Local Library Developments

How's your library service? How is it changing? Is the Ottawa Public Library typical?

Some items in a draft OPL Strategic Plan 2020-23 caught my attention:

• The proportion of seniors is expected to almost double from 12.4 percent in 2001 to 20.3 percent in 2031.
• “Holds” account for 1/3 of all circulation at OPL, a proportion that is trending upward. 
• Cultural trends are not confined to those associated with reading, education, and the arts but should also include access to sports and recreation as opportunities for adding value and increasing the library’s market base of active card-holders. 
• The continued preference for paper books despite an increase in digital reading.
• Borrow-ship – Traditional models of ownership are changing resulting in a rethinking of the value of ownership and seeking out of more collaborative models of use. (Comment: Maybe à la Marie Kondo a book only sparks joy for the time it takes to read it.)

There's a lot more in the document. 

The proposed strategic plan is, by 2023, to increase the number of active cardholders by 25 percent by improving OPL’s community relevance by:

1. Redesign the Library Experience

- Conduct a programming review

- Define the ideal experience across physical and virtual channels

- Create the destination experience for the OPL component of the Ottawa Public Library - Library and Archives Canada Joint Facility. (Comment: Imagine zip lines and climbing walls in the new joint facility).

- Assess the impact of barriers to service

- Develop the physical space experience.

2. Build Organizational Capacity

- Redesign the employee experience

- Renew leadership accountability

- Develop data-driven decision-making.

3. Promote OPL’s value

- Develop and implement a brand strategy

- Develop and implement a fundraising plan

- Strengthen stakeholder relationships and advocacy

- Strengthen the Intellectual Freedom program.

Another item on libraries that came to my inbox is Dick Eastman's blog post Libraries without Librarians on the trend for open libraries giving patrons access to books, computers and other resources by themselves at times when the library isn’t staffed. It appealed to me as I live in a library desert — no community library. This might be an affordable way to provide more equitable library service.