Juliane Morian, director of Rochester Hills Public Library (RHPL), has announced the release of a new three-year strategic plan, which highlights the library’s core purpose, vision, and focus for continued growth and success in serving the community. It also focuses on ways to meet and exceed the expectations of today’s library patrons.
The RHPL Strategic Plan was the result of months-long planning among the library’s board of trustees, leadership team, and employees who discussed, developed, and defined why the library serves the community (purpose), what it values (vision), and how it will act (focus) to fulfill its objectives in the years ahead. Of particular importance to the plan was assessing the results of a community survey released in February 2020, which saw 98% of respondents satisfied with the library. The feedback from the community was critical to the strategic plan.
“Despite an intensely challenging year for Rochester Hills Public Library,” said Morian, “I’m pleased with how our team worked together to focus on the library’s present and future direction. It was a monumental task that resulted in a clear vision for the library over the next three years and beyond.
“We took into account the changing world around us, how the pandemic affected our community,” she continued. “We discussed and modified the plan as we went along. The plan remains flexible so we can continue to build on what we’ve learned over the last year.”
Also, the library board has issued a new mission statement that best defines the library’s vision for its present and future.
Rochester Hills Public Library empowers people to explore and create with resources that enlighten, educate, entertain, and inform.
The library identified five community-driven purposes that will sustain its collections development, programming, space reorganization, community partnerships, patron services, and more. The library aims to:
- Inspire lifelong learners
- Nurture developing minds
- Advocate critical thinking
- Foster community collaboration
- Provide a welcoming space for exploration and discovery
“The new strategic plan is, in many ways, a ‘living’ document that will be evaluated and updated as we go forward,” said Madge Lawson, Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee and past president and current vice president of the library’s board of trustees. “I believe our trustees, the library director, and the staff intended that the real beneficiaries of our effort are the people of our community who look to the library for information, learning, and enjoyment as we confront the challenges of our time.”
