BROOKINGS Brookings Public Library wants to hear from you. The library is looking for comments now through Nov. 8 on how they can better serve the community.
Its part of our strategic planning that we do every three years, Ashia Gustafson, director of library services, said. Our current strategic plan ends at the end of this current year. So we are strategic planning for 2025-2027. That also coincides with the voluntary accreditation process with the South Dakota State Library. So we do that; we always shoot for exemplary status.
She said the state currently rates them exemplary. This years survey will be a part of their accreditation submission but theyre also interested in adapting to community needs, and past surveys have led to new library programming.
We added a tween book club because one of the big things that came out of the survey was more things for that third to fifth grade age. It was not one of our strong suits unfortunately, Gustafson said. We did really good with the little, little kids in storytime and thats great. And we have a strong teen program. But we kind of missed, you know, that upper elementary age. So that came out of the survey, and we started to work on how we could do more programming for them.
The survey is anonymous but respondents could win a prize if theyre willing to share contact information.
After people take the survey which is anonymous they can click a link to share their information if they want to, and they can be entered into a drawing for a $50 Hy-Vee gift card and a Brookings Library swag bag, Gustafson said. The more specific and detailed people can be in their feedback, the more that helps. You know, when you say hours are a limit, tell us what that means do you need more hours, different days, like what hours arent working?
She said they welcome constructive criticism.
Obviously we want that demographic information what kind of household are you, how often do you visit the library, are there any things that limit your use of the library? Gustafson said. And then what hobbies or skills would people be interested in the library providing information about? Are there challenges the library can help you with? How do we benefit the community? How do we benefit you?
The re-accreditation submission is due August of 2025, but she said theyll be using survey results for strategic planning right away.
Well take all of that huge amount of information, go through it all, figure out what it says and what that means and what we can do. The staff and I are going through a strategic plan exercise of what do we do well, what other opportunities are there out there for us, what do we want to be, Gustafson said. Then I will do that with our library board of trustees. Theyre also going to be reaching out to other stakeholders in the community, and were going to have a meeting in December to do that same exercise and go through the community survey results. And then well take that information and we will create a strategic plan.
She said that plan will be posted online.
I will share it with the city manager and the deputy city manager more of a for your information thing, Gustafson said. And then Ill take it back to the board periodically and say, this is what weve been doing and this is how were meeting those goals. And well try to keep it a living document not like, here we did all this work, heres a great strategic plan and now just put it on the shelf.
The survey and strategic plan come on the heels of a recent consultants study on possible renovation or expansion of both the library and the Brookings Activity Center.
That would be a couple years down the road, Gustafson said. We did the consultant process last winter through May, June of this year had some great plans and things. Unfortunately, the city has budgetary limits and priorities. The public safety building is that first big one that we need to do. And then well revisit the possible remodel and expansion of the library and the activity center.
She said big changes take time, but gathering public comment is a vital first step.
We really appreciate the feedback, and we take all of that really and truly into consideration. Because I know, sometimes you take surveys or like we did the consultant process and its going to be years before you see anything come back, Gustafson said. The more specific the comments, the better. Because we can only be as reactive as we can be. If we dont have all the information, we can say thats great feedback, but I dont know what that means, how we can fix that, change that or put that into anything.
The survey is available at bit.ly/surveybpl24. A QR code to open the survey is also posted in the librarys November newsletter downloadable at https://www.brookingslibrary.org.
Contact Jay Roe at [email protected].
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