Analysis of Strategic Planning Content and Development Trends of American University Libraries

[Purpose/Significance] American university libraries have accumulated rich experience in strategic planning with their advanced concepts and practices. This article analyzes the content and development trends of strategic planning in American university libraries from two dimensions, and provides an in-depth understanding of the key elements and future directions of strategic planning in university libraries. In the relevant knowledge system, it provides a new reference perspective for Chinese university libraries. Compared with previous studies, this study provides a more systematic analysis of the content and development trends of strategic planning in American university libraries. It helps to promote in-depth research on strategic planning in the field of library science. By addressing important major practical issues, specific ideas and methods can be provided for the strategic planning of university libraries in China. [Method/Process] This article uses online surveys and content analysis methods. The online survey method can widely collect information related to the strategic planning of American university libraries, which is efficient and convenient; the content analysis method can deeply analyze the main content and development trends, which is relatively systematic and objective. This article is based on the relevant theories of library strategic planning and academic research achievements in libraries. Through online surveys, it obtains strategic planning texts and other materials published by major libraries, and analyzes the actual strategic plans of prominent university libraries in the United States as an basis for research and analysis. [Results/Conclusions] The research suggests that the key elements of strategic planning for prominent university libraries in the United States can be summarized as strengthening collaboration and sharing, promoting world-class collections and services, understanding internal and external environmental factors, improving management levels, and enhancing technical service support. The main trends of its strategic planning development are the trends of service development, collection development, organizational development, and cooperative development. Finally, considerations for the strategic planning of university libraries in China are proposed. Suggestions are put forward for Chinese university libraries to strengthen cooperation, optimize collections, and improve service levels. The limitation of this study lies in its limited scope and lack of in-depth case studies. In the future, the scope of the research can be extended to more countries, in-depth case studies can be conducted, dynamic changes in the implementation of strategic planning can be tracked, and the future direction of university libraries in combination with the development of new technologies can be explored.