City Council Study Session Agenda and Packet 2008 04 08

Home Browse Search

CHAPTER 2 Overview of the Planning Process In keeping with the strategic. planning schedule and tradition of re-evaluating the plan every five years, the Louisville Library Board of TrustE~es organized in the spring of 2007 to begin the planning process for an updated strategic plan for 21)08. Previous plans were completed in 2003, 1998, 1993 and 1989. While the intention to provide along-term road map for library services and foci remains consistent with earlier plans, the process in 2007 was somewhat different. During the spring of 2007, the Library staff reviewed and discussed 17 proposed service responses to determine which ones could best serve the community over the next few years. These service responses were developed by member committees of the Public Library Association fly (www.pla.org). Eventually, these service rf~sponses were narrowed to about half a dozen, with three clearly being the most important to staff. The Trustees concurred with the recommendations presented by Library staff, and these three service responses have become the foundation for this plan. This planning committee was formulated differently from the previous plan. This time, a Trustee was paired with a senior staff member to v/ork on a section together. By working as a team, the result was that two different perspectives were brought to bear on the issues. The team members were equal partners, discussing the issues, doing the research, writing and editing together. For this current plan, the hard work and strong framework of the previous plan was utilized as the backbone structure. The plan was divided into sections, and each team chose a section or two to focus on intensively. Then, all the sections were compiled, shared with the entire committee, and discussed in a meeting. This process was repeated several times in order to continue to fine tune and complete the plan. No formal survey was done for this plan due to tack of funds. However, the team working on Chapter 4, Louisville Community Scan: June 2007, did contact members of the community, both residents and business owners. Furthermore, the expertise and knowledge of the City's Planning Director, Paul Wood, was integral to the completion of the background for this plan. ~~~ PLA is a division of the American Library Association. The mission of the 11.,000-member Public Library Association is to enhance the development and effectiveness of public library staff and public library services. 4