Putnam County Library Seeks Input

The Putnam County Library Board will be hosting a public meeting on planning for the future of the library. This meeting is open to all Putnam County residents and will be located at the Hennepin library branch.

The purpose of the meeting is to make long range plans for the library according to PC Library Board President Bob Steele.

“Strategic goals is the way to look at this meeting,” said Steele.

Originally in 1988 and again in 2000, this type of meeting was held to assist the library board is guiding the direction in which the library should be moving. For example in the 2000 meeting, it was noted the library needed a web presence and should utilize technology more.

“As technology advances, we need to try to stay current with it,” said Steele. “Also we want to know what people expect of us. We now have more computers at each library location. This is all from the 2000 planning meeting.”

The library board wants input from local residents as to what do they think of their local library branch. The board wants to learn directly from people who use the library what they, the residents are looking for in a library in modern times. The board will then take this input and work on how to meet those needs.

“Our meeting on the 30th is an organizational meeting for the library board to try to determine how to make the assessment,” said Steele. “It is a public meeting, and everyone is welcome to come.”

In 2000, the library board did a survey that went out to the Putnam County residents in the Putnam County Record. In addition, focus groups were formed to poll for information to help the board decide what to do for the library.

Free programs for the public to enjoy, similar to what has been done during 2013, are a possibility for the future, according to Steele.

“Under our prior Director Randi (Delatori), we had a number of programs that we held throughout the year,” said Steele. “We had the Purdue program; Matt Dean has given the ones on cooking; and we do hope to continue that.”

The PC Library does try to stay current between long range planning sessions by keeping statistics on what books are being checked out and how many patrons use each location. This is also information used when planning a long range strategy for the library’s future.

“It is really more for us to sit down and say ‘what are we going to do now to implement this strategic planning,’” said Steele.

Source: Putnam County Record