Ideas for a community library strategic plan?

kiddie
Wed, 29 Aug 2018 20:36:51 +0000

I have been involved with my local library for over 20 years and currently work in a small public library in a neighboring town. I was on the strategic planning committee at one point for my library (we did a survey also). One result from our survey was to tweak our hours.

The key is to make the library serve the community and it’s specific needs. Think of the library as a community resource - space (meeting rooms, study areas, etc.), materials (books, dvd’s etc.), information (on-line resources, presentations on various topics, tax help, etc.), and entertainment (movies, kids activities, crafts, etc.).

What needs do residents have in your town have in these areas. Remember in one community it might be great for the library to lend tools, in another they might lend ukuleles (my library is currently doing that). In my town, the library is very quiet and typically has lots of people sitting at tables working at their laptop. The library where I work is usually noisy with people socializing and playing mah Jongg or holding a writing workshop in a public area.

The biggest thing my local library is praised for was providing a place for people to keep warm and charge their devices during Sandy when most of the town was without power.