Racine library's five-year plan calls for bookmobile stops outside city

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Tuesday, December 15, 1998 3:00 AM CST

BY MICHAEL BURKE Journal Times

photo by Mark Hertzberg

RACINE The Racine Public Library's board of directors will vote Thursday on the draft of a five-year plan which calls for bookmobile stops outside the city, at least one building improvement and help for an overburdened staff.

The library normally operates according to a five-year plan. But for the first time in its history, said City Librarian Jay Chung, the plan is based on surveys and focus groups. The library consulting firm of Himmel & Wilson of Milton, Wis., did the work, for $27,500, and a plan draft has been written.

``Nearly 400 Racine area residents participated in the planning process in some way," the report states. ``Over 300 people participated in the (random) telephone survey, 47 attended one of seven public focus group sessions and 22 staff members took part in two staff focus groups." Others submitted comments by mail.

And the library board and management team served on the planning committee itself.

``(The research) confirmed what we have believed in the past about what would be important and of benefit to the community," Chung said.

For example, the plan states that one of the library's three main roles should be to aid lifelong learning. ``We have thought these were important roles if this community was going to grow and prosper," Chung said.

According to the draft, the plan for the years 1999-2003 identifies three primary roles for the library, goals for each, and specific objectives for each goal.

The library's three main roles, according to the plan:

m To be a source of general information on a broad array of topics related to work, school and personal life.

Among the 12 objectives for this category is to show an increasing percentage of survey respondents who say they used consumer, health and /or personal investment related materials in the previous six months.

m To be a place of lifelong learning. One of the nine specific objectives here is to increase new registrations for library cards 2 percent per year.

m To help fulfill residents' appetite for information about popular cultural and social trends, and the desire for recreational experiences.

The goal is specifically stated, ``All residents of the Racine area will find the library a convenient, welcoming place that offers a wealth of popular materials in many formats that stimulate thinking, reduce stress and make leisure time more productive and enjoyable."

Two secondary roles are also identified:

m Information literacy providing instruction about how to find and use new information technology.

m The library as a commons, to address the need of people to meet and interact with others and participate in public discourse about community issues.

This category includes the desire to effect at least one major safety measure or building improvement or enhancement. Chung said that could be a more user-friendly transition from the entrance to the second floor or even expansion into the third floor.

About the last two roles, Chung said, ``We thought we should be doing these things, but because of a lack of funds, we had always been confounded." The work proves there is a ``latent demand" for the library to fill those needs.

``We will have to look for some way of accomplishing these things," he said.

The plan shows support for bookmobile expansion beyond the city's borders, although Chung said the specific stops to be added have not been finalized. In order to reach out farther, some existing city stops will have to be consolidated.

And the plan calls for adding one full-time children's librarian.

Chung said there was much discussion to make sure the plan would be ``doable." However, he said, ``The entire library community will have to work hard to achieve these things."

Pushing for the use of a consultant in this five-year plan was one of Chung's last initiatives. He will soon retire and will not be around to see the new five-year plan carried out.

But he said the next city librarian /director will be able to follow the plan with confidence that it represents the public's real wishes, as well as the wisdom of those who work there now and sit on the board.

``We would never have had that kind of feeling had we not done the research," he said. ``We could have done it ourselves, but the objectivity is important."

The strong participation in the survey and focus groups, he said, shows, ``Racine is actively iterested in what the library is doing and what they wish the library to do."

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