Strategic planning process
In 2003, the Trustees of Kimball Library approved the creation of a long-range plan, to help guide library services for the next five years. The plan was approved in November 2006, and covered the 2007-2010 fiscal years. You can read it in all its glory, along with the annual status reviews, at our website: www.KimballLibrary.org.
The library trustees voted in 2010 to begin the planning process anew. They invited community members with a variety of backgrounds to participate on the Library’s Strategic Planning Committee. Here’s the invitation:
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Dear [potential committee member] ,
Kimball Public Library needs your help. We are inviting you to be one of a few select members of the Library Planning Committee. The Library’s previous long range plan covered the years 2007 through 2010, and now it is time to embark on a new planning process.
The Reason: This opportunity comes at a time when public libraries are at a crossroads and must make some difficult choices. For example, users expect traditional services to be maintained at the same time new and expensive technologies are changing the way those services are delivered. Costs are going up at the same time local tax income is leveling off. How will the library of the future respond to increased demands for services under these circumstances? How will we respond to an aging population? To younger generations who may never set foot in a library building but expect online services?
As Kimball Library embarks on a new strategic planning process, our aim is to involve the community as widely as possible. We are asking you specifically to be on the committee because we value your experience as a member of the [xyz] community and because we believe in the importance of hearing viewpoints from a wide variety of area residents. In other words, you’ll wear two hats – that of smart, concerned person, and that of an ambassador for your particular organization or constituency.
The Process: We will be using a strategic planning model that has been used successfully in thousands of libraries across the country. Meetings will be tightly structured to make the most of your time and energy.
The Library staff, board of trustees, and facilitator will do all of the office work, such as gathering data, running meetings, and writing the final plan. We are asking you for engaged participation in two committee meetings, and thoughtful feedback as the plan progresses. While the Library Planning Committee is advisory, your collective input provides the foundation for the final plan.
The Commitment: The time commitment is a total of 8 hours, distributed between two meetings to be held at the Library. The first planning meeting will be on Saturday, March 19th from 1 until 5. This meeting will begin with an orientation to the planning process and to the Library, and then the group will go right to work. The second meeting is scheduled for Saturday, April 2nd.
Thank you for considering whether you can devote two afternoons to helping the Library serve our community’s changing needs. Please let us know what you decide by February 15. If you are unable to make the commitment, we would be glad to take suggestions about other individuals you think would represent your constituency particularly well.
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The Committee’s job is to
- Create an ideal vision of our community.
- Determine how the strengths and weaknesses of, and opportunities and threats to our community help or hinder us from achieving that vision.
- Identify the needs of our community.
- Identify which of these needs the Library can meet.
- Create a vision of the ideal public library for our community.
Once the Committee has envisioned its ideal public library, the Library staff and trustees will examine our resources and capacities, and determine which needs the Library can realistically meet. This may involve changing existing services, adding new ones, and even abandoning old ones.
Change is challenging – which is why Kimball Library needs a strategic plan, to guide us as our community’s needs and out capacity to meet those needs changes.
We welcome your input. Please post comments on this blog, or call or email me. The more we hear from the community, the better able we will be to provide the best public library service.
Amy C. Grasmick, Director
amy@KimballLibrary.org
728-5073
