Strategic analysis process at academic libraries in Oman

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate methods that are used for analyzing strategically various aspects of academic libraries in Oman. Design/methodology/approach: A research framework was designed to explore various steps of conceptualizing, collecting, analyzing data, and reporting results. Data gathered through in-depth interviews with participants represented different management levels of academic libraries in the country. The analysis process utilized content analysis to shape the relationship between categories that were subjected to formulate knowledge. Findings: The results indicate that strategic analysis process has been practiced in 40 percent of academic libraries in Oman, utilizing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats (SWOT) analysis technique. However, all respondents identified strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of their libraries under one or more of the following factors: information resources; administrative support; human resources; financial resources; building and space; facilities and equipment; and cooperation and communication. Yet, the priority and importance of each issue to each library varies from one institution to another, according to size and history of each university. Research limitations/implications: The great differences in history, size, and infrastructure between the institutions investigated had affected the selection of the research population. Moreover, reports, statistics, existed in some libraries found unable to provide the necessary data, which forced the researcher to depend on the data gathered from respondents in building the research knowledge. Originality/value: This research fills part of the gap that exists in the strategic management of information services. It is the first study shedding light on the application of strategic analysis in academic libraries in Oman.