At the Library 8/18/22

At the Library
by Cary Ann Siegfried

Help us envision future library programs and services!

All public libraries in the State of Iowa are required to have an up-to-date strategic plan in order to maintain accreditation. Of course, even without that requirement, “having a plan” is always a smart thing to do for any organization that serves the public! The Library staff and Library Board are especially interested in completing a thorough review of our programs and services in light of the way the COVID pandemic has altered both library operations and personal habits in the last two years.

According to our State Library, “a strategic plan is a roadmap to assist the library director and board in making decisions that are in the best interests of the community.  A plan also publicizes the library’s priorities and its vision of the future.”  As part of this planning process the Library is conducting a survey to get more information from our community about what we’re doing right, as well as what they’d like to see us focusing on and changing in the future.  

The Library’s Strategic Plan Survey is open until Sept. 15 and we hope to receive as many responses as possible, both from community members who use the library, as well as those who don’t. We serve the entire community so knowing how we might meet the future needs of those who don’t currently use the library is always of great interest and we hope these new perspectives can help us inform our plan for the future.  The survey should take the average user about 5 minutes to complete and is available in both English and Spanish.  Links to the online survey can be found on the Library’s Facebook page and web site.  In addition, paper copies are available at the library.

Following the survey, the staff and board hope to be conducting some focus groups on different themes, as well as thoroughly assessing data on library use and on public library service trends in other communities similar to Washington.

Follow this link to the English survey:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WPLSURVEY22  and this one to the Spanish language version: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WPLSurveyespanol22