Aurora Public Library District seeks responses to its community survey

The Aurora Public Library District (APLD) is a vital resource for the community, by providing access to books, information, and technology. The library offers a variety of programs and services, such as storytime sessions for children, computer classes for adults, and job-search assistance. But, what can we improve? To better serve the residents of Aurora, the Library is in the process of developing a new strategic plan. The plan will outline the Library’s goals and objectives as well as how it will achieve them. I had a conversation with the Library’s executive director, Michaela Haberkern, on the whys and whats of implementing a new strategic plan and how it will affect our customers.

The Library is operating under the direction of a strategic plan that was developed in 2016. “The current plan was originally slated to run from 2017 through 2020, but we knew that the beginning of a global pandemic was not the best time for long-range planning,” said Haberkern.

“This plan got us through COVID, which it didn’t see coming, and our transition from a city library to a district library, which was also not envisioned in 2016. No plan lasts forever, and enough has changed in our Library, our community, and our world that we know it’s time for a new plan.”

By now, Haberkern and the Library Board of Trustees feel that the ground under their feet is stable enough to start thinking about what’s next. “We want to be the Library this community needs and deserves, and I think that a new plan will help us understand better what exactly that looks like to our residents.”

The Library wants to ensure that we’re directing our resources in a way that benefits our community the most. “It’s always great to hear directly from residents what they like, what they don’t, what’s working and what’s not, rather than just trying things and hoping that something strikes a chord,” added Haberkern. To help gather this information, the Library is working with Fast Forward Libraries consulting group. “We chose Fast Forward Libraries because they showed us that they understand the uniqueness of Aurora. They put together a team especially responsive to our needs, and they have been very open to everything we’ve asked them to do. I’ll say too that their love for and joy in the planning process was really evident, and it made us excited to work with them.”

So what’s the plan for the new plan? The first step is to gather information through a community survey. Residents are invited to share their opinions by filling out our survey. From now until June 9, we are looking for all Aurora residents to offer their opinions. That includes frequent Library visitors, non-library card holders, your children, your neighbors, business owners, and everyone in between! Fill out a survey in person at any Library location (including the Bookmobile) or online at www.aurorapubliclibrary.org/opinion.

“While residents are completing the survey, we’re scheduling interviews and focus groups, working on a demographic and geographic analysis of the community, analyzing years’ worth of Library usage statistics, and studying what’s going on in the library industry as well as in the community, region, nation, and world!” Haberkern said.

“Fast Forward Libraries calls this the ‘Learn’ phase of the process; next up is the ‘Dream’ phase where we study everything we’ve learned and start to draft a plan to respond to it; then finally, the ‘Do’ phase, where we start putting action to all the ideas we’ve generated.” New strategic plans typically mean new services, programs, and initiatives, and we hope that residents will be excited about a lot of fun new things happening at the Library very soon!

No matter what happens with this new plan, Aurora residents can rest assured that the library will still have books, movies, E-materials, great programs, and responsive services and staff members.

“We’re your library, and we’ll continue to provide all those bread-and-butter library things, even as we layer in responses to what we hear from you in this strategic planning process,” Haberkern said.

We encourage you to visit the Library or www.aurorapubliclibrary.org/opinion and complete your survey today because Your Voice Matters!

Andrea Tiberi is the communications coordinator for the Aurora Public Library District.