The group of supervisors that discussed this response at the Feb 2012 X-Change affirmed the following 2 of the 3 goals in our current strategic plan.
Goal 1: All ages are aware that the library provides current equipment, tools and training for accessing the digital world.
Goal 2: All ages recognize and use their library’s website and its resources as an extension of the physical library.
As with all of the goals, we are needing to review the language to ensure that we will be measuring and evaluating in a way that we believe will be meaningful and balanced in ease of collecting. What do you think about the following rewrites?
Goal 1:
- Provide digital access and instruction so the community can engage in the online world.
- Everyone has access to and assistance using state-of-the-art digital resources.
- Adults and teens will have access to staff that are trained and up to date with technology.
Goal 2: Customers have access to an increasing amount of library collections and services 24x7.
Do any of these seem to be a better balance like I discussed in the 'We Want You' video? What are your suggestions on rewrites?
Regarding Goal 1, I think the new language is an improvement because "awareness" is difficult to measure. Also we have added specific actions like "instruction" and "assistance" which give us some proactive direction and can be easily measured by the number of staff hours and programs we offer.
Regarding Goal 2, I like the new plain language, as the previous wording was a little too vague. My only reservation is that "24x7" may be too informal. I know what it means but maybe we should spell out "24 hours a day" or "24 hours a day, seven days a week."
Overall, these are exciting rewrites which open up new possibilities for us!
Buddy, it sounds like you like the suggestions included, which I threw out there for discussion. I can see your point of using more formal language when as we finalize our goals. Thank you for logging in to the forum and participating!
If we had a like button, I'd have hit it for Buddy's response. I agree.
Combining the above suggestions might give the following:
Goal 1: Customers have access to current technology and digital resources as well as trained and knowledgeable staff to help them use it effectively.
Goal 2: Customers have twenty-four hour access to a continually growing digital collection.
To measure Goal 1, you can evaluate the availability of current technology in the libraries and then the staff that have been trained or have demonstrated skills in those areas. It would be a very quantitative measurement.
The measurement for Goal 2 would again be very quantitative.
* with bwilson
Tracey and Beth,
Thank you for logging in and offering your suggestions. I like both of the suggestions and I really like the combination in goal 1.