Item C25
, Revi'sed 2/95
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY
Meeting Date:
January 19, 2000
Division: Community Services
Bulk Item: Yes
x
No
Department:
Library
AGENDA ITEM WORDING:
Approval of the Library Annual Plan of Service for the year 2000
ITEM BACKGROUND:
The Library Annual Plan is required as a part of the application process
to receive the State Aid to Libraries grant. This plan was discussed and
passed by the Library Advisory Board on November 30, 1999, and recommended for
BOCC approval.
PREVIOUS RELEVANT BOCC ACTION:
The Library Annual Plan is approved annually by the BOCC.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
Approval
TOTAL COST:
N.A.
BUDGETED: Yes N.A. No
COST TO COUNTY: N.A.
REVENUE PRODUCING: Yes X No
AMT, PER MONTH:
YEAR (10% of
Library budget)
Risk Management N,A.
APPROVED BY: County Atty ~
OMB/Purchasing N.A.
DIVISION DIRECTOR APPROVAL:
Jam
DOCUMENTATION: Included: X
To Follow:
Not Required:
Agenda Item #:
1~2G
DISPOSITION:
MONROE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
ANNUAL PLAN OF SERVICE
FOR THE YEAR 2000
Submitted by
Norma Kula
Director of Libraries
December 21, 1999
MONROE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
YEAR 2000 PLAN OF SERVICE
INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
This plan has been drawn from the five-year plan of service for the Monroe
County Public Library System originally filed in 1998. With the recent change in
leadership in the administrative personnel of the library, a new look at the plan
will also be in order, but while the manner of approach and expression may
change, the vision for the library and its needs remain largely the same, for they
are based on much more than the view of one individual. The Five Year Plan, as
first presented, was an opportunity to go beyond the library's immediate
problems, charting a course for Monroe County's library needs into the next
century.
That is even more true today. We cannot go into the future, however, without
reference to the past, for our steps into the future are rooted in the footsteps of
our past, and there have been major changes in Monroe County and in the
Library System that will have a strong bearing on our entry into the year 2000.
Two years ago Monroe County had only three incorporated cities: Key West,
Layton, and Key Colony Beach. Two more have been created since then:
Islamorada in 1998 and Marathon in the 1999 election. The long-term impact of
these new political entities is just beginning to be felt throughout the County, but
the effects are sure to be broad and long-lasting, especially in terms of County
budgeting and personnel and/or service cuts.
Two years ago the Library System was looking at initial bids for automating the
circulation procedures. Now the automation process is nearly complete and
access to the Internet for all library users is available at every branch of the
library.
These developments, for better or worse, are the now the basis of what we have
to build on and work with. They are at the core of our vision ahead. As the
communities which surround our libraries change, so do their needs. So, also,
must the focus of the libraries which serve those communities. A community that
is growing may demand more information about jobs, families, business
opportunities. A community that is creating its own new personality may be
looking for more contact with the political worlds beyond its borders, expansion
of its own government, parks, civic concerns. Other areas may have growing
concerns about crime, health, retirement. The differences observed in the
communities from Key Largo to Key West are reflected in their demands for
ways to look forward, to grow, to stabilize, as well as to maintain the respect for
the history in which each of them has had a part. The heritage and history of the
Keys, and their multi-cultural communities, are also an influence upon the needs
of the present and the hopes of the future. In all these, libraries are more than
ever called upon to help answer those needs, to stimulate growth and progress
while honoring the past and its accomplishments.
These demands, then, are not to be viewed as problems, but rather as
challenges--the challenge to be pro-active in identifying needs and preparing for
them' before they become problems, the challenge to prepare for changes before
they become crises, and the challenge to expand and grow in our own ways of
working and meeting the calls for information that all citizens of Monroe County
have a right to expect from their community libraries.
WHERE WE ARE -- WHERE WE ARE GOING:
OUR SERVICE TO OUR COMMUNITY
I. We provide collections encompassing a wide range of materials in a variety of
formats.
Our goal: to meet the changing needs of our communities for information,
education, and entertainment, through print, video and audio cassettes, and
electronic media. As our communities become multi-cultural, so must our
collections reflect these changes. Library service must expand to respond to all
ages, cultures, and special needs groups, and the collections must expand
accordingly.
II. We offer our services to the communities through five branches across the
Keys.
Our goal: our buildings must be inviting, comfortable for public use, and
fitted for technological growth and development. Access to the collections must
be easily available for all users, meeting physical as well as intellectual needs.
The buildings must be maintained for the long-term; already the newest branch,
Big Pine Key, is in need of expansion, while the demand for upkeep of the other
buildings is becoming more and more pressing. Technology requires other
physical changes as well, to equip our buildings for the millennium.
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III. We serve our communities through the efforts of friendly, helpful,
knowledgeable staff.
Our goal: we must keep our staff informed and up-to-date on library
concerns within our communities and throughout the world. Staff development
and training is vital to our mission of service; teamwork across the system is an
asset, not only to the staff, but to the public whom we serve. Knowledge of each
community is central to each branch. A well-informed staff is important--a staff
whose own needs are met within their work environment is essential. We must
meet the needs of the staff, in order to meet the needs of the community.
We partner with our communities in a variety of enrichment formats.
Our goal: by its very nature and mission, the library is a center of
community activity. We need to expand on this and develop stronger ties with
community groups--schools, civic, cultural, and social, to promote deeper
awareness of library services and to form closer bonds with the communities
around us. The development of partnerships with these groups will benefit both
the libraries and the groups--by increasing our outreach activities we can
increase our potential audience, and bring our services to those who can not
come to us. In the process, we expand our base of community support, so
necessary to our own growth and development, as well as coming to a broader
understanding of yet undiscovered aspects of our communities and their people.
OUR RESPONSIBILITY AND OUR PROMISE
We accept and welcome our accountability to the fulfillment of our mission. As a
service organization, we are publicly accountable to the communities within
which we work. As representatives of a profession, we are accountable for the
best possible presentation of that profession--the commitment to offering access
to information in every way possible. We owe this to the community at large and
to each patron in particular, to meet their informational needs in a friendly,
helpful, knowledgeable, and effective manner. In so doing, we commit ourselves
to the efficient and orderly collection and management of information, to
educating ourselves in this collecting and management process, and to promote
this process within the principles of intellectual freedom. We must be open to the
challenges presented by changing technology, and willing to learn how to
channel these changes into a positive new source of information access. There
is a constant learning process in which we must continually involve ourselves, to
keep ourselves abreast of such changes, to be able to apply the highest
standards of judgment in information collection and management, and to
maintain the quality of service to which we are pledged.
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, OUR OBJECTIVES
We re-affirm the system-wide objectives previously developed from the library's
mission and goals (as set out in the Five Year Plan, 1998-2003):
1. The library will provide courteous and efficient service through an adequate
number of competent, well-trained and enthusiastic staff.
2. The library will provide materials, information services and programs that are
conveniently accessible and easily used.
3. The library will provide high-interest, popular materials in adequate numbers
in a variety of formats for all ages.
4. The library will provide timely and accurate reference and information
services.
5. The library will provide materials, programs, and an environment to foster
reading for young children and to encourage parents, youth workers, and
educators to participate in reading activities with children.
6. The library will make residents and organizations of the community aware of
the library's resources and services.
7. The library will provide facilities that are conveniently located in the
community, easy to use, comfortable and attractive.
8. The library will manage its resources and functions effectively in order to
achieve the service goals within given financial limitations.
Administrative staffing changes within the library system over the past year have
been an obstacle in the realization of some of these goals, but the principles and
mission that drive the system have not changed, nor have the goals been
intrinsically altered. The need remains to develop strategies and task lists,
timeframes and resources, Staff involvement has become even more vital to the
accomplishment of these goals than before. A format for measurement of
progress, and periodic reports, must be established, in order to assess what has
been effected and to inject corrective measures where appropriate and revisions
where needed.
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These eight goals can be organized into three action areas:
1. Improved service delivery
2. Accelerated organizational development
3. Enhanced cost efficiency.
Again, to draw from the five-year plan previously formulated:
IMPROVED SERVICE DELIVERY
Purpose: To increase responsiveness to community needs, improve access to
library services, and establish realistic service expectations.
Objectives for the coming year:
1. Define service levels for selected customer groups in each branch community
(e.g.: students, business persons, young children and their caregivers, teens,
those for whom English is a second language, etc.), and establish priorities and
performance measures.
2. Continue the development of annual collection management plans for
branches and, through expanding technology, for the system as a whole, while
devising a format for measurement of collection goals and achievements.
3. Expand the programming and outreach services already in place, to further
promote awareness of library services for those unable to come to the library.
4. Research devices and means for improving cost-effective efficiency of library
service on and off-site.
ACCELERATED ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Purpose: To foster a learning environment that allows opportunities and
challenges for staff growth, innovation, and constructive change which will, in
turn, encourage staff to improve its responsiveness to service needs.
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Objectives for the coming year:
1. Increase staff training and education in areas of technology and the
advances that come with it, to better equip them for the changing services that
the public has a right to expect.
2. Implement a system-wide format for staff cross-training and location
exchange, to promote better understanding and appreciation of the importance
of all areas of system performance requirements.
3. Develop a plan to include staff, on a regular basis, in special projects and
system-wide activities, to encourage teamwork across the system.
4. Encourage staff participation in professional organizations and activities, as
well as educational advancement.
5. Study organizational structure and implement changes as necessary.
ENHANCED COST EFFICIENCY
Purpose: To enhance staff ability to create and maintain efficient and effective
services and processes.
Objectives for the coming year:
1. Continue to utilize volunteers to improve service and to free staff to apply
their expertise in other areas where it is more needed.
2. Develop partnerships with civic and business organizations who may be
called upon for support for special projects and programs that likewise serve to
meet their group goals and commitments.
3. Develop standards and guidelines for a regular system of building
maintenance as an on-going concern, pro-active rather than reactive.
4. Pursue all feasible outside means of library funding, donations, foundations,
grants, etc., to complement the County budget and to meet special needs. Keep
aware of and updated on County monetary concerns, especially in light of
incipient incorporations.
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CONCLUSION
It must be recognized that a plan is just that--a plan. It must be active, not static.
It must be pro-active, not reactive. It must serve as a blueprint, a map for the
activities of the coming year. But it must also be open to change, to revision as
needed, to responsiveness to new challenges as they arise. It must be subject to
regular review and measurement. Most of all, it most be a format for achieving
our mission of service, and a means of realizing our vision. This plan must help
us reach out to our communities and bring them with us into the future.
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