為因應當前知識經濟的潮流，急遽之社會變遷與日新月異之科技發展，圖書館的經營管理一直在尋求調適與變革，而圖書館行政人員與專業館員亦不斷在學習現代化管理知識與技術。 　　 二十世紀美國公共圖書館之經營，自採用全國通用之標準到圖書館規劃之應用，是引進現代管理學理論與技術之成果。本文即在探討美國公共圖書館自1970年代以來在規劃方面之發展與演變。本文介紹美國公共圖書館規劃之三份手冊，敘述其內容梗根，並闡述三份手冊演變之經過。 本文研究顯示，美國公共圖書館規劃之演變，由引介規劃程序，到強調角色扮演，到強調轉化程序，是受到管理學重視使用者與社區需求之影響；而美國公共圖書館規劃之應用，更代表美國公共圖書館界力求創新，俾便對圖書館使用者及社區提供最完善的服務。

　　　　　In order to cope with the current trends of knowledge economy, social change, and technological development, the library and librarians have been searching for new management concepts and techniques. To introduce modern business management knowledge and skills into library management, the American public library used library planning to replace national standards in the later half of the twentieth century. This paper is to study the development and evolution of three American public library planning manuals since 1970. This paper concludes that the application of library planning is the result of the efforts of American public library in emphasis of meeting community and user needs; and thus the American public library is successful in the search for excellence through innovation to achieve the ultimate goal of providing best services to library users.