Technology Plans

I found most of the readings for this week very interesting. There were a few that I found somewhat outdated and too public library focused to be of much use to me, such as the Bertot article "Study Shows New funding Sources Crucial to Technology Services." The Dugan article "Information Technology Plans" offered a good breakdown of the components of a solid technology plan and the Gerding and Mackellar article "Applying for Technology Grants" pointed to multiple good resources for technology planning and grant funding. There were several readings, however, that I found particularly relevant to my work and interests. I like the Stephens article "Technoplans versus Technolust" for its emphasis on tying a plan to the organization mission, acknowledgement of the need for flexibility, and explanation of Everett Roger's Innovation Adoption Curve. I could so easily categorize my colleagues into his 5 categories: Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority, and (my favorite) Laggards. Sager's article "Environmental Scanning and the Public Library" was also especially valuable despite its public library focus. The kind of deliberate awareness of one's environment that he describes and how critical it is to developing strategic goals for your organization translate across the information professional community. The article that hit closest to home in a too familiar way was Whittaker's "What Went Wrong? Unsuccessful Information Technology Projects." As I am currently working on a software development project that has already considerably gone over budget and off schedule, I wish I had read her article before starting the project. We have encountered several of the pitfalls she describes, including poor project planning, lack of monitoring, unrealistic time and cost estimates from vendors, and vendors overextending themselves and not meeting deadlines.

As Lead Archivist of a Digital Program, I am intricately involved in technology planning at my institution. I have to advise on archival requirements for storage, software choices, software development projects, staff training on new software, etc. As the program grows and the archive moves more towards digital archiving, I only see the Digital Program and my role in technology planning growing. It is already at the core of every program, including reference, processing and description, and even donor relations. Moreover, the IT staff, while very knowledgeable about the technology involved, do not understand the special needs of an archive and need that perspective to be incorporated into their planning.