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Date: 10/5/2022
WARE – The Young Men’s Library Association is preparing to develop its strategic plan and is asking people to participate in a survey to help inform the process.
They want to know if residents have visited the library, do they have a library card, do they know what kind of services the library offers, what kind of programs they would like to have at the library, what hours would be most beneficial for the library to be open and do they use other libraries in the area. The purpose of this strategic plan is to set goals for the library; to find out what residents really want the library to do for them as well as encouraging them to become library users.
Library Director Heidi Reed said, “We’re going to add some new goals in order to make us a more hospitable, friendly and usable library for people. We’re hoping this survey will let more people know we’re here, help us get the word out and find other channels of marketing so we could better advertise our programs and make it a better, more used library.”
She added, “We also want to be able to tailor our collection of books and other items to what people want. We’ve had requests for more adult graphic novels and more kids’ books of various types. The biggest task we want to do is improve both our space and our customer services as much as possible.”
Reed told Reminder Publishing in order to be eligible for some grants from the commonwealth of Massachusetts, libraries need to have a strategic plan on file with the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, so they formed a committee in May. She and children’s librarian Cathy Goulet worked together to get the word out through a variety of sources that they were looking for people interested in the library that want to be on the committee. They found people that were interested in helping them reach their goals.
The library owns the historic building behind them on Church Street and many years ago when she started as library director, they had done some work to start the process of joining the two buildings together and enlarging the size of the library. They got so far as to become on the list of libraries that might be eligible for a construction grant from the state of Massachusetts. When that happens the town also needs to put in some funding toward the project.
“Unfortunately, at the time that we were near the top of the list for a grant was when the recession began in 2008,” Reed explained. “It seemed unlikely that the town would be able to fund their portion of the costs of expansion, so we dropped the idea of expanding at that point.”
Recently, they’ve had some people at the library who became aware of those plans and decided it might be a good time to revisit them. In order to apply for a construction grant, the first step was to create a new long ranged plan.
Though they don’t have a timeline per say, Reed said in order to be eligible for each grant round through the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, you have to have your survey on file by the middle of October of each year. They decided as a committee that they are going to take their time and develop their plan over a longer time frame. They’re hoping to have their surveys in by the middle of November. Then they will start to analyze their data and think about what their goals are. “We’re hoping sometime early next year we’ll have our plan up and running, ready to go and submit,” Reed added.
Residents can complete the survey online at www.warelibrary.org. Paper copies are available at the library, Ware Junior/Senior High School, Ware Middle School and Stanley M. Koziol Elementary School, the Senior Center and Town Hall. There’s also a link on the library’s Facebook page.
The Young Men’s Library Association is located on 37 Main St. They are open on Mondays from 12 to 7 p.m., Tuesdays through Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.