Getting from where you are now to your long-term goals is not always simple.

Especially for more ambitious objectives, success can be dependent on many different factors.

In particular, there may be pre-conditions – things that need to be in place in order to move forwards. These pre-conditions, in turn, may have their own pre-conditions, and so on.

IFLA’s own Strategy is built around the idea that to achieve our Vision, we need to strengthen the global voice of libraries, inspire and enhance professional practice, connect and enable, and optimise our own organisation.

Under these Strategic Directions, it includes different key initiatives that take our work forwards, making it manageable.

A similar approach can be helpful in many different situations however.

So for our 51^st 10-Minute International Librarian exercise, develop a roadmap.

Bearing in mind both the long-term vision you have set yourself, and your short-term goals, try to create a sequence of actions you can take.

Just as you did in defining a short-term goal (Exercise #38), try to think ‘backwards’ from your longer-term vision (Exercise #27) – what different things need to happen to achieve this?

In what order do they need to happen? Where are there dependencies – i.e. where does achieving something depend on other factors being in place first?

Creating a roadmap – with deadlines – also helps you keep track of your progress!

Tell us about your experiences of defining a roadmap in the comments box below.

Good luck!

This idea relates to the IFLA Strategy! 3.3 Empower the field at the national and regional levels.

As we publish more ideas, you will be able to view these using the #10MinuteInternationalLibrarian tag on this blog, and of course on IFLA’s Ideas Store! Do also share your ideas in the comments box below.