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From January 2003 through March 2003, The Pima
Public Library completed the strategic planning process, The New
Planning for Results, approved by the Arizona State Library and
the American Library Association. The community committee involved
in this process chose three public library service responses. Listed
in priority order they include:
- Current Topics and Titles – to provide
community members the materials, programs, and services needed
to meet their recreational reading interests
It is the library’s goal to provide the adults
in Pima, including the Hispanic community, with the materials and
services to meet their recreational reading needs by providing more
current fiction and audio books and supplemented by the InterLibrary
Loan Service; to provide the children of Pima improved programming
and materials by outsourcing the Summer Reading Program, partnering
with the school to provide a suitable place to hold the Summer Reading
Program, improving the quality of the current outreach programming,
and purchasing more children’s fiction; and to create a more
comfortable and spacious place inside the library for recreational
reading by reconfiguring the bookshelves and purchasing new chairs.
- Information Literacy -- the opportunity
for community members to find, evaluate, and use information in
both print and electronic formats
It is the goal of the library for all patrons to
be able to find the print materials they need quickly and easily
by improving signage and weeding the collection of outdated books;
for adult patrons to have the ability to find, evaluate, and use
electronic information by providing training on our electronic card
catalog, our First Search Database, and by providing basic computer
classes; and for school aged children of Pima to be aware of the
electronic and print resources available at the library by providing
field trips and library orientation.
- General Information -- the means for community
members to get answers to their questions
It is the library’s goal to provide the means
for community members to get answers to their questions by maintaining
a small core collection of current reference material in print and
keeping an extensive electronic collection of resources on its website.
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Last summer while at a State Library training session,
Vicki Foote, Director of the Pima Public Library, heard about a
strategic planning program, The New Planning for Results, that the
Arizona State Library was going to be administering. The State Library
received a large Federal grant and decided to train about 25 librarians
throughout the state in the facilitation of this program and then
employ them to help plan the interested libraries in the state.
Vicki Foote underwent the training to become a planning facilitator
in August of 2003 and put the Pima Public Library on the list of
libraries to be planned.
This planning process, in comparison to others
used by libraries across the country, is less time-intensive, is
community based, and is easy to implement. Vicki presented her wish
for the library to be planned to the library board and to the Pima
Town Council and got approval. A nine-member community committee
was selected by the Library Board and the Director.
The committee met for the first time January 24,
2003 and, led by facilitator Nancy Guerrero, Elsie Hogan Library
Director (Willcox), they were involved in a visioning process that
helped them see where they wanted Pima to be as a community in ten
years. These included areas of infrastructure, recreational opportunities,
better schools, a community center, a cleaner community and increased
civic pride. They looked at Pima in terms of its strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, and threats. Some of the strengths mentioned were
the size of the town, good water, a variety of religions and schools,
pioneer heritage, strong town government, safe community feeling,
the Fire Department and EMTs, and good weather. Some of the weaknesses
discussed by the committed included the lack of shopping availability,
a clannish attitude exhibited by some members of the community,
lack of tax base, lack of employment, exporter of youth, teen pregnancy,
and diminished respect for and pride in the community.
After the committee had listed all the strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for Pima, they came up with
a list of needs. These included expanded youth programs, light industry,
more recreation, and a large community meeting room. Vicki Foote
then gave a presentation on the current state of the library and
the committee was given the opportunity to make any amendments to
the list of needs.
The committee then chose six of a possible thirteen
public library service responses. A Service Response is simply defined
as a way for a library to address community needs.
These were: Basic Literacy, Current Topics and
Titles, Formal Learning Support, General Information, Information
Literacy, and Local History and Genealogy.
The Director made packets of information for each
member of the committee, each library board member, and the library
staff. This packet included the vision statements, the Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis, the needs,
and detailed information on the six service responses that had been
selected in the preliminary vote.
The Director then met with her assistant, Frances
Rogers, and they went over all six of the services responses picked
by the committee. Their goal was to narrow the list to three and
provide supporting reasons for choosing those particular ones while
rejecting the others. Then the Director met with the Library Board
and they also went through the same discussion. Both the staff and
the board were in
agreement on the service responses they chose.
The Director then combined the information gathered in these two
meetings into a comprehensive report and presented it to the community
committee at the second meeting, February 28, 2003. The committee
asked the Director numerous questions about the three service responses
chosen by the library staff and board. They quickly came to consensus
and chose the same three service responses the staff and board had
chosen. Listed in priority order, these are:
- Current Topics and Titles
- Information Literacy
- General Information
The committee then identified the target audiences
for these three service responses and the second meeting ended.
The facilitator and the Director of the library
met on March 3, 2003 and wrote goals and objectives for each of
the three service responses.
The committee met for the last time on March 28,
2003 and was presented with the draft plan. The Director went over
the plan with them and changes were made as were necessary.
The finished plan was presented for approval of
the Library Board on April 8, 2003.
It was submitted for approval of the Pima Town
Council on May 6, 2003.
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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.
Goal #1 – Adults will have materials
and services to meet their recreational needs.
- Objective #1 –
The number of new general fiction books purchased will increase
by 10% each year.
- Objective #2 – The number of new
western paperback books will increase to 10 each month during
Fiscal Year 03/04
- Objective #3 – 25% of all new videos
purchased will be in the DVD format beginning in Fiscal Year 2003/2004.
This percentage will increase incrementally until all purchases
are in the DVD format beginning in Fiscal Year 06/07.
- Objective #4 – The audio book collection
will increase by size and quality through a depository collection
of 25 titles from Safford City – Graham County Library to
be rotated every three months.
- Objective # 5 – The number of Young
Adult titles purchased monthly will increase to three during Fiscal
Year 03/04 and will increase by one title per month each Fiscal
Year until a total of six titles per month are being purchased
in Fiscal Year 06/07.
Goal #2 – The Hispanic community will
have reading materials and services that meet their recreational
reading needs.
- Objective #1 –
The number of Spanish language books will increase by 25% during
Fiscal Year 2003/2004 and 10% each year thereafter.
- Objective #2 – The number of InterLibrary
Loan requests in Spanish will increase by 10% each year.
Goal #3 – Children will have the materials
and programs necessary to meet their recreational reading needs.
- Objective #1 – The number of easy
books and juvenile fiction purchased will increase by 10% each
year.
- Objective #2 – The creation of new
preschool storytime programs will increase by 5 each year.
- Objective #3 - The quality of outreach
programs will improve as indicated on a survey of the school teachers
and DES providers that receive outreach services by the end of
school year 2003/2004.
- Objective #4 – The amount of space
for the Summer Reading Program will increase to accommodate every
child who desires to be in the program by July 2003.
- Objective #5 – The Summer Reading
Program will be outsourced through a partnership with the Pima
High School Homemaking Department beginning in Fiscal Year 2003/2004.
- Objective #6 – The number of children
participating in the Summer Reading Program will increase by 10%
each year.
Goal #4 – All library users will have
an inviting comfortable place to enjoy recreational reading.
- Objective #1 –
The size of the reading area will be expanded by reconfiguring
the bookshelves in Fiscal Year 04/05 or sooner.
- Objective #2 – All the library chairs
will be replaced with comfortable sturdy seating during Fiscal
Year 04/05.
- Objective #3 – Three lounge chairs
will be secured through donation or auction during Fiscal Year
04/05.
Service Response – Information
Literacy
A library that provides Information Literacy service
helps address the need for skills related to finding, evaluating,
and using information effectively.
Goal #1 – All patrons will have the
opportunity and ability to find print materials quickly and easily.
- Objective #1 – 75 % of all patrons
surveyed in December 2003 will say that the major weeding of old
materials from the library shelves made it easier for them to
find the materials they were looking for.
- Objective #2 – 75% of all patrons
surveyed in December 2003 will say that new signage in the library
helped them find print and other materials faster.
- Objective #3 – All new patrons will
have the opportunity to be trained in the use of the electronic
card catalog and the number of new patrons trained will increase
to 50% by Fiscal Year 2004/2005.
Goal #2 – All adult patrons will have
the ability to find, evaluate, and use electronic information.
- Objective #1 –
Computer workshops for adults will increase to 3 times a year
beginning in Fiscal Year 2004/2005.
- Objective #2 – Senior citizen attendance
for computer workshops will be 5 or more for each program offered
beginning in Fiscal Year 2003/2004.
- Objective #3 – All adult library
users will have the opportunity to attend one First Search workshop
every six months.
- Objective #4– Library orientation
will be offered to all Pima High School English classes at the
beginning of the school year 2003/2004.
- Objective #5 – All Pima High School
Freshman English classes will be offered a library orientation
annually beginning school year 2004/2005.
Goal #3 – School aged children will
be aware of the electronic and print resources available at the
Pima Public Library.
- Objective #1 – All classes at Pima
Elementary and Discovery Plus will be invited to attend one field
trip for library orientation during school year 2003/2004.
- Objective #2 – All first grade classes
of Pima Elementary and Discovery Plus will be invited to attend
one field trip annually beginning school year 2004/2005.
- Objective #3 – All Pima Junior High
School English Classes will be offered a library orientation at
the beginning of the school year 2003/2004.
Service Response - General Information
A library that offers General Information helps
meet the need for information and answers to questions on a broad
array of topics related to work, school, and personal life.
Goal #1 – All patrons will have the
means to get answers to their questions.
- Objective #1 –
Electronic reference sources on the Pima Public Library website
will increase by 5% beginning in Fiscal Year 2004/2005.
- Objective #2 – A core collection
of current print reference materials will be established in Fiscal
Year 2004/2005.
- Objective #3 – The print reference
section established in Fiscal Year 2004/2005 will be kept current
by reviewing it annually, weeding it as necessary, and purchasing
a new set of encyclopedias every three years.
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