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Introduction
Today, libraries face enormous challenges related to the development and implementation of "value-added" services for their stakeholders. Libraries of every type and size are facing similar resource constraints and competitive pressures from corporate entities - external to the library - that are vying to provide services directly to the stakeholders that librarians have traditionally served. In order to maintain a competitive edge, every element of the library profession including: librarians; administrators; schools of library and information science; and our professional associations need to understand and monitor - on a global basis - the shifting competitive landscape.
Environmental Scanning (ES) is an important managerial tool used extensively in business and industry to assess and respond to external environmental change that may have a decisive impact on strategic business decisions, organizational performance and viability ([7] Hambrick, 1981). The basic concepts of ES, originally enunciated in a seminal work by [3] Aguilar (1967) describes important concepts and practical tools - that if systematically used by library professionals - may result in a more precise alignment of library resources and services with the rapidly changing information service requirements of our stakeholders.
The importance of ES
Each library is ensconced in an economic, social, political, regulatory and technological matrix that is constantly evolving. Applying fixed managerial techniques, concepts or ideas in environments that are experiencing rapid external-change may place any organization or profession at a competitive disadvantage. For example, Andrew Grove, former chairman of the Intel Corporation has suggested that fundamental change in any organization's business environment may represent a "strategic-inflection-point".
Grove defines a "strategic-inflection-point" as a time in the life of a business when important fundamentals are about to change ([5] Grove, 1996). According to Grove, change is often the basis for the development of inflection-points that usher in new competitors, products or services by a process of innovation and substitution. Inflection-points may mark the beginning of a new cycle of innovation and market success for individual careers, corporations or industries, or they may be the beginning of a long decline for those engaged in inflexible business and management practices" ([4] Castiglione, 2006, p. 290).
For example, external information about economic change, demographics or advances in computer and communication technology can be conceived of as "inflection-points" that may...