Warsaw Public Library

Long Range Plan

July 2006-June 2011

Introduction

During the spring of 2006 the Warsaw Public Library staff, Board of Trustees, and a committee of community leaders worked together to formulate this long-range plan as part of a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant project sponsored by Pioneer Library System. Several meetings were held in which all parties involved were able to envision an ideal future for Warsaw and how the library can best provide for the service needs of community members in order for this vision to come to fruition.

Warsaw Public Library serves the citizens of the Town of Warsaw, thus the Board of Trustees invited residents representing different aspects of the community to join with the Board President and a staff member to form the Community Planning Committee. Thanks so much to the committee members for their time and thoughtfulness.

This committee’s discussion led to a list of community needs. The committee then learned about existing library services and programs and eventually established a list of three service responses for the library:

Current Topics and Titles
Lifelong Learning
Formal Learning Support

The Board approved these priorities at its May 9, 2006 meeting. The library staff has written goals and objectives for each service response and has brainstormed activities to fulfill them.

Mission Statement

Warsaw residents will have excellent library services continuously provided to ensure that:

Everyone can learn throughout their lives
Everyone will have access to materials, programs and services in order to meet their recreational needs
Students of all ages will be able to access the information they need to further their formal education

Community Vision

Committee members prepared vision statements for Warsaw in the year 2016. The statements are listed below.

All people will benefit from expanded/improved medical facilities, including the addition of medical specialists.
All seniors will have streamlined access to cost-effective medical services.
Young professional people will benefit from a technologically progressive environment in a bucolic atmosphere.
All persons will have access to educational empowerment programs, i.e., teen preparation for adult life; parents able to help kids with homework; preschool.
All preschool children will have affordable/available child education programs.
The community will benefit from business growth and development while maintaining the small town aura (big box developers must work with the local community).
The entire community will have access to greater cultural opportunities, i.e., Blues in the Valley; school auditorium, festivals, new offerings, theater programs.
The public library and schools will be on the cutting edge of information technology and will have appropriate technology support.
There will be a variety of excellent and affordable housing levels.
Young people will return to Warsaw because there is a technologically progressive environment in a bucolic atmosphere.

Goals and Objectives

Library Service Response Current Topics and Titles

“A library that provides CURRENT TOPICS & TITLES helps to fulfill community residents’ appetite for information about popular cultural and social trends and their desire for satisfying recreational experiences.” (Sandra Nelson, The New Planning for Results. Chicago: American Library Association, 2001)

Goal 1: Children and teens will have programs, services and materials to meet their personal interests and recreational needs.

Objective 1.1 Circulation of Children’s and Young Adult materials will increase annually by 2% or more.

Objective 1.2 Attendance at all children’s and Young Adult programs in the library will increase by 2% or more annually.

Objective 1.3 Attendance at outreach children’s programs at schools will remain steady or rise annually.

Activities:

· Staff will offer in-library programs designed to introduce children and adults to the library’s collections, highlighting new additions.
· Staff will offer outreach programs to area preschools to introduce children to the library.
· Staff will create one new bibliography for children and one for young adults per year.
· Staff will research and purchase materials in new formats as the budget allows.
· The physical plant needs of our building will be continually reviewed, such as new carpeting, outside painting, tree trimming, and etc.

Goal 2: Adults will have programs, services and materials to meet their personal interests and recreational needs.

Objective 2.1 Circulation of Adult materials will rise by 2% or more annually.

Objective 2.2 Attendance at adult programs will rise by 3% or more by 2011.

Objective 2.3 By 12/2007 90% of adults using the library will indicate that they are satisfied with the materials available.

Activities
· Library staff will continue to provide and improve a current collection of materials that are in high demand such as popular adult fiction genres, popular adult nonfiction, and periodicals that are well funded and chosen using our collection development policy and local requests as a guideline.
· Library staff will be well informed through training, reading review sources and using on-line resources of the content and style of popular books, audio books and DVDs enabling us to anticipate demand and offer guidance to patrons.
· Library staff will offer a bimonthly book discussion group, The Musical Library Summer Concert Series, participate in A Tale for Three Counties, consistently change displays and develop and improve program ideas for adults.
· Library staff will use newspaper articles and ads, the newsletter Warsaw Library News, radio ads and pamphlets to increase awareness of library offerings.
· Library staff will develop new ways to publicize the library’s offerings using computer technology, such as a blog, and updating the library’s website.
· Library staff will develop and carry out a customer satisfaction survey and implement suggestions by 12/2007.

Library Service Response Lifelong Learning

“A library that provides LIFELONG LEARNING service helps address the desire for self-directed personal growth and development opportunities.” (Sandra Nelson, The New Planning for Results. Chicago: American Library Association, 2001)

Goal 3: Children, teens and adults have programs, services and materials that instill and fulfill a desire for learning throughout their life.

Objective 3.1: Circulation of adult, children’s and young adult non-fiction materials circulations will increase by 5% or more by 2011.

Objective 3.2: 90% of those attending programs and responding to surveys will indicate they had a positive learning experience.

Objective 3.3: The number of citizens from our service area and outlying areas who hold a library card will increase 5% by 2011.

Objective 3.4 Library programs on topics selected to address the desire for learning and personal enrichment will attract a growing audience of 5% a year.

Activities

· Library staff will conduct an assessment of the non-fiction collection, removing titles that are not current.
· New non-fiction titles will be purchased in accordance with the library’s collection development policy, including non-fiction in alternative media.
· Library staff will offer at least two programs aimed at teens’ personal development each year.
· Library staff will offer regularly scheduled programs for preschool and school-aged children, including a summer reading program, after school club and story hour.
· Library staff will develop a program for parents of infants to encourage early learning experiences.

Goal 4: Adults, children and teens will find electronic resources and print information covering a broad array of topics that will enrich their personal and work lives.

Objective 4.1 The number of searches conducted on NOVEL databases will increase by 2% annually.

Objective 4.2 The number of reference questions answered will remain steady.

Activities

· The availability of NOVEL will be publicized to patrons of all ages.
· Library staff will stay informed of new developments pertaining to the commercial databases provided by NOVEL.
· Library staff will help patrons to determine when NOVEL is the best option for finding the information they are looking for.
· Staff will stay up to date on using the Internet to find information effectively.

Library Service Response Formal Learning Support

“A library that offers FORMAL LEARNING SUPPORT helps students who are enrolled in a formal program of education or who are pursuing their education through a program of home-schooling to attain their educational goals.” (Sandra Nelson, The New Planning for Results. Chicago: American Library Association, 2001)
Goal 5: All students from preschoolers to community college who use the library will have the information, resources, and assistance they require for assignments and personal enrichment.
Objective 5.1 Staff will make presentations at local schools that describe and promote the library’s formal learning support services.
Objective 5.2 By 12/2007, at least 90% of the parents of children who use the library will indicate on a survey that the library has the information, resources, and assistance their children need to achieve success in their schooling.

Activities
· Communication with school personnel will inform the school community about services and information available at the library. Staff will cooperate with school media specialists and instructors to reserve and/or purchase materials to assist in meeting assignment needs.
· Library staff will create displays related to assignment topics.
· Staff will visit the school as requested to provide programs related to classroom assignments.
· Library staff will create webographies and bibliographies to assist with assignments.
· Priority will be given to tutors for use of library conference room to provide the necessary space for learning and teaching activities.
· Staff will contact school classes and programs such as Literacy Volunteers of Wyoming County to share information about resources available for assignments and enrichment.
· Library staff will provide chat reference for students on Thursday nights.

Goal 6: All students from preschoolers to community college who use the library will be supported in the development of the skills, interests, and passions necessary to succeed in school and other learning activities.
Objective 6.1 The number of library-sponsored programs for students of all ages that develop the skills, interests, and passions necessary to succeed in school and other learning activities will increase by 2% a year for the next five years.
Objective 6.2 The number of students of all ages who attend library-sponsored programs that develop the skills, interests, and passions necessary to succeed in school and other learning activities will increase by 2 % each year for the next five years.
Objective 6.3 By 2008/2009, at least 85% of parents of students who use the library will indicate on a survey that the library has supported their children in developing the skills, interests, and passions their children need to succeed in school and other learning activities.

Activities
· Library staff will incorporate research on early literacy into story time programming.
· Technology will be continually and consistently updated to enable students to access online information.
· Public access to a sufficient number and quality of computers and printers to meet homework needs will be maintained.Library staff will continue to educate patrons about access to materials at other libraries within the system