About the Tacoma Public Library's Strategic Plan

What do people think about the Library, its programs, buildings and services?
Does the Library meet the needs of the community? What vital needs aren't being met?
Why do our citizens use the Library? Why don't they?
How valuable a service does the Library provide? Do Tacoma residents care about the Tacoma Public Library and the quality and quantity of service they receive? If not, why not?
Do Tacomans understand how the Library is funded and governed?
Are Tacomans aware of the many critical issues and challenges facing the Tacoma Public Library as it moves into the next millennium?
So many questions. Important questions, with answers which set the Tacoma Public Library on a five-year voyage into the future.
Communities are in a constant state of flux. The needs of its citizens for information grow and change. What doesn't change, however, is that citizens need information. Information which is easily accessible, accurate, and up-to-date. This information plays a critical role in helping everyone in our community achieve success - be it in school, on the job, or at home. We are a society that depends on information. The primary source for this information? The Tacoma Public Library.
This is a tremendous responsibility for the Library, as we must be prepared to effectively and efficiently meet these ever-changing and always-growing needs for information resources. We must insure we have the staff and the resources to make this information available to the community. How do we do this? What are our obstacles? What are the emergent needs? How do we insure the Library is ready and able to meet these needs?
As we set out to gather data and identify trends which would assist us in defining a vision of what we needed to achieve over the next five years, these are the questions for which we sought answers.

How did we do this?

We talked, asked questions and listened carefully to you - our patrons, and to our staff. Through small groups discussions and a random sample telephone survey we learned which issues were of concern to you. We surveyed the Library's environment. Finally, we came together with everything we learned, and created a Strategic Plan which encompassed the following:

• A vision for the future and the obstacles we might encounter as we work to realize that vision.
• An action plan - describing the challenges we are facing, and the steps we will take that turn those challenges into opportunities for success.

The Strategic Plan, summarized here, is the result of our collaboration, and is the blueprint of our action plan. It defines the Library's Mission and Responsibilities, our Vision and our Goals for the future.The plan is ambitious, and we will fulfill it to the best of our ability within the resources available to us. The success of this plan depends on communication: from the Library to you, and from you to the Library.
To better understand where we, as a library, want to be in the next five years, an explanation of why we do what we do is in order.

The Library's mission and responsibilities

Our Vision and our Goals for the future.

The Tacoma Public Library's vision for the future of library services in Tacoma addresses four interdependent areas of concern:
Accessibility of Library services. Libraries must be readily and conveniently available to families and individuals in our city. The Library will provide 66 hours of service at all locations, and Sunday service at Main Library and the two Regional Reference centers. Libraries should be open during times which are convenient to Tacoma's families.
Library facilities will be clean, well-maintained, conveniently located and of adequate size. The Library will determine unmet community needs and under-served areas and develop an appropriate action plan. Expansion of existing facilities, rearrangement of existing interior space, and construction of new libraries must all be considered. Any new facilities must explicitly recognize the necessity of greater financial support to maintain them.
Financial stability The Library must work to ensure that adequate and stable resources are allocated from the City of Tacoma's General Fund.
The Library must develop additional sources of revenue, including grant projects, community and business partnerships, additional revenue streams, and a Tacoma Library Foundation.
Improved communications with our citizens. The Library must take action to increase public awareness, through an improved communications and Community Outreach Program, of the Library's mission and services, and the contributions individuals can make to further that mission.
The Library must work to provide Tacoma's citizens with a better understanding of how the Tacoma Public Library is funded.
The Tacoma Public Library has an important story to tell. The Library must develop more effective ways to share its story - especially when it concerns the Library's needs, the challenges it faces, and its vision for the future - with the community it serves. The Library cannot expect to receive the support of a community which does not understand how the Library works and why it is so vital to the success of Tacoma. Tacomans use their Library heavily, but the random-sample telephone survey revealed that there is a surprisingly low level of public awareness of how the library is funded. This must change if the Library's Strategic Plan is to succeed.
The Library must develop a stronger communications process with the Office of the Mayor and the Tacoma City Council.
The Tacoma Public Library must identify target audiences who can best utilize Library programs, resources and services, and develop outreach programs specifically for those audiences.
Strengthening Library resources to effectively meet community needs.
The Library must provide a collection of materials and technology resources which allows library staff to do their jobs to the best of their ability, in a manner which is both courteous and responsive.
20% of the Library's annual operating budget will be dedicated to the purchase of books and other library materials, These materials will be supplied in appropriate quantities and formats to meet the expressed needs of the public.
The Library will develop a process to acquire, maintain, repair and replace the Tacoma Public Library's technological infrastructure.
The Library must promote a philosophy which allows it to respond to the changing needs of the community. As those needs change, so too must the Library.
The Tacoma Public Library should be accessible to the entire community. What does this mean? Collections which reflect the languages spoken in surrounding neighborhoods, translation assistance, services and programs that meet the needs of persons with disabilities, and a technological infrastructure capable of meeting increasing sophisticated service demands.
The Library should provide materials which support both children's and adult educational and literacy needs, and the needs of the burgeoning homeschool population.
Tacoma Public Library's staff is one of its strongest assets. The Library must improve its internal communications program - communicating frequently and consistently with Library staff to create a 'common ground' that fosters teamwork and cooperation. It is especially important that all staff understand the Library's mission, organizational values and responsibilities, and vision for the future.
In order to meet the existing and emerging demands for technological and human services to specialized populations, Library staff needs specialized and ongoing training which will allow them to excel, both personally and professionally, as they provide customer-oriented public service.

Where do we go from here?

Identifying the issues and concerns which the Library must address as it moves into a new millennium is an important first step towards being prepared to meet our community's present and future information needs. The four areas of concern - financial stability, greater accessibility of services, strengthened resources, and improved communication, are all inter-related. Progress in one area will contribute to progress in another.
Steps are already being taken in some of these areas identified in the new Strategic Plan. The Tacoma Public Library Foundation is now a reality (see related story this issue); access to Internet and Word Wide Web resources are now available at the downtown Main Library, and the Moore and Wheelock Libraries; this newsletter was created to share information about the Library with you, our patrons, on a regular basis; and the Mayor and members of Tacoma City Council now receive all news releases and promotional literature from the Library to keep them better informed regarding Library programs and initiatives.
The plan outlined is ambitious, and the Tacoma Public Library will fulfill it to the best of our ability within the resources available to us. The success of this plan depends on communication: from the Library to you, and from you to the Library. We welcome your comments and suggestions.

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