Carson City library outlines extended timeline and public outreach for 5-year strategic plan

At a recent meeting of the Carson City Board of Trustees, library staff detailed a revised timeline and public-engagement plan for the Carson City Library's five-year strategic plan and responded to a written public comment raising concerns about the schedule and funding.

Director Joy Holt told trustees the $14,000 budget for the strategic-plan contract comes from the library's general fund budget, not from a grant, and that the library is not at risk of losing funding if the schedule shifts. "We're not spending grant funds for this particular strategic plan," Holt said. "So that $14,000 is coming from our general fund budget." She added the apparent November deadline mentioned in public comment likely reflected confusion about federal and state fiscal-year calendars and said the state has been kept informed about the work.

The discussion grew from a written public comment submitted by Ed Skudlar(e)k expressing concern that a timeline document showed activities into early 2026 and worried the $14,000 budget might require cutting corners. Holt acknowledged a typo in the timeline and said she would correct it. Skudlar(e)k's email asked for the strategic-plan document and the public-participation plan to be made available and for attention to including limited users and nonusers in outreach.

Library staff described a multi-part public-engagement strategy. Dr. Steinman, the consultant on the contract, has begun one-on-one internal interviews with staff and will next schedule interviews with trustees and external stakeholders. Holt said the external outreach will target groups such as the Carson City Board of Supervisors, the school district, Spanish-speaking organizations, the Chamber of Commerce and other community organizations "to see who's available and who he can tap for information."

Holt said the plan includes four public workshops, staggered at different times to improve access, plus a community needs assessment survey that will be posted on the library website, distributed at events and available at the library. "If someone doesn't want to come to a workshop, they can at least fill out the survey," Holt said. She described a tentative schedule in which the survey will be developed in September, be available in October for a roughly one-month outreach period, and be analyzed so that Dr. Steinman can compile a technical report by March.

Trustees emphasized reaching nonusers as well as regular patrons. Trustee Lanier said external stakeholders "are not necessarily a library user. It's merely a community member," and urged the consultant to ask organizations for views whether or not those organizations' members use the library. Trustee Markle and others urged broad publicity, including a press release with Carson Now and outreach to local radio and schools.

Holt described outreach tactics already planned or under discussion: distributing surveys at community events such as Bonanza and school programs, using stickers or a QR code on giveaway items to link people to the survey, coordinating with the high school librarian and PTAs, and staging targeted publicity to reach residents who do not follow the library on social media.

Holt said the schedule is tentative and can be extended depending on response rates. "These aren't hard, fast deadlines," she said. She also noted that if the state later determined the project missed an allotted timeframe, the library could request a waiver and that she has maintained open dialogue with state officials.

Why it matters: The plan will guide library services and collection priorities for five years. Trustees and staff stressed the importance of including nonusers in outreach and of giving enough time and resources for robust public input, the sort of feedback that could affect programming, technology purchases and Spanish-language collections.

The board did not take a formal vote on the timeline during the meeting; staff said they will return with confirmed dates as they are scheduled.