Every five years, in order to receive grant funding from the Massachusetts Libraries Board of Commissioners, the Falmouth Public Library is required to develop a new, strategic long-range plan to move forward into the next five years.
The last strategic planning effort took place as the Falmouth community was in the midst of the historic public health crisis caused by the opioid epidemic.
This time, it’s the COVID-19 pandemic.
Independent library consultant Ruth E. Kowal spoke to the board of library trustees at the board’s meeting on Tuesday evening, November 10, about how this year’s strategic planning effort will proceed.
Ms. Kowal started her career at the Falmouth Public Library in reference and adult services more than 40 years ago, she told the library trustees, many of whom are new since the last strategic plan was developed.
“It is fun to be back here and be involved,” she said.
After a small planning committee of six people or so is formed, the strategic planning process would normally begin with small focus groups in schools, the senior center, and various organizations and agencies that serve the public.
This year, the people-to-people process involved in coming up with a strategic plan will be translated to Zoom technology, Ms. Kowal said.
Fortunately, the focus group process translates well to the virtual world, which will be necessary during the COVID-19 pandemic, Ms. Kowal said. Small groups of up to eight people can get together on a Zoom call and really share ideas about where the library is headed, she said.
Participants in the focus groups will discuss a series of questions about the public library, for example: “Who is using the library?” “What are they using the library for?” “What are the ages of patrons who are using the library?”
After the focus group information is gathered a survey document with questions based on that information will be created, and flyers with a link to the online survey will be circulated to the wider community.
“We will reach out to various groups in town who have email lists to contact people who use the library, and also those who don’t,” Falmouth Library director Linda Collins said.
“The results of the survey will give us a sense of what the community sees as the library’s important tasks, roles and services, and will help the library set its priorities going forward,” Ms. Kowal said.
All of the information gathered will go into a “bucket” to be interpreted, synthesized and put into a very straightforward, flexible, set of directions for the library for the next four to five years, she said.
“I like to plan with a sense of the library’s importance to the community,” she said. “A library must be a resource for all ages and all socioeconomic groups.”
“People want more and more and more from their libraries,” Ms. Kowal said, “but libraries do not have unlimited resources. This process gives a framework to set priorities.”
Ms. Kowal said the process will produce a “high-level plan” focused on three to five general statements, from which the library staff can create an action plan.
The action plan will detail how the direction set by the strategic plan will be deployed and implemented.
This year, it will be important to create a more-flexible plan that can ebb and flow as circumstances change during the pandemic, Ms. Kowal said.
Rather than starting the strategic planning process by referring to the library’s mission statement, Ms. Kowal prefers to wait for input from the community and then check to see if the mission statement and the community’s stated priorities are compatible, she said.
“Some things will carry through over the years,” Ms. Kowal said. “This process will reinforce and validate that some things are still priorities for the community.”
“The plan should be easy to understand and be achievable for the library’s board of directors,” she said. “It should resonate with the board. It should promote the library well, and be understandable to those in town government.”
Ms. Collins said she will update the board of directors about the strategic plan at every board meeting, and that group will vote to adopt the final version in February or March.
COVID will not impact the process too much, and Zoom technology makes it easier for people to attend meetings, Ms. Collins said in a follow-up phone call.
“I am excited about moving forward, and hearing what the community has to say about its library services,” she said.
