2016.01.13 Parks Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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What is presented here, then, are considerations for Washington County as it moves into planning for facilities development. Some of these factors are generic to all public libraries, including reference to some standards or benchmarks, while others are more specific to Washington County. The latter are based on findings from the strategic planning process, including Library Strategies consultants' cursory assessment of the Library's facilities. Here is a list of factors for consideration in the facilities planning process for Washington County: FACILITIES ARE TOOLS, NOT OUTCOMES — Public libraries should be designed to address community needs or aspirations. Simply put, libraries should either be helping communities make a needed change, and/or providing an enhancement to enrich the quality of life in a community. Facilities should be planned around the need(s) to be address or the enrichment value for the community. IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT BUILDINGS — The core cost centers for libraries are staff, collections, and facilities (and to some degree technology). While this has always been true, the trend in library services today is toward areas like outreach, programming, and training/education, as well as much more robust digital and website access (many libraries consider their websites as a separate branch). Facilities are still needed for gathering, training, and yes, collections, but the spaces are looking different, and the need for staff and operational support is greater than ever for vibrant, well -used public libraries. SERVICE EQUITY FOR ALL RESIDENTS — A goal for all large library systems is to provide equitable service for all residents in its service area. This is challenging, because communities or neighborhoods vary so the types of service should differ, but the level of service opportunity should be comparable or parallel. An analogy would be if parents have two daughters and one is pursuing ballet and the other ice hockey, the parents would support them in differing ways but attempt to help them comparably. In short, the library should strive to provide comparably meaningful service opportunities to all residents. This goal is challenging for Washington County as the communities within the County vary considerably and their needs for service also differ. There is no perfect answer to this balancing act, but in planning facilities, the County will need to develop a plan that attempts to fulfill this goal of equitable service. THE LIBRARY SYSTEM AS A WHOLE — For a large system like Washington County, which is also surrounded by available public libraries in other locales, no facility or service should be looked at in isolation. The totality of the system should be considered, and services not offered at one location may be balanced by an offering at a nearby location.