Information Service Planning and Evaluation: A Goal Programming Approach.

This paper discusses a generalized resource allocation and program planning model to aid information service managers optimize the value of an information program to their parent organization. The technique which is investigated is goal programming that incorporates both quantitative criteria and ordinal priorities into a common decision making system. It is a particularly powerful tool for dealing with a decision making environment in which there are conflicting goals and objectives. For the model which is described, thirty projects of a proposed operating program are evaluated in terms of fifty goal criteria representing six classes of organizational goals, including 1 the range of available staff for information services, 2 the available budget, 3 the diversity of the overall program, 4 the capability of the information program to provide mandated functions, 5 concentration on basic services and products, and 6 concern over the agencys ability to keep pace with the demands for new and improved products and services.