Local library seeks community input for future direction

Miriam Ostermann

Times Associate Editor

 

As the deadline for the completion of a mandatory service plan draws near, the Strathmore Municipal Library aims to initiate a comprehensive community consultation to determine the future direction of the organization and fulfill their provincial funding obligation.
Every three to five years Alberta libraries, under the Libraries Regulation, are required to establish a current plan of service that includes goals, objectives, and a mission statement based on current community needs.
With the document due in June, the library’s focus is on staff, volunteer, and board consultations – and this year, community input – to pinpoint principal objectives in guiding the budgeting and planning process for the next three years.
“It’s a condition of our provincial funding, and it holds us accountable to make sure we’re investing the public’s money in a way that benefits the public to the full extend; to make sure community investment is a community benefit,” said Rachel Dick Hughes, director of library services at the Strathmore Municipal Library.
“We ask the public to give us clear ideas of what they want from the library. In the past goals were pretty vague … so we’re looking for specific measures that we’re offering to the community.”
Specifically, residents are asked to consider the role of the library within the community, the livrary’d potential role in the future, and the reason for lack of visitation from some patrons as well as necessary means required to rectify the situation.
According to Municipal Affairs, the plan’s purpose extends beyond legal requirements, by serving as a tool to help manage libraries within the province, aligning libraries with the community and allowing growth, building fundraising and community support, and strategic governance of the boards.
While the library is required to produce the document every several years, the inclination to gather public input for the 2016 document remained unprecedented.
“In the past we never really had community consultations when creating this document so I think we’ve had such a change in management in different years that I think things just kind of slipped a little bit through,” said Carmen Erison, assistant director to library services.
“What we wanted to do was have community consultations because we want to hear what our patrons, what our community, want from the library. We got a great view of what our patrons want from the library based on annual surveys that we do throughout the year, but this gives us a bit more of an in-depth consultation of what we’re aiming for. It’s going to help guide us into the future, into the next three years.”
Alberta libraries can typically choose from 18 predefined service responses – services that a library could offer its community. As the institutions are encouraged to concentrate on only a few service responses to meet community needs, resources can be more effectively allocated to support those priorities. To ensure the success of the plan and to meet the community’s evolving demand, the Strathmore Municipal Library adopted a take-charge approach to complete the document.
“The reason we dropped down to three years instead of five is because we feel like we can be more responsive if we evaluate every three years,” said Dick Hughes. “A lot of changes happen in five years, so we’d rather be a little more proactive in making sure that we are meeting the community needs as they change.”
Your Voice, Your Library, the unofficial open house, will take place on April 4 from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. All participants will be entered into a draw for an 8GB Samsung Tab 4. Those unable to attend can visit www.strathmorelibrary.ca to participate online.