Russell Library committee begins renewal after AI-assisted synthesis of community feedback

The Russell Library Strategic Planning Committee met on March 19, 2026, to review results from a recently closed community comment period and to begin drafting a renewed strategic plan. Ramona presented an AI-assisted synthesis of the engagement data and shared the raw spreadsheets for committee review.

"We are seeing those themes coming through," Ramona said, summarizing the synthesis produced with an AI tool, Gemini. She said recurring concerns included "crises of affordability," taxes, literacies, community isolation and pressure on the social safety net, and she urged members to review the raw data to catch nuance the synthesis might have missed.

Committee members generally agreed that the plan’s existing framework remains useful. Ramona reviewed the committee’s stated mission and four pillars — strengthen community; create a safe, welcoming destination; foster a thriving economic ecosystem; and promote a lifelong love of learning — and asked whether they should be changed. "I think if we want to keep that framework and people don't see any major changes or shifts that need to be made, then we can move into the phase of describing our process for doing the renewal," Ramona said.

Members raised specific concerns about how the AI synthesis summarized comments. Jennifer, who worked with a narrow interview sample, said the data she collected showed community interest in broader partnerships with schools — including tutoring and supports beyond traditional literacy work — and emphasized unmet mental-health needs among young people. "AI's words just kind of seem to... not capture that need," she said, urging additional human review.

Eamon and other members discussed an apparent tension between some raw responses and the synthesis wording — for example, whether the library should "lend" (focus on traditional circulation) or "lead" (serve more broadly as a community resource). Eamon said much of the raw data nonetheless aligned with the committee’s pillars. "I'm very encouraged about that," he said.

On next steps, Ramona volunteered to draft the renewed plan using the editable format previously prepared by Brandy, incorporating methodology, notable findings, photos and pull quotes, and to circulate a draft for the committee to workshop at the April 16 meeting. Chair and Ramona also agreed to add controlled-vocabulary dropdowns to the shared spreadsheets to help committee members sort responses into the pillar categories and to remove or mask any personally identifying information.

The committee approved the minutes of its January 15, 2026 meeting and later moved to adjourn; Sarah moved to adjourn, Eamon seconded, and the meeting was closed. The committee will reconvene in April to review the draft strategic plan and the categorized raw data.

The Russell Library committee’s discussion focused on reconciling an AI-assisted synthesis with the detail in raw interview and survey data, confirming the broad validity of the existing strategic framework, and assigning staff to produce a draft renewal for committee review ahead of publication.