Surprise library commission advances strategic planning, reports Mayor’s Literacy Challenge results

The Surprise Library Advisory Commission on March 13 received an update on the library’s strategic-planning process and heard results from the Mayor’s Literacy Challenge that library staff said engaged local businesses and brought community participation.

City Librarian Katie McCarthy said the commission completed a strategic-planning retreat and will begin meeting with staff in April to translate retreat conversations into measurable goals. McCarthy said the library will host a public strategic-planning open house the week after the meeting and additional open houses at Regional and Holiday locations the following week to gather patron input.

McCarthy described outreach to high-volume readers and frequent program participants as part of the effort to “see where all of our opportunities are.” She said library staff are contacting the five highest readers in the system and reaching caregivers and adult program participants to learn how patrons use library services.

The commission also received a summary of the Mayor’s Literacy Challenge, a recent city campaign that paired reading milestones with community rewards. McCarthy said staff surprised Rancho Gabriella Elementary’s fourth-grade class with a pizza party as recognition for readership, and that Paradise Honors Elementary will receive a traveling trophy engraved as the first holder for highest completion of a 700-minute reading challenge. McCarthy said the city redeemed about 6,400 spring-training tickets tied to the literacy challenge.

McCarthy credited local businesses for in-kind contributions that supported the challenge, naming Culver’s, Chipotle, Portillo’s, Chick-fil-A, Uptown Alley and others for providing food items, experiences or giveaways. She also thanked the Friends of the Surprise Public Library for donated books used in library sales and partner distributions back into area schools.

Why it matters: the strategic plan and partner network will shape library programming, summer reading promotions and outreach strategies for the coming year, officials said. Commission members emphasized using marketing and community events to reach nonusers and to convert partner visibility into sustained library engagement.

Commissioners asked that staff brief the commission again once retreat data are aggregated and when staff begin the April meetings to align goals with operations. McCarthy said she will bring those results back to the commission for follow-up.