Agenda - 05-14-2013 - 1 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Orange County Public Library Strategic Plan 2013 -2016 The strategic planning focus groups were targeted towards select segments of the Orange County community including seniors, teenagers, the Hispanic and Karen communities, and members from northern Orange County. The focus group results found that the strategic plan resonated with the community but specific needs unique to each group were identified. Seniors felt that the book collection was stronger for children than adults, there was an increased need for more local history and preservation and computer classes, and that many seniors do not own DVD players and therefore cannot play movies on DVD. Teens wanted later hours (after school), a safe place to "hang out," more events such as movie night, opportunities to volunteer, more study areas, more production software such as Photoshop and music production, more quiet spaces for research and reading, access to computer and printing services, health information and programming including building and maintaining relationships, physical, social, emotional, and psychological issues, information on parenting skills for teenagers (young mothers), and artistic events such as poetry slams and book clubs. They also reported feeling disrespected by some librarians and that the book collection was not robust or current enough for many of them. The Hispanic focus group was conducted entirely in Spanish and this community mentioned the need for more collections and resources in Spanish, especially books in Spanish for children, access to computers, health resources, information on the Hispanic community especially history (for their kids born here), basic civil rights, and legal programs or assistance. One of the biggest reasons why they do not use the library as much is there is not a tradition or culture of library usage in their community; they suggested a good way to increase usage would be exhibitions that interest them and, in general, reaching out more to them where they are, as opposed to expecting them to either want to or even know how to go to the library. For example, if the Director of the Library would be willing to meet them at their apartment complex, outdoors, or even in a nearby park, they believe more members of their community would participate. Also sending material to them through their children at school is a good way to get information to them. The Karen focus group results suggest that this community does not know much about the Orange County Public Libraries as they tend to visit Chapel Hill because of its proximity to where they live. They were also interested in their own community's history (for their children growing up here). They use the library for books, CDs, DVDs, and computer access. They could really use the library for meeting space and access to other relevant services they need like literacy, legal assistance, financial management, information about the citizenship exam, etc. Most importantly, many in their community do not know how to effectively use public transportation to get to the library and helping them with this would be very beneficial. A complete list of the strategic planning meetings and focus groups is in Appendix C. In response to the six strategic priority areas identified from the community needs analysis and community input on the draft strategic plan, the Orange County Public Library's 2013 -2016 Strategic Plan has been developed and is as follows. 61 Page ORANGE -ZOU NfTY 33