How do you serve a community?
It’s a question the Mahomet Public Library considered as they revamped their strategic plan, which was approved for 2022-2025 Monday night.
Building on a foundation that was laid in 2018, the library’s board of trustees has its sights set on providing spaces where all can learn, connect, create and grow.
Of course, the beginning of that charge is to ensure that the district is taking care of the library’s facilities, technology, and assets while also providing staff that can accommodate the community’s needs. For both the board and staff, part of making sure those needs are met comes with the realization that the 13,000 square foot facility built in 2007 needs to actually be about 27,000 square feet.
Staff is applying for a Public Library Construction Act Grant, which could pay up to 49-percent of the cost of an addition. If secured, the library would begin fundraising efforts, look into wrap-around bonds, and tap into some reserves to realize the vision.
The answer funding may take some time, though. Should it become available, Mahomet Public Library Director John Howard hopes to be able to keep the tax rate where it is while also adding room for meetings, research, and a “magical” place for children to explore literacy.
In the meantime, the 2022 strategic plan looks to promote a love of learning through literature and media by connecting with parents and caregivers alike with literacy-based programs, bringing the catalog to life both onsite and outside the library’s walls and making the collection more accessible in all its forms. And in an age of oftentimes heated debate, the Mahomet Public Library’s vision is to provide accurate, unbiased information.
The ambitious and diverse plan calls for the library to engage with Mahomet in ways that it may not have before. In a call to be more than a self-contained unit, the library has its sights set on connecting with community members and organizations while also bringing new ideas and perspectives that may be of interest inside the library’s walls through forums and speakers.
Like in all public institutions, though, the Mahomet Public Library also sees the need for help, whether it be volunteers, a foundation, or fundraising efforts in years to come.
Each month at the board of trustees meeting, the Director of the library provides the board with what staff has done to meet the objectives of the strategic plan. Seeing that the 2018 comprehensive plan had come to fruition, the board undertook a new plan to continue to provide vision and mission into making the library a place for everyone to enjoy.
