Professional Development Theory of Change
PLA’s Professional Development Theory of Change is a guide library professionals can use to chart their own path toward becoming data-driven leaders, community advocates, stewards of the public library and its values, and networked innovators. The Theory of Change helps library professionals identify professional growth opportunities aligned with these critical roles, recognize and build upon the competencies and skills needed to support them, and see how their own professional development links to important outcomes in their library work and the library’s impact in the community.
Professional development is at the heart of what we do at PLA. The Theory of Change rethinks how the public library field can approach—and PLA can support—professional development.
Resources
Strategic Planning for Professional Development: How PLA's Theory of Change Will Advance a Vision for the Public Library Field (PDF, 38 pgs.)
This white paper tells the story of the Theory of Change development process, shares the Theory of Change and PLA’s plans for its use, and incorporates perspectives from three library professionals with extensive experience and knowledge around PLA’s professional development efforts.
Tracking Your Career Development Pathway with PLA’s Professional Development Theory of Change (PPT, 23 pgs.)
Slides from the 2019 ALA Annual Conference "News You Can Use" session that introduced attendees to the PLA Professional Development Theory of Change, placed the objectives and interim steps in the context of learning goals, and provided guidance on using the Theory of Change to track individual career development.
