Your Community’s Vision
If you are lucky, your community may have already developed a vision. If they haven't, look at this as an opportunity for all of you to decide what is important to you. This is also a place where you change the expectations of your community. Many people don't realize how much a library can offer them. Make them realize it. You will do this when you market your library, but the planning process is another place to educate people on library values and to meet (and hopefully exceed) their expectations. Here are some good questions to ask, as you attempt to find your community's vision:
- How can you make the community a better place to live? Do you want more jobs? More cultural programming?
- What is the ideal state in your community? That people have a high standard of living, are safe, and have access to a world of resources? Identifying the ideal state gives you goals.
- Who will benefit if this ideal state is achieved? If the ideal state is to have the best school in Montana, then children will benefit the most.
- What benefit will they receive? In the example listed above, an excellent education would be the benefit received.
- What will result from that benefit? Again using the example above, children will be able to obtain better jobs and will be able to play a healthy role in society.
ASPeN: The New Library Directory
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