Lakewood Public Library Plans For The Future

In an ever-evolving world, Lakewood Public Library continually evaluates services and resources to ensure that the Library maintains a vital presence in the community. After almost a year of adopting a new strategic plan, staff has made great strides toward new goals so that the Library provides the best possible service. Over the next five years, the Library will focus on the following areas:

• Engaging the Community.

• Delivering 5-Star Customer Service.

• Maintaining a collection that entertains, educates and enlightens.

• Investing in the building to maintain beauty, comfort and safety at both locations.

The Library is committed to engaging the community by reaching out to new Americans, senior citizens and the youth of Lakewood. The Library has strengthened its partnership with the immigrant community, specifically Asian Services In Action (ASIA Inc.), and Children’s & Youth Services provides outreach to daycares and preschools with English Language Learners.

Lakewood residents of all ages and situations are our priority. To reach all residents of Lakewood, the Library provides a homebound delivery service for those who cannot visit one of the buildings, and also makes a delivery to the Barton Center every other week. The Library also supports the schools by providing materials that reflect the new common core standards, ordering extra copies of summer reading titles, providing homework help and building relationships with educators.

Another component to our focus of community engagement is improving the website to better serve patrons. The Library is currently working with Agnes Design to create a more modern and user-friendly website  design. The site will be faster for patrons to navigate, and will require less time for staff to update. The re-launch is expected later this year.

The library can be as grand as the Library of Alexandria, but is nothing without top notch customer service and a knowledgeable staff. Staff participated in training in a variety of library resources and databases, customer service, using eReaders, and more. Regular, on-going training will continue throughout the next five years, so that staff will have the skills needed to deliver excellent customer service.

The Library is dedicated to fostering a community of readers, whether it’s with eBooks or traditional printed material. The Library is part of the Ohio Digital Library consortium, and staff help patrons download books onto eReaders through one-on-one classes and informal help at one of the service desks. For those who seek out-of-print or rare books, the Library will find another Library to borrow from through Interlibrary Loan.

Another important piece of the strategic plan is the maintenance of both Library buildings. To ensure that both Main and Madison Branch are welcoming, comfortable and functional spaces, staff is dedicated to preserving and improving these buildings for generations to come. In addition to routine maintenance, the Library looks for ways to improve energy efficiency and to keep operating costs low.

Lakewood Public Library is dedicated to the community, and remains relevant because of its responsiveness to residents. By continually evaluating community needs, the Library maintains its long history of excellence and examines new ways to enhance services.

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Volume 10, Issue 8, Posted 2:37 PM, 04.15.2014