 important issues, and in its conclusion makes some "big picture" recommendations for SWAN and its libraries to focus on over the next few years. The report is divided into two parts: Part 1 is the "Issues Identified, Responsibility, Corrective Action, and Strategic Direction" and Part 2 is an overview of the research activities of the Task Force which gathered information directly from library staff using SWAN's software, e.g. Enterprise, WorkFlows, Analytics, etc.
Below are the 5 important issues that emerged from the research:
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Clarity Task Force Report (PDF)
Open Software Platform Survey & Analysis of Results configuration options
SWAN conducted a survey on six software platforms provided and used by member libraries.
The survey ratings and comments were analyzed by SWAN Management Team and presented to the SWAN Board on April 19, 2024. The second annual survey was conducted in 2025 and presented to the SWAN Board on April 18, 2025.
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Platform Survey Analysis 2024 (PDF)
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Deliver on the Solutions that Can Be Readily Implemented, While Focusing on Long Term Solutions.
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With the (a) prioritized list of problems and (b) the shared and accurate diagnoses, SWAN should then be better positioned to execute solutions. The solutions that have the greatest possibility of success will be ones that depend on SWAN staff and member libraries. These solutions should have a measurable positive impact on member library staff and patrons.
SWAN board and members focus on research and development.
SWAN will build solutions that steadily improve the ecosystem within the consortium to steadily improve SWAN’s software platform.
Reconstitute as a Mission Driven 501c3 with Clear Representative Governance Practices.
A 501c3 organization will more clearly express a mission-centric identity than an “intergovernmental instrumentality.” For the 501c3, a mission statement around an overarching “public good” is definitional. For an Illinois Intergovernmental Instrumentality, the “governmental” identities are definitional.
The “public good” requirement of a 501c3 reinforces the explicit inclusion of patron experience into a new mission statement. Practically speaking, becoming a 501c3 removes burdens hampering current governance such as insufficient quorums and barriers to participation (i.e. requirement to be physically present at meeting; prohibition of email as vehicle of decision-making). Another practical advantage will be to support grant seeking (Objective 6) as 501c3 is a more natural and understandable fundraising vehicle.
Reconstituting as a 501c3 provides a context for exploring new governance policies and practices which could include:
Representative democracy sometimes means a board member must hold the proper tension of representing some defined constituency AND the greater public good – like a legislator.
This objective should underline the collective mentality required of the new board members: that when they enter that role, they are acting as a representative of the interests of all the members and their patrons – not representing their own library.
The board must also commit to owning their authority and resist temptation to push things to mass member decision making. However, opening more channels to gain informative input from members should be done.
Regularly receiving input from the patron as end user will be especially important as SWAN implements solutions for patron facing interactions. Simply inserting the words “patron experience” into the mission statement is not enough; this must be translated into practices that inject the patron perspective into decision making.
The patron perspective is the best way to achieve more standardization of resource sharing activities and act as a counterweight against (note: “counterweight” not “complete erasure of”) the tendency towards library by library customization.
SWAN uses a variety of research methods to find the solutions that best meet the needs of our patrons and represent the demographics of the SWAN library community.
Community driven solutions depend on a collective responsibility.
There is a desire for opportunities to share expertise and provide other kinds of peer support.
SWAN must consistently and repeatedly provide the rationale for building collective identity. There are many avenues towards building the collective identity—shared experiences, leadership practices, organizational routines, messaging, etc. all are tools that should be used.
Seek External Funding Options to Support the Research & Development Initiatives of SWAN.
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We want to keep membership fees low while embracing innovation.
Start small and experiment in this effort. Build on success.
The goals based on the six strategic objectives for SWAN are updated each year.
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Objective 1: Develop a Shared and Accurate Diagnosis of Member Dissatisfaction Around the Existing ILS and OPAC (Staff Interface and Online Catalog)
Objective 2: Deliver on the Solutions that Can Be Readily Implemented, While Focusing on Long Term Solutions
Objective 3: Reconstitute as a Mission Driven 501c3 with Clear Representative Governance Practices
Objective 4: Increase Presence of Patron Experience
Objective 5: Strengthen the Collective Identity
Objective 6: Seek External Funding Options to Support the Research & Development Initiatives of SWAN
2023 Written Plan & Goals (PDF)
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