Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Spreading Christmas Cheer at the Library
I thought this was fun and entertaining! A flash mob rang bells and sang Jingle Bells at a library in Kansas.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Engaging Our Community
I had an opportunity to sit down with a former employee, now PhD student to talk about community engagement and what that means to the Plainfield Library. In subsequent letter to the Library Board of Trustees, she quoted me:
“A successful library lives beyond its walls. It engages people in ways that are meaningful in their lives.”
This concept has driven the development of services at our Library. You can see it in the programming and Outreach to the community. As the Library enters into a strategic planning process to set goals and objectives for the next several years, engaging you, our community members, in a dialogue about services and what is meaningful and useful to you, is imperative to ensure responsive service.
As a part of the strategic planning process, the Library will be seeking community input, to engage you in a dialogue about what you want and need from your Library. Look for those coming up in the new year, as we plan some focus groups to inform the planning process!
“A successful library lives beyond its walls. It engages people in ways that are meaningful in their lives.”
This concept has driven the development of services at our Library. You can see it in the programming and Outreach to the community. As the Library enters into a strategic planning process to set goals and objectives for the next several years, engaging you, our community members, in a dialogue about services and what is meaningful and useful to you, is imperative to ensure responsive service.
As a part of the strategic planning process, the Library will be seeking community input, to engage you in a dialogue about what you want and need from your Library. Look for those coming up in the new year, as we plan some focus groups to inform the planning process!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Plans, Plans and More Plans!
Whew! Lots going on with our Library and the regional library systems!
The merging of the five northern Illinois regional library systems and the four southern Illinois library systems is proceeding apace. If you're interested in this process, you can follow along at the web sites: Merger 2011 and Cooperation Today. I am serving on the Future of Systems Sub-Committee for the northern Illinois merger group. This sub-committee is working toward a vision and plan of action to guide the evolution of regional library systems. It is building on the work of the Illinois Library Association's Future of Illinois Library Cooperation Task Force.
Meanwhile, back in Plainfield, we have three big planning projects going on simultaneously: strategic, expansion and internal space. The new Strategic Planning process will update the long range plan for our Library, setting goals for the next 4-5 years. The expansion planning process will examine options for a future expansion referendum, for approval by the voters no sooner than 2012. The internal space planning is yet one more look at space use within the current building and possible reallocation of space in order to allow collection and service growth over the next 4-5 years. Through a "design-on-a-dime" concept, the Library's architect will help the Library Board and staff determine if there are any remaining options for allocation of space that would net additional collection shelving and workstations.
As we continue in these planning processes, I'm sure I will be blogging more about them. For now, we are gearing up for planning, gathering and reviewing background information and making decisions on the planning processes and timelines.
The merging of the five northern Illinois regional library systems and the four southern Illinois library systems is proceeding apace. If you're interested in this process, you can follow along at the web sites: Merger 2011 and Cooperation Today. I am serving on the Future of Systems Sub-Committee for the northern Illinois merger group. This sub-committee is working toward a vision and plan of action to guide the evolution of regional library systems. It is building on the work of the Illinois Library Association's Future of Illinois Library Cooperation Task Force.
Meanwhile, back in Plainfield, we have three big planning projects going on simultaneously: strategic, expansion and internal space. The new Strategic Planning process will update the long range plan for our Library, setting goals for the next 4-5 years. The expansion planning process will examine options for a future expansion referendum, for approval by the voters no sooner than 2012. The internal space planning is yet one more look at space use within the current building and possible reallocation of space in order to allow collection and service growth over the next 4-5 years. Through a "design-on-a-dime" concept, the Library's architect will help the Library Board and staff determine if there are any remaining options for allocation of space that would net additional collection shelving and workstations.
As we continue in these planning processes, I'm sure I will be blogging more about them. For now, we are gearing up for planning, gathering and reviewing background information and making decisions on the planning processes and timelines.
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