December 2024 | Volume XLII, Issue 4 »
Data-Driven Strategic Planning: An Anecdotal Approach
December 2, 2024
Jen Ryjewski, Downers Grove Public Library
Library administrators nearly exclusively shoulder the weight of all institutional outcomes to collections, programs, and services, positive or negative. They are responsible for spearheading the establishment of the mission, vision, and core services for the library; determining the policies that govern finances, materials, programs, services, staff, and patrons for Board approval; overseeing the general management of the library; and empowering and supporting staff to carry out their work in full service to the public. However, in order to manage all of these tasks successfully, access to sufficient and reliable data is paramount, because the improvement of library services and patron and employee experiences rests largely on the quality of data used to inform decisions about them. For these reasons, careful strategic planning is crucial.
The Downers Grove Public Library’s (DGPL) previous strategic plan concluded just as the pandemic rushed pell-mell through the global landscape and sent us frenetically in countless directions. Little did we know that we would spend the next two years practicing and mastering the art of “the pivot,” as changes to programs, services, budgeting, and staffing evolved at such a pace with which we could barely keep up. Creating, codifying, and implementing a new strategic plan during a time of unprecedented, daily unpredictability was both impractical and unsustainable. Instead, we focused all our efforts on evolving with the ever-changing COVID landscape and assembled a team to work on the creation of an Equity Strategic Plan (ESP).
The DGPL Board of Library Trustees approved our ESP in April 2022. It was the culmination of twelve months of hard work performed by our newly formed Equity Advisory Team (EAT)—a small group composed of diverse library staff, community residents, and partners. The plan outlined our internal and external equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) goals, objectives, and activities for the next several years and was structured on the four quadrants of racism: internal, interpersonal, institutional, and structural. These goals would serve as the foundation and building blocks for our next overarching, library-wide strategic plan.
We spent that autumn searching for and hiring the right consultants to help us with the process because we knew, unequivocally, that we could not embark on a project of this weight and magnitude—and be successful—without outside assistance. Prior to our kickoff meeting, we provided the consultants with as much institutional information as possible about library operations, such as previous strategic plans and outcomes, community demographics, staff composition, survey results, job descriptions, annual reports, collection analyses, and inventory and programming statistics. While copious, we believed our history would play an important role in helping to determine the future aspirations and activities of DGPL.
At the kickoff meeting, we discussed the entire strategic planning process from start to finish, including the scope of work, timeline of events, and outcomes (a high- and low-level strategic plan). Part of the scope of work included the creation of a survey that would not only strive to reach and engage every single member of our community, but also provide good, reliable, and actionable data. After several iterations, we completed the final draft and made it available to our community members via multiple channels: hard copies at public service desks, links to the survey in weekly e-newsletters, QR codes on checkout receipts, forms in home-delivered newsletters, and QR codes on 5"x7" cards affixed to the surfaces of café and study tables throughout the library. We also marketed the survey on our website and posted it on social media. After ten weeks of open submission, over 2,000 respondents voiced their experiences about how they utilized the library (or not) and opined about the areas in which they wished to see progress, improvements, and/or change.
In addition to the survey, we prepared to host community engagement sessions, or focus groups, in order to provide us with yet another opportunity for gathering stakeholder input. We held a total of eleven focus groups that were comprised of the following demographics: Board of Library Trustees (including the Library Director and Assistant Director); supervisory staff; two sessions with nonsupervisory staff; two sessions with community leaders/partners; parents and caregivers of children; older adults; teens; traditionally marginalized people groups; and general public. We were very careful and intentional about creating demographic-specific focus groups in order to create safe spaces for participants to be vulnerable and share their thoughts, ideas, and concerns without fear of judgment and to ensure that the conversations in each group were germane to the participants’ experiences, perspectives, and needs. Every one of these groups had a right to representation because each one had its own set of unique challenges, perspectives, and concerns—and we wanted to hear all of them! By providing a safe and welcoming space and giving a voice to each group, we were able to hear the perspectives from community members who might have been reluctant to share their views and opinions if everyone were assembled together. We felt strongly that the focus groups would serve as platforms for empowerment and transparency because participants were able to voice their opinions freely and honestly without judgment, hence, influencing the decision-making process.
Most of the focus group participants were assembled by personal invitation. We endeavored to invite as many different types of community members as possible, including the mayor and village council members; in-district school superintendents, principals, and teachers; business owners, clergy people, and leaders of other religious organizations; parents, caregivers, older adults, and teens/tweens; historically, intentionally, and/or traditionally marginalized people groups; and general public. We also opened up participation to those not personally invited, but who met the demographics of that particular focus group. In total, 140 people attended the eleven focus groups. Participants engaged in meaningful discussions about library use or non-use, and how services, programs, spaces, and collections could be better utilized, expanded upon, and/or improved. Participants brainstormed enormous lists of changes/activities they wanted to see at DGPL and each session culminated in a sticky-dot, visual voting exercise, whereby each attendee (given a specified number of sticky dots), placed them next to the activities listed on large poster paper they deemed most important.
After the initial data-gathering phase (survey and focus groups) ended, the consultants aggregated all stakeholder feedback into a dense Findings Book, which included the sum total of all the raw data gathered throughout the process. The final data-gathering activity was a Strategic Retreat, which included a group of twenty-five individuals—composed of a diverse pool of previous focus group attendees—who thoroughly reviewed, analyzed, and discussed the Findings Book data; brainstormed and updated our mission, vision, and core values; and discussed best practices for 21st century public libraries. We accomplished this work through a series of small and large group exercises, and in so doing, successfully identified the most urgent and important issues and opportunities affecting DGPL and classified them into four broad focus areas: programs and services, access, turn outward, and turn inward. These four categories, and the potential initiatives connected to each, along with the below mentioned mission, vision, and values, became the framework for our high-level strategic plan.
Mission: Welcoming all to discover, grow, play and learn.
Vision: The heart of a diverse community providing inspiring ideas, community connections, and empowering opportunities.
Values: Inclusive and Welcoming Environment: We celebrate our individual uniqueness and create spaces where everyone is valued, represented, and included.
Community Engagement: We listen and respond to the changing needs of our community.
Equitable Access: We remove barriers and enable access for all.
Intellectual Freedom: We provide a variety of programs, services, and materials so community members can customize their own library experience.
Lifelong Learning: We are always learning and encourage our community to be curious and continue to learn throughout all stages of life
Integrity: We advocate for and uphold ethical library practices and responsible financial stewardship.
After the DGPL Board of Library Trustees reviewed and approved the high-level strategic plan, our management team evaluated all the initiatives in each of the four categories to determine which ones were realistic and achievable (i.e., within our purview, budget, and power to control) and which ones were not. From there, we prioritized those initiatives that would become a part of our first year’s work and discussed how we would bring them to life. We assigned concrete action steps to each initiative, identified staff who would be responsible for managing and overseeing the work, established specific methods for successfully carrying out the work, and estimated project timelines and hopeful completion dates. Lastly, we fully incorporated the ESP into the final work plan product. The following is an example of how one of our initiatives appears in our work plan:
| Focus Area | Initiative | Project(s) | Point Person |
| Access | Evaluate Options for Increased Security in the Building | Investigate Options for Building Control Access | Building Operations Monitor |
| Action Steps | Action Steps End Date | Metrics/Outcome | Additional Notes |
| Explore Building Needs and Vendors | Q2 2024 | Present Building Control Access Options in 2024 | Quotes from Vendors Received |
At DGPL, the entire process from beginning to end was an emotional labor of love. It was intentional, methodical, nearly one year in the making, and a lot of hard work. By creating a welcoming atmosphere and placing paramount importance on hearing from diverse voices, we have a special, one-of-a-kind plan that will effectuate positive, equitable, inclusive, and lasting change. It truly has enormous potential to benefit every type of person in our community because of the diverse pool of participants who contributed to its creation and development from the very inception.
The final product of any strategic plan is directionally proportional to the time, effort, and open-postured thinking invested in the process. If the goal is a strategic plan that will satisfy the needs and wants of the community, then everyone needs to be invited to participate.
Timeline of Strategic Planning Events
| March 2021 | Created Equity Advisory Team (EAT) |
| March 2021-April 2022 |
Developed Equity Strategic Plan (ESP) Strategic Planning Pre-Planning: |
| April 2022 | Board Approved ESP |
| June 2022 | Finalized RFP for Strategic Planning Consultants |
| July-December 2022 | Conducted Search for and Hired Strategic Planning Consultants |
| January 2023 | Held Kick-Off Meeting |
| January-February 2023 | Provided Consultants with Library Histrionics |
| March 2023 | Launched Community Survey |
| March-April 2023 | Collected Community Survey Results Hosted Focus Group Invitees Consultants Aggregated all Feedback into “Findings Book” |
| May 2023 |
Held Strategic Retreat |
| June 2023 | Finalized New Mission, Purpose, Vision, and High-Level Plan |
| July 2023 | Incorporated ESP into the High-Level Plan |
| August 2023 | Board Approved High-Level Strategic Plan (2023–2027) |
| September-October 2023 | Prioritized Initiatives for First Year |
| November-December 2023 | Determined Action Steps, Target Dates, and Outcomes |
| December 2023 | Began the Work |
iREAD Summer Reading Programs
Latest Library JobLine Listings
