Strategic planning committee reviews student report, leans on surveys and Jan. outreach ahead of 150th

At its Dec. 18 meeting, the Russell Library strategic planning committee reviewed a student class report and set outreach steps to gather more public and staff input before finalizing a revised strategic plan.

Andrew (board vice president and chair of the strategic planning committee) opened the discussion by asking members to engage deeply with the student report and the larger set of stakeholder interviews and surveys. Ramona, who coordinated the outreach data, said she had "just had a chance to read through it yesterday, all 32 pages of it," and called the document "valuable," noting themes the committee can integrate with staff interviews and survey results.

Why it matters: committee members said they need clearer evidence about staff experience and public awareness before finalizing recommendations. Ramona reported the committee has 54 online survey responses and that the student researchers conducted 71 interviews overall, including 18 student one-on-one response forms. The committee agreed these data will shape outreach and the schedule for the plan.

Staff climate and data gaps

Committee members raised concerns that some student-reported comments suggested employees of color did not feel comfortable; Ramona said those remarks should be explored internally and put in context of the library's ongoing employee climate survey. "We do have our employee climate survey coming up — actually, it's going on right now," Ramona said, and she asked staff-level meetings be used to clarify whether critical comments reflect widespread problems or isolated observations.

Ramona also pointed out apparent discrepancies between the student report and staff recollections about programming: the report suggested the library did not run Pride or Juneteenth programming this year, but staff on the call said they did. Committee members flagged that mismatch as likely due to gaps in data or awareness rather than deliberate omission, and asked for follow-up so the final plan accurately reflects both programs and communication gaps.

Outreach tactics and timeline

Members discussed practical outreach steps: use the Jan. 13 Russell Library company meeting to present the committee's work, hand out QR codes to the online survey, recruit company members as ambassadors, and distribute small buttons or other prompts to encourage conversation. Andrew proposed a February "Love Your Library" theme or month that could be flexible — a single event risks low turnout in winter, but a month-long theme could be woven into existing February programming.

Ramona noted the library already has several February draws (including scheduled children’s programming) that the committee could leverage for outreach, and proposed pre-made buttons and QR-code signage to make it easy for visitors to take the survey.

Communications and press release

Andrew suggested naming committee members in an updated press release to show citizen ownership of the process. Some members worried publicizing names could draw unwanted attention; Diane warned that public targeting or social-media harassment is a concern in this moment. "People feel free to knock on people's doors and do citizen arrests," one member said, arguing the press release should keep the focus on the library and the work rather than spotlight individuals. Ramona offered to give committee members commenting access to the press-release draft and requested edits ahead of the January meeting, when the committee will aim to approve the release.

Schedule and deliverables

A member reminded the committee of the Russell Library's 150th-anniversary events in early April and suggested the committee aim to have substantive plan outputs before then. Committee members prioritized producing a high-quality product over meeting a rigid deadline; they agreed to target late February for substantive completion of data parsing and to use March for drafting and revisions. The committee plans to review and sign off on the press release at the January meeting.

Adjournment

The committee adjourned after agreeing on these next steps and scheduling follow-up edits to the press release and continuing data collection.