Strategic Vision

 

1. The District's facilities will be targeted for efficient and appropriate use, considering functionality, comfort, space, and productivity. Branches will be located to serve population, and while no new, single purpose construction is anticipated, the District will monitor demographic trends, and be prepared to address long term needs as they arrive.

• Increasing demand for electronic access terminals and greater use of in-house materials will lead toward more generalized concentration function and comfort in public areas.
  
  
• There will be a major expansion of all three regional branches in probable order of Middendorf-Kredell, Kathryn Linnemann, and Spencer Road to approximately 35,000 square feet by FY2008.
  
  
• The District does not anticipate construction of new, single-use facilities over the next five to eight years.

 

2. Staffing patterns, the organizational structure, and performance will be consistently monitored to assure efficient, yet flexible employee assignments with emphasis on quality customer service and continuing professional training.

• The District must have an organizational structure that is fair and efficient, that it includes all the positions that it should, that provides sufficient diversity to support objectives.
  
  
• The District will have dedicated training facilities in which electronic resources are available for examination, exploration, and used for either independent or instructed learning.
  
  
• Similarly there must be increased general training, in customer service, personal development, and in related areas. Class offerings must be supplemented by staffing patterns that allow time for in-service participation
  
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• The staff will develop detailed and comprehensive procedure manuals covering daily operations in circulation, reference, and page shelving.

 

3. The Library District will maintain a stable, quality workforce, offering competitive wages and benefits, a consistent working environment, and appropriate recognition of outstanding performance among its staff. Internal communications, feedback, and staff participation reflective of a flattened organization will receive considerable emphasis.

• The District will make regular evaluations of the District's wage and salary system, including classifications, the track-step structure and relative wages within the governmental and quasi-governmental sector.
  
  
• In the coming years, management staff will examine factors in overall staff satisfaction working conditions, schedules, employment status, participation, inclusion, opportunity, and communications.

4. The District will actively manage its collection toward an overriding quality emphasis.

• Consideration should be given to the most appropriate format depending on demand and capability.
  
  
• There will be a need to monitor and review the most efficient methods of selecting materials, balancing demand, with the library mission, and long term vs. short term objectives.
  
  
• he District intends to centralize some collection functions through its Collection Development Manager.
  
  
• Effective collection management entails considerable evaluation of customer preferences, current resources, utilization, and budgetary allocations.

5. The District will continually emphasize quality services to all residents and patrons.

• The District will continue to exercise its core competencies in popular materials, reference, and children's services, but should assure that its services are available to even more patrons.
  
  
• Library sponsored programming will increase in importance, both as a tool for disseminating information, and as a vehicle for marketing the library's resources and importance.
  
  
• There will be a dramatic increase in value-added services through web-based and electronic resources
  
  
• Local History and Genealogy plans to aggressively augment its collection's availability.
  
  
• The District will add additional emphasis to Not-For-Profit Services,
  
  
• The District will expand information literacy programming, teaching patrons to better use the rich resources the library has to offer, and helping them maximize their own effectiveness as library users.
  
  
• The District will address remote access to library information.

6. Forging and maintaining strategic partnerships in the community will expand and enhance the level of service provided to county residents.

• The District will continue to increase contacts and productivity through partnerships with others. A project such as the library in conjunction with the Winghaven development is very attractive.
  
  
• Life Long Learning as a library service may fit well into library-educational cohesiveness.
  
  
• In general, the District should identify those service areas that intersect with other agencies within the
  community with the fundamental objective of improving overall services to the public at large.
  
  
• Fundraising / Marketing partnerships, and Mission sharing are feasible.
  
  
• The District plans on partnering with current LISTEN libraries, potentially offering discount prices to maintain their respective affiliation.

7. The District will continue to operate under conservative, service-driven budgets, financing its operations primarily through tax revenues, but will expand and open alternative revenue streams.

• The District will monitor externalities imposed by various governmental agencies in the county through Tax Increment Financing Districts, abatements, and economic development initiatives.
  
  
• The District will develop non-tax revenues through grants, donated income, managed investment of donated assets, and through cultivation of deferred gifts.
  
  
• The District will base its expenditures on critical justification.

8. The District will undertake and utilize expanded marketing to promote its programs, services , and mission.

• Marketing will be of paramount importance over the next years.
  
  
• As services expand, for example into Information Literacy, Community Referral, Lifelong Learning, etc., additional brochures, literature and schedules will need to be published.
  
  
• The District will target Marketing to reach those who cannot or do not enjoy the benefits of our system.

 

9. The District will maintain its position on the cutting edge of technology and telecommunications.

• The District will exploit the LISTEN2000 system toward monitoring and managing the collection, and will maintain a strong commitment to training, equipment upgrades, enhanced operations, and cooperative relationships with the State of Missouri , technology consultants, and working partners.
  
  
• The District will provide hardware and software that accesses information quickly and supports changing interfaces and query techniques. It will endeavor to increase the availability of online information, particularly from the Information Resource specialties, thus offering greatly enhanced user flexibility and access.