The West Chicago Public Library has created a strategic plan that focuses on increasing access to materials and services, strengthening outreach efforts to bring more library resources to the community, and making space utilization more flexible. The library’s Strategic Planning Committee has designed this plan to reflect the feedback received from public surveys, staff input, and community leader interviews. Principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion will inform every step of implementing this plan. Detailed goals are listed below. The library will evaluate the strategic plan annually to measure our progress toward meeting these goals. Everything in this plan is dependent on the library’s budget and available funding. Committees will be formed as needed.
Mission: To make library resources known and accessible to everyone.
Vision: To become a leader of community engagement in West Chicago.
GOALS:
- Increase Access
- Strengthen Outreach Efforts
- Improve Space Utilization
1. Increase Access = make materials and services easier to use
- Ongoing items to begin immediately
- Educate the community more effectively about library services
- Increase e-book collection to decrease wait time as needed
- Continue to expand and weed Library of Things collection
- Produce short educational videos about library services
- Redesign library’s website by June 30, 2023
- Install drive-up book drop by June 30, 2023
- Implement ESL/Citizenship Program by March 31, 2024
2. Strengthen Outreach Efforts = bring library resources to the community
- Ongoing items to begin immediately
- Assess community venues for programming options
- Increase services in Spanish
- Host at least 2 cultural/entertainment events in Spanish each calendar year
- Current and future programs that can be bilingual, will be bilingual
- Collaborate with other organizations to provide programming and services outside of the library (apartment complexes, factories, churches, assisted living communities)
- Increase technological literacy in our community
- Appoint outreach committee by December 31, 2022
- Implement mobile library services by May 1, 2025
3. Improve Space Utilization = use physical space more effectively and expand its possibilities
- Reconfigure Circulation and Tech Services by July 1, 2024
- Reconfigure 2nd floor by July 1, 2024