I am writing this editorial in late December in very unusual weather for Minnesota. We have no snow on the ground and yesterday the temperature was the same in Minneapolis as it was in Atlanta. Many things are veering from the expected. Does that mean we should not plan for the future because the future is so unpredictable? I still have my winter emergency supplies loaded in the car even though this winter has been mild and is likely to continue milder than last year. I consider this a form of contingency planning. Contingency planning is directed toward preparing for one possible and usually undesirable future. Libraries prepare disaster contingency plans. Such a plan begins by identifying the possible disaster, such as a flood, and consequences for facilities, services, and collections, and develops appropriate steps to respond to those circumstances.

What other types of planning do libraries use? Master planning is top-down planning that begins in an administrative office. Unit plans are prepared consistent with the master plan. This approach, although it means that initiative at the unit level is constrained and the master plan may not account for the reality of day-to-day work, is fairly simple because not much is open to debate. Strategic planning has an external focus and requires continually monitoring changes in the environment to devise an appropriate response. It usually begins with a vision of the organization's future that serves as a guide to crafting goals, objectives, and strategies that form the plan. Strategic planning is broadly participative and remains an open-ended, continuous process revised at regular intervals. Scenario planning considers alternative futures and formulates strategies in each of those futures. A common example has been planning for various budget allocations—what would the library due with a 3 percent increase, a flat budget, a 3 percent decrease, a 5 percent decrease? Opportunistic planning, sometimes called entrepreneurial planning, is a laissez-faire approach and implies acting immediately when and while an opportunity arises. This approach can make librarians frantic because they do not know what is coming next and when or how they will have to do something completely different.