Imagining the Future of Public Libraries
The story of the development of the five-year strategic plan for the Racine Public Library (RPL) of Racine, Wisconsin.
My thanks to the Library, its staff, the Library Board and the City of Racine for the opportunity to support the work of the library.
The future of any public library is dependent upon and ultimately directed by the wants and needs of the community it serves. While there are strategic directions that all libraries can consider, how each library shapes its direction is community-dependent. As a result, a process that supports understanding community needs and direction is of paramount importance, and uses that understanding to develop a new and strategic pathway forward is of high value.
This presentation is how the design process was used to obtain the information necessary to invent the RPL’s future and how it contributed to the overall design of a five-year strategic plan.
This presentation focuses on replicable methodology and techniques that can be used by any library to undertake the discovery needed to provide the foundation for understanding its future.
Resources for my Internet Librarian Presentation
The presentation file (pdf) for this presentation is available on the conference web site.