The Rye Free Reading Room held the first of three public forums the evening of September 12. The staff and board are eager for public input as they map out a five-year strategic plan for the library.
By Robin Jovanovich
The Rye Free Reading Room held the first of three public forums the evening of September 12. The staff and board are eager for public input as they map out a five-year strategic plan for the library.
While only four members of the public showed up for the first meeting — the director of the public library in Orangeburg, New York, a trustee of the Port Chester Library, and two members of the press — a lot of good questions were asked and a number of suggestions offered.
Alan Gray, Chief Administrative Officer of the Darien Library, led the discussion. He began by talking about the new library Darien built three years ago. “We’ve been visited by 1,600 librarians since, many of whom were interested in seeing what our long-range plan had resulted in.”
Next to hospitals, Gray stated, libraries are the most complex systems. “People want quiet spaces and active areas, and some just want to come in and get a good book and then go.”
He emphasized that libraries have an important role in the community. “But as there are two sides — value and cost — to every equation, a community has to decide its priorities.” He added, “I think, to build on Darwin, that it’s the survival of the most adaptable.”
With that, the group was asked to consider what the library was doing well and what it could do better. One participant said that the library needed to be open more hours. Another said that while the library needed to keep pace with technology it also needed to remain a friendly resource — having someone at the front desk all times of the day and someone answering the phone, not a long recording.
Gray asked the group to think of an amazing thing the library could add to its offerings and programs. Listeners were excited to hear that the Darien Library is now circulating iPads. It also has “formal relations” with 114 book groups (the “Tough Women’s Book Group” got our attention). Our contribution was: an Adult Area that is just as exciting and multi-faceted as the Children’s Room and the Teen Center.
The upcoming public forums are Tuesday, September 25 from 12:30-2:30 p.m., and Saturday, October 13 from 10 a.m.-12 p.m.
If you can’t make one of the meetings, contact Director Kitty Little with your thoughts on current and future needs.
