Library strategic planning after COVID-19: Don't fight the last war

摘要

The big guns thumped out their deadly cargo all through the night. The artillery barrage was so relentless that the German offensive, such as it was, halted almost before it even began. All the planning, all the labor, and all the money spent allowed the French troops to remain nestled in the safety of their giant concrete fortresses, which were dug deeply into the security of the earth itself. The Maginot Line was a success. The long and bloody Great War would not be repeated. Of course the above paragraph is coun-terfactual. The German blitzkrieg simply went north around the Maginot Line and tore into France after a quick defeat of the Low countries. The Maginot Line is considered one of the great failures of strategic thinking in military history. The French war planners did not account for the changes in the world during the interwar period. They fell victim to the old adage, "generals always fight the last war." They based their planning on what had happened, instead of thinking about what might happen in the next war.