2016.01.13 Parks Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Indeed, the Washington County Library clearly meets these standards, and would meet the standards of virtually all state minimums across the country. Thus, the "standards" approach is not very helpful in facilities planning for Washington County. Similarly, while there are some benchmarks for library facilities development, the range of these benchmarks is large nationwide so that they only provide an initial starting point or reference at best. As the former Executive Director of the Toledo -Lucas County Public Library, Clyde Scoles recently commented: While questions always arise about space requirements for public libraries, there is no magic formula or algorithm for how large a library should be. In our planning activities, we encounter individuals — even seasoned architects and planners with extensive experience building offices, commercial development or homes — who assume there is a definitive formula for determining library space needs. This is simply not the case. So how does one move forward, if standards and benchmarks are not particularly useful? For public libraries, the approach has been to work within communities to achieve desired outcomes and then build services and facilities to address those very specific needs. This approach is first and foremost community -oriented, but also includes balancing a host of considerations, and options for the specific community or region served. For Washington County, the balancing act must account for the significant variation of communities within the service area, and thus it would be expected that library facilities will continue to be diverse and varied in the County to best serve local and County -wide needs. Considerations in Planning Washington County Libraries The Washington County Library system currently exceeds all minimum state standards. Additionally, in many areas, the Library meets or exceeds other minimum facilities or service benchmarks. Nonetheless, throughout the planning process, residents expressed needs or desires for new or enhanced facilities and services. Additionally, the County population is expected to grow significantly, as well as change in some profound ways demographically in the coming decades. Finally, the types of services at public libraries has changed enormously, and the possibilities for new or different offerings at the Washington County Library is expected to grow as well. Thus, the County has opportunities to make informed choices about the future of library service to positively affect the lives of residents. C!