Community Planning Process
The Next Decade Strategic Plan and Community Impact Goals will be announced in 2016.
A major part of developing our community impact goals has been getting feedback from the community, staff, and board members. We are nearing the end of this phase of the planning process. We are at a point at which we must start to look at the information we have gathered and see what the trends and themes are from these various groups.
We used different methods to gather the information, so in some instances the questions were a little different. We also asked each group several questions. In an effort to examine a manageable number of responses and those responses most relevant to our planning, we will look at those responses to the questions that had to do with aspirations for the community and library, or those that related to desired points of emphasis for the library.
Below is an overview of the meetings, workshops, and the survey.
| Date | Activity |
|---|---|
| Jan – Feb, 2014 | Community Survey conducted by ETC Institute of Olathe, KS |
| Feb 17, 2014 | Staff Development Day goal priorities exercise |
| Sep 29, 2014 | TSCPL Three Board Retreat |
| Nov 3 – Dec 18, 2014 | Next Decade Staff meetings (All staff participated in small groups of 20 members or less) |
| May 27, 2015 | Community Planning Workshop at TSCPL |
| Jul 23, 2015 | Community Planning Workshop at Juli’s Coffee & Bistro |
| Jul 28, 2015 | Community Planning Workshop at Sacred Heart Church – Oakland |
| Aug 10, 2015 | Community Planning Workshop at Garfield Park Community Center |
Community Survey
The community survey was sent out in early 2014 to approximately 3,200 households that were representative of the population of Shawnee County. We received 844 completed surveys which was considered to be statistically significant by ETC, the company that conducted the survey.
The question that seemed the most relevant to the community impact goals, and the most comparable to the aspirational questions in our meetings, was question number 12. Respondents were asked to what they considered the principal roles and services that they felt the library should emphasize in the next few years. They were given a list of pre-selected options and could choose up to four.
Staff Development Day 2014
Staff members were given $50,000 in play money to help prioritize library goals. They were given a list of initiatives and services and then allocated their money to those areas that they felt were most appropriate. If there was something left out, they were able to write down a new category for their money.
| Play Money | Initiative |
|---|---|
| $940,000 | Provide services to allow children from birth to age 5 to enter school ready to learn |
| $840,000 | Provide services to help all school-age children learn |
| $820,000 | Provide services that support reading and learning throughout life |
| $660,000 | Help individuals use technology tools |
| $620,000 | Provide resources for reading / listening / viewing pleasure |
| $580,000 | Support local economic development and job seekers |
| $540,000 | Provide services for our multicultural community |
| $460,000 | Provide creative do-it-yourself (makerspaces) |
Three Board Retreat
Members of the Library Executive Board, Friends Board, Foundation Board, and Teen Advisory Board met in the summer of 2014 to help brainstorm and create the Community Impact Goals. Attendees participated in various brainstorming activities, including a SOAR analysis. After brainstorming, each attendee selected the five aspirations that they felt were most important. Similar responses were combined into categories, and are represented in the graph below.
| Category | |
|---|---|
| Promote reading and literacy | 64% |
| Support lifelong learning | 52% |
| Be the deciding factor for people moving to Topeka | 52% |
| Visionary leadership | 49% |
| Make the latest technology available | 43% |
| Easily accessible to the entire community | 43% |
| Kids are ready for kindergarten | 37% |
| Successful community outreach | 30% |
| Citizens are engaged and empowered | 27% |
| Community supports us | 24% |
| We are the best library | 21% |
| Diversity of staff | 18% |
| Support and nurture staff | 15% |
| Trusted source of information | 12% |
| Leaders in the community | 12% |
Staff Meetings
All library staff members participated in small groups and participated in the SOAR exercise and then marked the Aspirations that they thought were most important to the library. We then compiled the answers and grouped similar answers together. Below is the list of most popular Aspirations from these sessions and some examples of the answers that fell under each of the top categories.
| Category | Dots |
|---|---|
| Literacy for all ages | 84 |
| Lead community change / social issues | 73 |
| Community hub | 50 |
| Outreach to targeted populations | 47 |
| Easy and equitable access for all | 37 |
| Digital literacy | 35 |
| Access to technology | 31 |
| Everyone has a library card / uses the library | 31 |
| Satellite locations / more outreach services | 31 |
| Customer centered | 30 |
| Fun and safe place | 30 |
| More quality, less quantity | 30 |
| Adult literacy | 27 |
| Help with employment | 27 |
| Partner with more organizations | 25 |
Literacy for all ages
- Literacy, written and technology
- Others think of the Library to “support” literacy – both child and adult
- Kids ready to learn 100% literacy rate (kids and adults) the written word don’t let it die out
- 100% literacy rate for better jobs and community
- 100% literacy at all levels
- A big role in community solving its literacy issues
- Literacy for all
Lead community change / social issues
- Need in our city – how can we help and support
- Help make a dent in the poverty level
- On site social worker and nurse to help customers such as homeless and others
- Counselor for troubled teens – families sometimes they just don’t know
- Leading community change
- Be a force for good in the community
- Community a better place for everyone
- Lower the crime rate
Community hub
- Destination place – the 3rd place like the Town Square
- A gathering place – the 3rd place
- Hub that everyone in Shawnee County comes to
- We’re the center of the community
- Encourage sense of community even more (Library belong to them)
- Everything is here
- Were the place people want to be – at least once a week
- First place people think of
Outreach to targeted populations
- Helping Spanish community and other communities – Asian
- More programming – advancing aging population
- More outreach to low income communities
- Go to where troubled teens are
- Helping prison community
Easy and equitable access for all
- Reach everyone
- Access for everyone
- Level the playing field
- Meet people where they are
- Bring people to the library who don’t have transportation
- Ensure access to materials
- We will be physically accessible to all
Digital literacy
- Teaching technology
- Providing instruction for digital literacy
- Literacy → not just reading → digital literacy
- Literacy – digital, ties to job growth
- Literacy → Digital literacy
Community Meetings
In the summer of 2015 we held community meetings at six different locations throughout Shawnee County. We had enough participants at four locations to have them break into groups and perform a SOAR analysis. They then marked the Aspirations that they felt were most important.
Most Common Aspirations
In an effort to understand the top answers from the various meetings and survey, the top four answers from each were grouped together and given a point value based on their ranking.
| Aspiration | Score |
|---|---|
| Reading and literacy | 10 |
| Celebrate our diversity | 9 |
| Lifelong learning | 8 |
| Kindergarten readiness | 5 |
| Culture and opportunities that bring back college grads | 4 |
| Kids are taken care of by parents | 4 |
| School-age kids learning | 3 |
| Reading and viewing for pleasure | 3 |
| Reason people move to Topeka | 3 |
| Community / social change | 3 |
| Serve role in promoting Topeka/Shawnee County history | 3 |
| More engaged citizens | 3 |
| Topeka Community - Move economic Development | 3 |
| Vital Downtown | 3 |
| Entertainment option – More! | 3 |
| Community hub | 2 |
| Increase our “curb appeal” | 2 |
| Wave magic wand and have every child reading at grade level | 2 |
| Helping kids with college prep | 2 |
| More Bookmobile stops – N Topeka, Northland C C | 2 |
| Topeka Community - Less violence | 2 |
| Topeka Community - More people living in city | 2 |
| Topeka pride | 2 |
| Technology literacy | 1 |
| Visionary leadership | 1 |
| Outreach to targeted populations | 1 |
| Clean Up corridors into the city | 1 |