LI805 - StrategicPlan

7/28/2019 LI805 - StrategicPlan

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EMPORIA PUBLIC LIBRARY

STRATEGIC PLAN

Strategic Planning Committee

Jayme Johnson

Justina Mollach

Brittany Torres

Sara Worcester

SWOT Analysis Part One

The mission of the Emporia Public Library is to provide access to informational, educational

and recreational services, materials and programs to users of all ages. While the Emporia

Public Library is doing a good job of providing services to the public, there are some things that

could be changed that would help improve the library to further support the mission. Through a

SWOT analysis, our group will determine the internal strengths and weaknesses and external

opportunities and threats facing the Emporia Public Library. The SWOT analysis will allow us to


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look critically at the Emporia Public Library to determine what changes should be made and

implemented in the strategic plan. The second half of the strategic plan will address the

changes that need to be made in the library to improve the overall service the library provides.

Internal StrengthsIt is important to develop a full picture of the library atmosphere and in order to do this we must

examine the positives as well as the negatives. In this section we will examine the an internal

strength of the Emporia Public Library that we have chosen to highlight. That internal strength is

the capable staff at each section who assist the patrons and perform tasks necessary to the

operation of the library. This is one of the core competencies essential to a successful library

and complies with the section of the mission statement detailing that there must be "adequate

staff and scheduling to assist patrons at all times.

Internal Weakness

However, the Emporia Public Library is also facing internal conflicts that are based on

communication issues. There has been an increase in patron/board complaints based on

staff/page customer service. Customer service is a top priority for the Emporia Public Library

and addressing these issues has been key in recent Board and Staff meetings. Complaints

include not greeting patrons and not paying attention to patrons as they walk up to the

circulation desk. This appears to be an issue of culture rather than training as even the mission

statement dictates the aforementioned "adequate staff" and a "safe and accessible

environment" for the patrons

Another potential communication problem exists within the staff and departments. The library is

separated on two floors, with the Childrens area and Internal Staff on the first floor and the

Adults section on the second floor. Communication between the two areas is lacking, with

several downstairs employees believing that the majority of the upstairs staff should not be

trained in the basic circulation procedures. Which is a substantial issue considering that the

upstairs staff is supervising the entire library on the weekends. These skills are needed by the

entire library staff but they are limited only to the first floor due to communication problems

between the floors. This breakdown exhibits a significant failure in producing synergy between

the two departments.

External Opportunities and StrengthsAn important external strength that should be emphasized is the commitment and involvement

of the Board of Trustees. The positive relationship that exists with the Board of Trustees is

important because the Emporia Public Library acts "in response to the specific needs of the

community it serves." The Board is comprised of community members and ultimately serves as

the formal connection to the community that will ultimately benefit from their representation.


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As mentioned above, libraries across the board are facing critical funding shortfalls. Fortunately

for the Emporia Public Library, the English Department at Emporia State University has

recognized both the librarys need and potential. They have responded by developing a plan to

raise funds for the library. This is not only a financial benefit for the library, but serves also as a

morale booster with free publicity. The fact that the English Department is going out of their way

to raise money for the library is most encouraging to those working there and the work beingdone helps to solidify the fact that the library is worth supporting. This is certainly a relationship

that the EPL would like to continue to strengthen and will do so by supplying reference librarians

to assist the English department and promote outreach.

External Threats and Weaknesses

While the Emporia Public Library has many different areas in which they excel, there are also

several external areas which are presenting threats. Recently the budget for the Emporia Public

was decreased by a significant amount (approximately $26,000 for the fiscal year), in light of

this, the board and the director have chosen to close the library on Sundays, starting at thebeginning of the new year 2013. This cut will help save money by cutting staff hours and

utilities, however, there has been some subsequent negative feedback from the community.

As with the many other government-funded institutions, the Emporia Public Library has

experienced its budget cuts and they are learning to function with fewer dollars, as described

earlier. It is discouraging, however, for the library and for the people in Emporias community to

see how the towns funds are being managed. There is often discontent in the community,

especially with the allocation of funds which support unpopular and expensive projects rather

than existing institutions in need. One such example of these unpopular projects was the

installation of large limestone entrance signs which many citizens disapproved of vocally in

newspaper editorials and at city meetings. This is seen as a threat to the community and

indirectly the library because funds are not being allocated to the areas which would benefit the

citizens of Emporia the most.

Appendix

Mission Statement

The Mission of the Emporia Public Library, a tax-supported community resource, is to provide

access to informational, educational and recreational services, materials and programs to users

of all ages.

The Emporia Public Library is an agency for the collection and dissemination of cultural,

business, occupation, recreational, and educational information in response to the specific

needs of the community it serves. If offers important contributions to the shaping and

sustenance of the quality of life for all the citizens. The Emporia Public Library support the ALA

Bill of Rights and Freedom to Read and View statements. Copies are available upon request.


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The Emporia Public Library strives to supply resources in a timely fashion, as well as facilities,

services and the staff to offer patrons a wide range of opportunities to develop individually and

in groups by providing:

1. Books, periodicals, electronic media, for public borrowing or use in the library;2. Accurate and reliable information in a timely response to specific needs;

3. Information for self-directed educational growth to meet personal, vocational, and avocational

needs;

4. Adequate staff and scheduling to assist patrons;

5. Stimulation for intellectual and community awareness through programming, exhibitions, and

acquisitions;

6. Facilities for cultural and educational activities;

7. A safe and accessible environment

SWOT Analysis Part 2

Revised Mission Statement

The mission of the Emporia Public Library is to connect the community with services for

informational and recreational needs.

The Emporia Public Library advocates the idea of intellectual freedom and strives to

support the community by adapting the ALA Bill of Rights and Freedom to Read and

View statements. The library will listen to the community and make appropriate

decisions based on community needs.

The goals of the Emporia Public library are:

Provide the community with information by supplying books, periodicals, and

electronic media.

Enrich the community with programs that are available to further educational

goals, or recreational goals.

Connect the community with information professionals and trained staff to provide

assistance with information needs.

Promote a positive atmosphere at the library through friendly staff and patron

interactions.

Recommended strategies

In order to accurately reflect the libraries mission statement and best serve the public,

actions must be taken to improve aspects that are not at optimal levels. Likewise, the

staff should not diminish their efforts upon the aspects that are currently working and


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move forward with their actions to maintain these levels of fulfillment. With that in mind

we suggest the following strategies to encourage continual improvement.

Internal Strength

To bolster the strength of capable staff who assist the patrons and perform tasks

necessary to the operation of the library we suggest the following strategy. The strategywould be the improvement of continuing education on a staff-wide scale. We suggest

continuing education focusing on managerial techniques that focus on proactivity. This

would insure that staff members are up to date on emerging trends and best practices

which would consequently reduce uncertainty. In turn this would encourage staff

members to be confidant in directing the future of the library, which would cultivate an

atmosphere of innovation. All of these factors would act as a shift toward a more

organic structure.

Internal Weakness

Our suggestion to combat two of the main internal weaknesses, interdepartmental

communication and public service issues, would be the inclusion of more frequent

library wide meetings. The purpose of this suggestion would be to increase staff

awareness of trends and issues within the community and the library itself. The change

would, in effect, develop a healthier dialogue within the library allowing for swift

correction of perceived issues. While we understand all of the tasks do not require a

reciprocal level of interdependency, we would suggest higher levels of interdependency

when possible.

The ultimate goal of these change would be to promote a sense of synergy that

would best serve the patrons of the library, in contrast to a divided departmental focus.Although the public is currently receiving more than adequate service, the

interdepartmental structure is hampering the efforts. By shifting the circulation staff

towards the Reference desk to answer directional and computer questions and moving

the librarians more towards outreach, the librarians will be able to focus on the higher

variety questions while the staff can work in lower uncertainty areas. This too will help

the interdepartmental flow by staffing the reference desk with circulation staff.

External Opportunities

One of the main goals of the library is to improve the relationship and dialogue with the

community in order to better meet their needs and cultivate future externalopportunities. In order for this to occur, the library must be aware of the publics needs

and the public must know what the library has to offer. Additionally, we will focus on

taking advantage of external opportunities that have been presented to the library. An

example of this would be working with the Emporia State University English

Department, who has so graciously offered to help the library.


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External Threats

The most prominent of the threats facing the library today are the external changes

occurring in the present economic environment. In light of these economic hardships it

is important that we are vocal about the value of our institutions and encourage voters

to support their library. The best way to do this is to not only reinforce the value of the

library, but to increase awareness and support of this value. Every day should be

viewed by the library as a campaign for their future. In order to do this the library must

insure that taking advantage of existing marketing mediums is a core competency.

There are many outlets, which would cost little or nothing, that the library could utilize

more fully to underscore their impact within the community.

Implementation

Section 1

The biggest change occurring in the library will be moving the reference desk librarians off the

desk to work on community outreach and supplementing the reference desk with the circulation

desk staff. In more recent years, the reference desk has increasingly been answering mostly

directional questions, so the uncertainty of working the desk has decreased. By taking the

reference desk librarians off the desk the variety will increase as will the uncertainty. By adding

the reference desk to the mechanistic duties that are associated with circulation desk the variety

of the circulation staff will somewhat increase, but not a lot due the fact that the majority of the

questions answered at the reference desk are directional questions.

Organizational chart addressing specific changes:


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Organizational Goals:

Specific

The goal in making these changes at Emporia Public Library is to increase community buy in to

the library. Since there is a plan to increase the mil levy in the future, it is imperative that the

community understand the importance of the library and also know why the library is asking for

the increase.

MeasurableSuccess can be measured by whether or not the number of users of the library increases, if

there is an increase in donations, and if the community chooses to pass the increase in taxes in

support of the library.

Attainable


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It is important that the reference librarians are friendly and approachable in their outreach to the

community. Reference librarians are generally used to helping people, so it was felt that they

already had the appropriate attitude to make the changeover to outreach. It will be important

that the reference librarians take on a larger leadership role with the reference desk and be

prepared to assist the circulation staff in any problems they might have with the transition. The

circulation staff will need to carry over their service attitude from the circulation desk to thereference desk.

Relevant

The new changes relate to the mission of the Emporia Public Library. The library is focusing on

connecting the community with services offered at the library and outreach via the reference

librarians is taking a proactive approach to the mission.

Timetable

Our goal is to have the plan completely implemented by the end of week ten. Below is a time-

line stating the steps needed to be done to complete the plan.

Weeks 1-2: Reference desk librarians will train circulation staff on the reference desk.

Weeks 3-4: Circulation staff will be implemented on the reference desk. Reference desk attend

training/speak with other librarians on outreach to the community.

Weeks 5-6: Reference desk librarians will prepare an outreach plan to present to the library

staff and management.

Weeks 7-9: Reference desk librarians will make any suggested changes to the plan and

present the outreach plan to the board.

Week 10: Outreach plan will be implemented by the reference staff.

Emporia Public Library currently exhibits both bureaucratic and organic characteristics. Thelibrary itself is small, so any changes that need to be made can be made fairly easily as long as

all of the employees are all on board. To gain employees trust in the strategic plan, it would be

vital to provide motivational support for the employees. These motivations will only work if they

are things the employees want, so it will be important to listen to employees to decide on

potential motivational techniques.

The main problem at the library appears to be communication. There should be an effort to

make the library more transparent and increase communication between departments and with

the community. The change in communication will promote beneficial adjustments within the

library and will change the atmosphere of the library. It is important that the library staff support

the strategic plan, but it is also important that each employee feels empowered to make

suggestions on what could work at the library.

Section 2

Continuing Education


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The action which we suggest that will demand a dedicated fund would be the practice of

continuing education. In order to mitigate the costs that the library may incur by sending multiple

individuals to conferences or workshops our suggestion is to, instead, send a single individual

who would then relay the new information and techniques to the rest of the staff during

meetings. As stated previously, these actions would encourage staff members to be confidant in

directing the future of the library. All of these changes would precipitate our ultimate goal ofincreasing the organic nature of Emporia Public Library.

Library Communication

One problem Emporia Public Library has is the nature of communication within the library. To

open communication between departments we suggest an all staff meeting at least once a week

for the period of one month. Having these meetings will be vital to the implementation of the

strategic plan. It is, likewise, imperative that all of the staff members support the new mission

and goals of the library. The library staff meetings will promote transparency throughout the

library and allow staff members to have more autonomy in the workplace by providing an open

forum to discuss new ideas.

Once the support of the strategic plan is in place, staff meetings could then be changed to

occurring once every two weeks, or once a month at the discretion of the staff. Staff meetings

could have a budgetary effect on the library depending on what the library schedule is like. If

there is one hour where most/all of the staff is working at the library this would be the most cost

efficient time to have a meeting as opposed to a time where staff would have to come in and

receive an additional hour of pay.

Documents

LI805 - StrategicPlan