Fifty-four participants, including twelve from the Bucks County Free Library in Pennsylvania, gathered today in Nashville for the PLA Results Boot Camp. Each of us introduced ourselves and gave our goals for attending. I am one of four attending from the Pioneer Library System in central Oklahoma. We hope to develop a training program for branch managers using the information learned this week. We are also ready for a second round of the Planning for Results process.
The first day focused upon laying a foundation for our library services through the Planning for Results process. Several participating libraries have implemented Planning for Results, but those with experience were as interested as those without, because we received new information for the next level of our planning.
Sandra Nelson and June Garcia, Consultants and Boot Camp presenters, provided copies of the latest version of the Proposed New Service Responses. Those who know the Public Library Service Responses will remember that the 1996 version has thirteen service clusters and that the language is “textbook-ish”. The proposed version – a work in progress – has seventeen and the language is more active and exciting:
1. Become Informed Citizens: Local, National, and World Affairs
2. Build Successful Enterprises: Business and Non-Profit Support
3. Connect to the Online World: Internet utility
4. Create Young Reaers: Emergent Literacy
5. Discover Our Heritage: Genealogy and More
6. Express Creativity: User-Produced Content
7. Explore Our Community: Past, Present, and Future
8. Get Fast Facts: Ready Reference
9. Learn to Find, Evaluate, and Use Information: Information Literacy
10. Learn to Read and Write: Adult and Family Literacy
11. Make Career Choices: Job and Career Development
12. Make Informed Decisions: Health, Wealth, and Other Life Choices
13. Satisfy Curiosity: Lifelong Learning (the group suggested a change – to Encourage Curiosity)
14. Stimulate Imagination: REading, Viewing and Listening for Pleasure
15. Succeed in School: Homework Helpo
16. Visit a Comfortable Place: Public Spaces
17. Welcome to America: Services for New Immigrants
Participants applauded the active nature of the new Service Responses. Still, there were suggestions for changes and the document will continue to be edited for a few weeks. Groups worked to develop goals and objectives using the Proposed New Service Responses document and participants and the trainers felt that the new wording encouraged better goals. It was rewarding to have a small part in the development of this document.
Tomorrow the topic is “Planning is Not Doing: Implement for Results.” Stay tuned!
