J. Robert Jamerson Memorial Library

Long Range Plan

14.1 Long Range Plan

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Forward

The Library Long Range Plan is a document that should clearly outline the expected progress for the Library in the long term. Such documentation is immensely valuable as it provides patrons, staff, and administrators with a road map both of what the Library needs and what it hopes to achieve. These needs and hopes are defined as objectives and goals. These, in turn, reflect the various facets of the library’s overall purpose.

Range

Beginning of calendar year 2019 through the end of calendar year 2024.

Library Purposes

The J. Robert Jamerson Memorial Library is committed to excellence in:

  1. Materials - Library materials are the cornerstone for general public literacy, providing free access to books for children, school books for students, and recreational reading for all ages.
    • Bestseller novels & popular series
    • Informational & learning material
    • Inter-library loan & patron suggestions
    • Cataloging & collection development
  2. Reference Services - Timely, accurate, and quality
    • Online document access & general reference
    • Local, national, regional, global news & events
    • Office suites and tools for education, finance & business
    • Phone, fax, & internet
  3. Accessibility - Ensuring all people enjoy services equally
    • Enlarged print & audio recording materials
    • Online accessibility
    • Fair and inclusive policies
  4. Engagement - Working with others
    • Social media, website, etc.
    • Grants opportunities
    • Outreach & programming
    • Patrons & the community
    • Conferences & memberships
    • Trustees & Friends
  5. Management - Support tasks
    • Accounting & records
    • Policy & procedure
    • Planning

Goals and Objectives

The library is adopting the following set of goals to improve general service at the library over the long term. Each of these goals is divided into smaller objectives. Each objective has a target date depending on the scale, complexity, and interconnectedness of the actual work involved.

  1. GOAL: Better materials

    Library materials are the cornerstone for general public literacy, providing free access to books for children, school books for students, and recreational reading for all ages.

    1. Objective: Verify accuracy of ILS records - End of 2022 Do reviews of ILS records, repair, correct, and complete records. Ensure improved performance through best practices going forward.

    2. Objective: Shop e-book & streaming providers - End of 2023 Look into competitors for online content services for desktop and mobile. Ensure best service, selection, and pricing.

    3. Objective: Assess and update NF & JNF collections - End of 2021 Ensure non fiction meets collection development criteria. Cull and restock as needed. A major culling could result in more room for high circulation items like DVDs. Rural libraries should absolutely carry non-fiction, but general items can be preserved over more specific items, when appropriate. Items which will become outdates instantly (like software manuals) will be phased completely out, and the civil war items.

    4. Objective: Physical inventory - End of FY 2020 Ensure that all items are physically counted. Having now relocated all of the barcodes to same spot on every item makes this much easier. The library will use wireless scanners along with Koha’s built-in inventory tools store to calculate both apparent shrink and actual shrink data. Physical inventories should be done regularly, but no more often than absolutely necessary becuase it is such a large undertaking. Perhaps every few years. This data will show all current and future shrink expressed in number of items, item types, as well as dollar amounts.

  2. GOAL: More reference services

    Reference serivces present a unique challenge to libraries. Digital resources are more prevalent than ever.

    1. Objective: Review digital reference services - End of 2022 Look at which digital reference services are employed at other libraries. Analyze the effectiveness of those services and calculate the cost-benefit of each service. Such services likely include various types of databases, as well as browser extensions, as well as not-for-profit and local services.

    2. Objective: Support networked resources - End of 2023 Ensure online content services, for desktop and mobile, are being marketed and explained to the appropriate audience with advertising and support materials including on the website, in the building, and around the Appomattox community. Ensure the library website includes useful documents, tutorials, and manuals for any/all library related services.

  3. GOAL: Improve accessibility

    Ensuring all people enjoy services equally.

    1. Objective: Review policy statements - End of 2019 Ensure the patron policies are enforceable, brief and understandable, as well as fair and effective. Current registration policy and procedure should be rated and modified on target audience needs, failure rates, failure states, and ease of use. For instance, currently we have a hard ban on “cellphones” but that is not the reality. Cellphones are ubiquitious, and a key part of the modern business “tool-chain”.

    2. Objective: Website improvement - End of 2021 Create a simple-to-use and easy-to-update website. Website may contain blog elements and other interactive elements. Website should be “good”. In particular, study the less desireable mistakes of all the other library websites and do not commit to their same mistakes. Design should prioritize handicapped accessibility, mobile device accessibility, as well as low-bandwidth accessibliity.

    3. Objective: Electronic/Credit payments - End of 2022 Library should work with the County to approve credit card payments at the Library and online. Software must be Linux compatible and preferably open source. If the company providing this service charges a service fee, a minimum transaction amount should be implemented, but this amount should be kept relatively low in order to ensure a positive customer experience ($5.00 would be a reasonable minimum amount, for instance.) Electronic/Credit payments would have many benefits to the Library. It would increase the rate of payment on fines and fees, it could increase the number and amount of donations, and it would enable the Friends of the Library to sell library merchandise on the Library’s website. Of course, it could possibly increase the amount of paper records and complicate the library’s accounting, so this should be taken into account when researching.

  4. GOAL: Increase community engagement

    Working with others.

    1. Objective: Increase memberships - End of 2020 Paid professional memberships’ budget line item should include an amount equal to the total fees for the following organizations: the American Library Assocation (ALA), Public Library Association (PLA), Virginia Library Association (VLA), Virginia Public Library Directors Association (VPLDA), and the Appomattox County Chamber of Commerce (CC).

    2. Objective: Programming Newsletters – End of 2021 Publish regular newsletters, Fall and Spring, advertising events. Market them at the front desk and online.

    3. Objective: Friends of the Library - End of 2022 Renew EIN and 501c(3) for Friends (ACLA). Publish marketing materials for Friends. Review membership fees, recordkeeping, and organization.

    4. Objective: Community outreach - End of 2023 Explore new opportunities in the community for partnerships in programming, marketting, and educating.

  5. GOAL: Streamline management

    Support tasks.

    1. Objective: Director records storage - End of 2019 Evaluate current recordkeeping, taking into account the Library of Virginia’s Records Retention and Disposition Schedule as well as available space. Ensure a simple, effective, and comprehensive system of record keeping.

    2. Objective: Online Policy Manual - End of 2020 Ensure that the online policy manual is complete and accurate. Use the local repo of the manual as the primary record (backed up regularly). Outline simple steps for updating the manual using Git publishing tools.

Date of plan January, 2019

Initial review pending

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