Item C17
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY
MEETING DATE:
December 18, 2002
DIVISION: Community Services
BULK ITEM:
Yes
DEPARTMENT: Library
AGENDA ITEM WORDING: Approval of the Library Plan of Service for the year 2003.
ITEM BACKGROUND: The Library Annual Plan of Service is required as a part of the application
to receive the State Aid to Libraries Grant. This plan was discussed and approved by the Library
Advisory Board on November 26, 2002, and recommended for BOCC approval.
PREVIOUS RELEVANT BOCC ACTION:
by the BOCC.
The Library Annual Plan has been approved annually
CONTRACT/AGREEMENT CHANGES:
N.A.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
Approval
TOTAL COST:
N/A
BUDGETED: N/A
COST TO COUNTY: N/A
REVENUE PRODUCING:
Yes
AMOUNT PER MONTH /YEAR: Approx. 10% of Library budget
APPROVED BY: County Attorney
N/A
OMB/Purchasing
N/A
Risk Management
N/A
DIVISION DIRECTOR APPROVAL
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JAMES'E. M LLOCH, DivisiorrDirector
x./ To Follow Not Required
DOCUMENTATION: Included
AGENDA ITEM #
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DISPOSITION:
MONROE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
ANNUAL PLAN OF SERVICE
FOR THE YEAR 2003
Submitted by Norma Kula
Director of Libraries
November 26, 2002
MONROE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
YEAR 2003 PLAN OF SERVICE
INTRODUCTION
This is the final update for the five-year Library Plan of Service originally
submitted in 1998 by then Library Director Thom Cummins. Looking back over
the previous plans prepared since that time, many changes can be seen. These
have occurred within the Library community as well as within the Library system.
They range from changes in personnel to demographic changes in the County,
from changes in Library patronage to tremendous changes in our technology.
F actors that have remained constant, however, are those that comprise our
mission and our goals, although we now look to meet those goals in very
different ways. Our views have broadened over the past five years, and our
potential for service has grown in ways just barely imagined when that plan was
created. Changes in our community and our world have brought new challenges
and new responsibilities to our attention, and we are looking at new answers to
meet these challenges. During the course of the coming year, a plan for the next
five years of Library service will be outlined, filled in, and presented. This
document for the year 2003, then, is a conclusion to our five-year outline, as well
as a plan for the coming year.
OUR MISSION
In 1998, we sought "to provide library service which reflects the unique needs of
the community; to provide a gathering place for the community; to support
intellectual freedom as the prerequisite for an informed, democratic society." This
remains constant the Monroe County Public Library serves today and will
continue to serve as a vital link between our various communities and their
access to sources of information, education, and entertainment, in a variety of
formats, to meet their professional, instructional, and cultural needs. More than
ever, we recognize today that we service not just one community, but a diversity
of communities, and we stress the aspect of our branch libraries as community
libraries, dedicated to the service of their respective communities as well as to
that of Monroe County as a whole.
OUR GOALS
Our goals, in summary, are substantially the same as they have been: it is in how
we approach them that changes can be noted over the years.
· We provide collections that encompass a broad range of materials, in a
diversity of appropriate formats:
When we look at the variety of formats that have become basic to
our collections over the past five years, as well as those which we
are just beginning to introduce to our patrons, the changes in
technology and patron expectations become immediately obvious.
DVD's are fast replacing videocassettes, while CD's are taking the
place of prominence formerly held by audiocassettes. Electronic
media are rapidly expanding in format and content, offering more
ways of meeting patron needs through information access.
· We provide free, open, and equal access for all Monroe County
community users to our collections, services, and facilities:
All of our five Library branches are experiencing the mixed
blessings of growth in collections and patronage: additional space
for larger and more varied collections, as well as for the technology
that our patrons expect from us, is becoming more problematic
across the Library system. Building maintenance is likewise an
ongoing concern, making growing demands on funding. Access to
our resources requires that they be readily available, easy to use,
and up-to-date in content.
· We serve our communities through the efforts of friendly, helpful,
knowledgeable staff:
Staff training and development of their skills and abilities is intrinsic
to our service mission. As technology grows within the Library, so
much the education of staff to meet the new challenges presented,
both for their own sake and to be better prepared to help patrons
use each new development for their own benefit. Our staff and our
patrons deserve no less, nor will we accept it.
· We apply the tenets of fiscal responsibility in planning and
implementing the use of all available resources to meet these service
objectives:
Funding for basic service has tightened notably over the last few
years; funding for growth has become a major challenge. Outside
sources of funding, such as grants, have become more and more a
necessity, and proportionately, more and more competitive among
others seeking the same funds. We owe it to our communities to be
prudent and responsible in our spending, and aggressive in seeking
funding sources outside the County coffers.
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OUR OBJECTIVES
To follow through in the areas of concentration outlined in the above-expressed
goals, and to continue along the lines of desired progress established last year,
we see the following objectives as primary in our concerns for the year 2003:
COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT:
1. The Library will examine new products in the growing world of
electronic collection offerings as they become available, and evaluate
them in terms of what value they would bring to our patrons and at
what cost.
2. The State Library has recently completed initial contractual work to
bring a group of electronic databases to the libraries within the State
system. We will work with the State and with our own staff to become
familiar with these materials, so that we can bring them to our users'
attention and be able to make the fullest use of their content. Where
duplication of databases that we already subscribe to arises, we will
investigate other materials that would be the best use of these funds.
3. We will work to enlarge and enhance our local history collections, with
their unique focus on the Florida Keys. Additionally, we will look at the
changing cultures that surround us, and expand our foreign language
collections, to reach out to our new users whose needs have yet to be
met.
ACCESS TO COLLECTIONS, SERVICES AND FACILITIES:
1. During the past year, a number of options were explored for possible
branch expansions. While none of these have yet proved feasible,
neither have all of them been completely discarded. Big Pine Key
Branch Library is still the most severely affected by space restrictions,
and staff will continue to focus on this need, with an eye to similar
limitations in other branches.
2. In partnership with the Monroe County Division of Public Works, we
hope to establish a pro-active plan for building maintenance. having
learned all too well the consequences of a reactive repair program.
3. While the Monroe County Library website has hit a number of snags in
the past year, our determination for its establishment has become even
stronger. New hardware and software have been purchased toward
this end, and personnel from the County Technical Services
Department are directing major effort and attention to this goal. Our
intention is to have a Library website, with 24/7 access to the Library
catalog, databases, and individual account information, available to
online users early in the new calendar year.
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4. We are seeing growing attendance at Library programs, and intend to
continue and expand our offerings for children and adults alike, as we
focus even more on reaching out to out still-undeveloped audiences.
5. Outreach is becoming more an intrinsic part of our service mission,
and we will commit more staff time and training to this goal, to reach
our public who depend on us to bring the Library to them.
6. We will expand the use of our mobile computer lab, both to make in-
house training available to as many as possible who desire it, and to
reach out to the public through outside activities.
7. Literacy will be a strong focus this coming year, as we have partnered
with the Literacy Volunteers of America program in a grant project,
funded in the amount of $ 70,000.00. This grant will center on Library
Services for Limited English Proficiency Hospitality Workers, and will
be a major area of concentration this year in our efforts to promote
literacy in our communities.
8. Another grant from LST A will be implemented in the coming year, this
one entitled "Milemarkers: Linking Keys History." Through this grant, in
the amount of $52,092.00, Monroe County Public Library will partner
with FlU to create a PALMM site of photographic images from our local
history collection. A virtual tour of historic sites along the Florida Keys
Scenic Highway will be created, providing global access to the
historical resources of the Library. This is the beginning of a long-term
digitization project for the Library, which will make possible worldwide
access to some of the specialized materials in our local history
collections. The tools and training provided through the grant will be of
use for this program long after the initial funding has ended.
STAFF DEVELOPMENT
1. Staff training will become an intrinsic part of Library service, so that as
new technologies are implemented, staff will consistently be prepared
to work with them for our patrons' benefit
2. The mobile computer lab will be utilized to its fullest for in-house staff
training, so that no gap will develop between our technological
expansion and the concomitant services thus provided.
3. We plan to establish membership in SWFLN, a multi-library
consortium, through which professional workshops and online training
will be offered to our staff regularly and at reduced cost. We intend to
encourage every staff member to develop to the fullest their individual
special skills and abilities.
4. Participation in system-wide teamwork will be encouraged through a
program of staff location exchange; cross training within each branch
will enable more flexibility in scheduling and promote individuals'
professional growth.
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5. System-wide teamwork will be encouraged in the development of
activities and projects involving line and support staff from all
branches. This will serve to use the abilities of all our staff resources,
and take project planning beyond strictly supervisory input.
6. Distance learning, a rapidly growing form of higher education, will be
explored as a possible means of promoting professional development
for all interested staff.
FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY
1. The Library has begun a plan of cyclical replacement of outdated and
irreparable equipment, to ensure that our staff and patrons alike have
access to the best possible computers and printers, etc. We are now
working with the County Technical Service Department in exploring
other replacements for the traditional PC's, such as implementing thin
client technology, which may prove to be more cost-efficient and lower-
maintenance in the long run. This will be further studied in the coming
year.
2. Library staff will continue to work with the State Library in programs
already begun, to evaluate resources for potential purchase on a
statewide scale, bringing more savings to our system.
3. The Monroe County Library System has been awarded two LST A
grants, totaling over $ 120,000.00, which will be implemented this year.
Our matching funds requirements will be met primarily in already
established staff salaries and partnerships with other agencies, saving
significantly in expenditures from our budget, yet adding greatly to our
resources.
4. Community partnerships, such as those involved in our LSTA grant
implementation, will be vigorously pursued and developed, to the
mutual benefit of all participants.
5. Library staff will work closely with the new County Communications
and Website Manager to ensure that our activities will receive optimal
public notice in the press and on our coming web page, as well as
through the regular County venues for public information.
6. Library staffs have long-established relationships with their respective
Branch Friends groups. The continuation of these bonds is essential to
our well being. The support of our Friends and volunteers has played a
major role in our success over the years, and we will continue to
acknowledge, develop, and value this relationship so vital to the
enhancement of library services.
7. Library management is committed to the practice of fiscal
responsibility. Our planning and budgeting will be based on this
principle, and statistical data will be used as a tool for performance-
based budgeting. Our Library service outcomes will be a basis for our
budgetary planning and resource allocation.
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CONCLUSION
The plan of Library service for the year 2003 is tied-in strongly to the previous
plan, for 2002. Many of the programs instituted in the past year are yet to be fully
implemented and developed, and these will continue to be a focus for the Library
in the coming year. Some parts of last year's plan are not yet fully begun, and
their introduction into our service activities will likewise be a focus point. Other
activities, successfully inaugurated last year, will be continued and expanded as
appropriate. World events over the past year have strongly influenced us locally,
and repercussions are still a part of our daily lives and activities. This is true of
Library activities as well-we are also impacted by world and national
happenings. We face new challenges daily, in our quest for funding sources, in
our changing patron base, in new demands made on us by numerous outside
interests. Our hope for the new year is that we will face these challenges, learn
from them and conquer them. We must remain open to change and adaptable to
new situations, while staying constant to our mission and goals. We are pledged
to provide the best possible library service for all the Monroe County
communities, and we are dedicated to the honoring of that pledge.
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