Camden County Library System Releases 3-Year Strategic Plan Based on the responses of over 1,000 residents to a survey it conducted last summer, the Camden County Library announces its newest strategic plan covering the next three years. Under the strategic plan the library will be pursuing some of the following longer-term goals: 1. Offering innovative programming and story times that utilize current and emerging technologies such as tablets and e-readers 2. Enabling customers to print directly from laptops, tablets, smartphones and other wireless devices 3. Creating additional meeting spaces that include quiet zones, formal meeting rooms and furniture arrangements that facilitate collaboration 4. Adding new formats to its collections and expanding its already significant digital collections 5. Making iMacs and Mac productivity software and entertainment software available at each branch 6. Providing video conferencing stations for customers The library has already begun to implement some of the plan’s innovative proposals based on the survey of customer needs, interests and suggestions. For example: 1. Customers can use their smart phones to check out items, in effect using them as digital library cards 2. Doubling the number of public computers at the Bellmawr Branch including Macs 3. Improving Wi-Fi access — more bandwidth for faster, easier connections at all branches 4. Providing walk-in assistance for residents with questions about their e-readers and tablets “We are excited about this new plan because it has a lot of innovative goals that will move the library forward in the next few years,” comments Camden County Library System Director Linda Devlin. “The Library is striving to exceed the expectations of our customers as we implement innovations in programs and services for library users. We are not content to just rest on past success which is why we take our strategic planning so seriously. It’s one of the reasons we are recognized for the valuable services we provide to our communities,” adds Devlin. The Camden County Board of Freeholders is pleased with the plan. “The Camden County Library System is constantly improving and reinventing itself in response to the needs of today’s library user,” says Freeholder Ian Leonard, liaison to the library. “The Strategic Plan addresses the goals the library system has set for itself to continue to provide the most beneficial services to Camden County residents for years to come.” Initiated by Devlin and developed with the help of 25 library system staff members, the plan utilized a process called Appreciative Inquiry to find out what the public most values about their library. The library system conducted a survey that invited residents to answer open-ended questions to find out how it can build on its strengths and plan for the future. Conducted last summer, the survey was publicized in all the major local media outlets, on the library’s Facebook page and on its website where customers could respond on an electronic form. The survey was also made available in paper form at all of its eight branches. Consequently over 1,000 library users responded and gave their input on a variety of topics. These responses were used to build the strategic plan that will guide the library as to what programs, services and resources it will offer the public for the next three years. The new strategic plan is available online at camdencountylibrary.org/strategic-plan-2013-2015 .
Posted on: Mon, 10 Jun 2013 16:02:52 +0000
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