The Mansfield/Richland County Public Library has decided to update their strategic plan, which could mean an expansion of the library’s services to the community or a shift in services to better fit the times.
To help this process along, the board conducted research through a survey designed to explore the community’s perspective on the public library.
The survey asked county residents questions that related to community development and asked residents to explain the benefit of having a library in their area. It was designed by the library’s consultants from the North East Ohio (NEO) Regional Library System. Over a four week span, the survey received approximately 200 results from all over the county.
The library’s Board of Trustees; Vin Black, President; Lydia Reid, Vice President; Judy Coppersmith, Secretary; Eric Behnke, Jon Bell, Geneva Cummins, and Joe Reed examined the results earlier in October. The board then attended a retreat to collectively generate four strategic goals for the library to exercise.
On October 28, they presented these goals:
- To continually innovate
- To focus on superior service
- To extend the library inside and out
- To increase responsiveness to the community
The library then held a management retreat in which the managers discussed how these goals could be specifically carried out. Outreach Department Manager Deborah Dubois said she would like to see more people dedicated to doing things out in the community.
“One of the goals is to extend the library inside and out, and I’m outreach, so I would like to see maybe more people dedicated to doing things out in the community rather than expecting people to come in to the building,” said Dubois.
Besides the library’s community involvement, which Dubois is committed to on a daily basis, Dubois went on to explain the role of a library in a democratic society.
“We’ve always considered the library an essential service to the community. We provide access to information, entertainment, culture, education, resources. For a lot of people, we’re the only place they can get access to the internet. We’re one of the few places that you can get that for free,” explained Dubois.
She continued, “In a democratic society, in order for people to make informed decisions, they have to have access to information from all perspectives. And that’s one of the main things that the public library does.”
The Board of Trustees will meet again in December to approve action items moving forward into the new year. These action items will be available to the community once approved.
For more information on the Mansfield/Richland County Public Library, visit their website.
