Genna Mickey

Strategic Plan Analysis of the Oak Park Public Library

LIS 770
October 28
th
, 2013
Professor Stewart











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The Oak Park Public library in Oak Park, Illinois consists of 3 branches, Main, Dole, and
Maze. The library has been open for 110 years, and the current location of Main branch of
the library has been opened for 10 years, after a referendum passed allowing for $30
million in renovations to the Maze branch and construction for the new Main branch (Oak
Park Library, History, 2013). The library serves over 53,000 residents.
The Oak Park Public Librarys strategic plan has ended, but it covered a six year span
from 2007-2012. The library commits to updating an action plan each year following the
strategic plan with action items developed from the strategic plan. It is stated that a lot of
community feedback was used in creating the plan to begin with. Community is vital in
strategic planning, and Moran and Steurt explain that strategic planning MUST start with
the customer (67). A vision based planning model was used, with six large initiatives
mentioned, followed by the goals and objectives. Each of the initiatives aligns with the core
values of the vision statement. The initiatives include: Service Excellence, Access to
Information, Learning Organization, Lifelong Learning and Enjoyment, Cultural Center,
Stewardship. The organization of the strategic plan is as follows:
1. Brief explanation that the strategic plan was based on community information.
2. Initiative
3. Description of reasoning and history of the imitative
4. Goals
5. Objectives
Overall the organization of the strategic plan aligns well with the vision statement
organizational values.
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Furthermore, the mission and vision of the Oak Park Library align well. The mission
states, Oak Park Public Library enhances the quality of life in our diverse community by
providing the resources and services for lifelong learning and enjoyment, the space and
opportunities to gather and connect, and by fostering a love of reading. (Oak Park Public
Library). The vision statement is as follows:
We embrace the rich heritage and vibrant future of our community. We aspire to be
the best possible library for Oak Park. We create opportunities to participate,
connect and discover by:
Encouraging lifelong learning
Responding to the needs of our diverse community
Ensuring freedom of access to information
Offering space for people and ideas to come together
Providing materials and programs that entertain and inspire
We are committed to excellent service and stewardship of the physical and financial
assets entrusted to the library (Oak Park Public Library).
Analysis of the mission statement shows that the customers are a diverse community,
services for learning, enjoyment, community, and reading are provided, and they are
served by fostering a love of reading. Analysis of the vision statement shows that the
library wants to be the best possible library for Oak Park, and acknowledges the vibrant
future of the community will be fostered by its organizational values. These organizational
values were then used to build the strategic plan.
Under the initiative heading of Service Excellence, there are two goals. For the goal of
Offer customer-focused service throughout the organization, (Oak Park Library), one key
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objective is to evaluate self-service options for optimal performance which supports the
goal because if there are more self-service options, the staff will not be as overwhelmed
with easier service tasks and can provide quality customer service to patrons without long
waiting times, etc. This is attainable because staff will be able to notice whether or not self-
service stations are being used and how often. The other goal states the Oak Park Library
will Strive to be a leader in service excellence among libraries in Illinois and nationwide
and includes a key objective to gather, evaluate, and implement best practice from other
libraries. I think resource sharing will be key in Oak Park being a leader in Illinois and
across the country finding out what works and doesnt in other libraries is vital for being
the best at customer service. I think that goal is very realistic and attainable the library
simply has to reach out to other libraries and obtain the information. Someone or a team
will then need to evaluate these best practices.
Under the initiative Access to Information, the library goal Make the library easier to
use for everyone contains a key objective, Identify non-users and their needs (Oak Park
Library). I thought this objective was difficult to attain because how will they determine
non-users? Surveys could be used but response rates are low for theses. It is a good idea
but its difficult to measure and attain. Another goal from the library is to Increase staff
and public awareness of what we do and what we have with one key objective being to
ensure that all staff is fully conversant with Oak Park Library policies and procedures. I
think this objective is realistic because this could be a part of staff day, or it could also be
trained by department managers, with even a quiz or short assessment to ensure the
material is understood.
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Under the initiative Learning Organization, the library goal, Be a responsive, evolving
organization contains the key objective, Establish institutional standards and
expectations for communication, respect and conflict resolution throughout the
organization (Oak Park Library). This seems attainable if there is a written document for
all staff to follow hopefully a wiki that can be updated as the library policies evolve. The
key objective Share a clear, inspiring vision and purpose includes the key objective of
Ensure that all staff understand and actively support organization goals (Oak Park
Library). I feel this one is a little difficult to measure considering you cant monitor whether
how actively staff are supporting goals. Would this be a daily evaluation? Weekly? It is a
little hard to obtain, but I understand the premise behind it is to inform everyone so that
staff helps to be a part of the vision of the library.
The initiative of Lifelong Learning and Enjoyment, which is also a key element of
both the vision and mission statements, has three main goals. One is to promote literacy
and the love of reading and learning for all ages which is supported by an objective of
expand and evaluate outreach services for literacy (Oak Park Library). I think this is a
measurable goal and attainable because there can be pamphlets, programs, and outreach
services that are planned in order to better promote literacy. Another goal is to Build,
manage and evaluate our collection in order to meet the educational, recreational and
cultural needs of the community with the key objective of Evaluate community and
patron desires and make sure our collection reflects them (Oak Park Library). This would
be easy enough to do by running circulation reports, surveys, and doing environmental
research by seeing what other programs that local businesses are offering to see where the
interests of the community are. The final goal for lifelong learning is to Leverage
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technology to provide innovative library services and to reach out to remote users with
the key objective of Explore the establishment of a virtual branch to focus our current
online services into a unified approach (Oak Park Library). I think this goal is slightly
measurable but a little difficult to obtain. It does state that it is just to explore meaning
not implement, so its an attainable definition in that way. I think the library is not going to
establish a virtual branch, but that have put all the e-resouces in one easy to reach area,
with e-books, e-magazines, downloadable music, and digital collections all in one place for
those that are only using the library remotely. Its available here:
http://oppl.org/collections/downloads-digital-collections.
The city of Oak Park is very diverse and as such, the strategic plan reflects a
Cultural Center initiative to ensure activities, space, and engagement needs are met.
Providing a place for community is part of the mission and vision statements. One goal is to
Offer programming which serves the needs and interests of the Oak Park community.
with the key objective being to Improve library-wide coordination, planning, marketing
and evaluation of programming. This is definitely an attainable goal, as it is already in
place but needs to be improved. This can be done with a schedule for programming that is
done in advance for each department. Another goal is to Maximize use of meeting rooms at
all three library locations. with one key objective being to Create a centralized listing
where all events and programs held in the Library can be posted. This is also an attainable
goal and on the website, they have developed an events calendar where you can see all the
events for the day for all departments: adult, teen ,childrens, book discussion, computer
class, film screening, and can change the view to select one of the three branches (Oak Park
Library)
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Finally, Stewardship is discussed as an initiative for the strategic plan. There is
emphasis placed on managing the financial assets of the library in an efficient manner.
Stewardship is referred to in the vision statement but not the mission statement, although
the mission statement does explain providing resources and services which you need
money to do. The stewardship initiative has the most goals of all the other strategic plan
initiatives, with six total goals. The goals focus on making sure the physical libraries and
infrastructure have a plan for upkeep, ensuring that there is not a large environmental
impact on the community, getting all three branches on the same page in terms of serving
the mission, using space effectively, creating a transparent budget, and broadening our
resources. I thought it was particularly interesting to note that one of the key objectives to
broaden resources includes developing a volunteer program, expanding fundraising, and
partnering with local businesses and community resources to reduce spending. I think
these align with the libraries vision to be a steward for the financials of the library, and it
does show how focused they are on maximizing funding without being irresponsible. It
seems that they are very budget-conscious.
~
After evaluating the strategic plan in depth, a SWOT and PEST analysis will be provided
in order to further understand the reasons for how the strategic plan was developed.
SWOT
Strengths
-Meeting rooms
-Multiple locations
-Staff enthusiasm and passion for library
service
-innovative idea space
Weaknesses
- Poor parking at the main branch in a busy
neighborhood.
- Not enough accessibility to digital collections.
-Miscommunication in policy across the three branches
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Opportunities
-improve literacy in the community
-engage more non-users
-engage with local community organizations
and businesses
-provide services to help those from all socio-
cultural backgrounds
Threats
-computer and technology resources are ever-expanding
-access to resources and programs readily available
despite other community competitors like a local
bookseller across the street.

-budget concerns in a down economy

PEST
Political
- Healthcare laws

Economical
- Loss of jobs less taxes
- Big differences in wealth of residents
Socio-Cultural
-population growing
-the city has a very diverse population
Technological
-rise in e-reading devices increases need for digital
collections and resources
-access to digital collections should be improved
ease of use

The plan discusses assessment but not in great detail. It refers to evaluating the
public in several instances, but does not specifically say how they will do that. I assume it is
through the use of surveys and or public feedback. It also discusses a lot of internal
evaluation and research, by scoping out digital collection initiatives, and viewing other
libraries best practices in order to be more of a leader in the library field.
There is not an accompanying marketing and outreach plan, but it is built into the
strategic plan objectives. The plan involves creating public awareness of the library
services and programs so that patrons know more about the library and how to use it. It
also discusses an expansion of literacy outreach services in order to provide a love of
reading to the community. It allows the community to evaluate the programs listed on the
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website and see what is available this is a good resource to use when directing marketing
and promotion of the library.
The core strengths of the plan include expanding on the librarys creation and
promotion of spaces and developing a cohesive events calendar. These strengths will help
draw more non-users in and will align with the vision and mission components of
providing a space to gather, connect, and discover. The weaknesses of the plan include the
inability to monitor non-users and understand where the barriers to access are for non-
users. Overall the strategic plan is very strong and includes many ways to help the
community make more enjoyable use of the library.




References
Moran, B. B., & Stueart, R. D. (2013). Library and information center management (8th ed.).
Santa Barbara, Calif: Libraries Unlimited.
Oak Park Library (2013). Calendar. Retrieved from http://oppl.org/events/calendar.
Oak Park Library (2013). Downloads and Digital Collections. Retrieved from
http://oppl.org/collections/downloads-digital-collections.
Oak Park Public Library. (2013) Mission, Vision, & Goals. Retrieved from
http://oppl.org/about/library-information/mission-vision/strategic-plan.
Oak Park Public Library (2013). 2007-2012 Strategic Plan. Retrieved from
http://oppl.org/about/library-information/mission-vision/strategic-plan