What’s New · Message from the Director: Planning for a Strong and Vibrant Future!

One of the most important tasks of any organization is developing its strategic plan. We spent much of 2010 working on a plan to guide us through the next few years. Through the process, we looked at actual cardholder use of the Library and asked for your input on our services through online and in-person surveys. Utilizing this data, which provided fascinating insights into where we succeed and, more importantly, where we fail, we developed our new strategic plan.

The new Plan, approved by the Library Board in November, has five major goals: to achieve financial security, to advance the use of digital content, to excel in customer service, to become the first choice for information, and to support literacy and lifelong learning.

Over the next 12–18 months, we’ll be implementing new initiatives to help us reach the goals, but we didn’t wait for the planning process to be completed before we began making changes. As we received data that identified areas that needed to be addressed, we made immediate changes.

You told us many of our computer equipment was too old and lacked the software you need. We purchased computer equipment and are currently installing the new equipment.

You told us you wanted a mobile website so we’re creating one. We expect this new website to be available in early 2011.

You told us you wanted more copies of new titles so we changed our buying after looking carefully to see where the demand was growing.

You told us you needed access to our services remotely so we’re creating a Virtual Information Center just to serve our customers accessing the Library remotely. This new department will be fully operational in February 2011.

We’re listening so keep telling us what you want and need, and we’ll work hard to change to better meet your expectations.

The new Strategic Plan will be critical in our decision-making process as demand for our services continues to grow and change while funding remains a challenge. Having this to help determine the best use of our limited resources will ensure that the Library continues to invest in the services most needed by our community and remains a good steward of the public funds we receive.