HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Library Board of Trustees - 05/05/2022 - Strategic Planning
Final Minutes
South Burlington Library Board of Trustees
Strategic Planning Commitee
Wednesday, May 5, 2022 @ 5 p.m.
Loca�on: South Burlington Public Library & Zoom
Members Present: Patrick Leduc, Ted Lenski, Stacey Pape, Margery Vagt
Members Absent: Donna Swartwout
Staff Members Present: Jennifer Murray
Call to Order
Chair Called the Mee�ng to Order at 5:03 pm
Addi�ons and dele�ons to the posted agenda
None
Comments and ques�ons from the public not related to items on the agenda
None
Welcome & Purpose
Patrick outlined the scope of the Commitee’s work as reviewing the work that was started three
years ago, determining what might need to be re-done and what could be leveraged of the
exis�ng work. The overarching goal being that the group was tasked with dra�ing a high level
strategic plan, in the three to five year window, for considera�on by the board of trustees. This
plan would then be used to engage the community and set annual goals that would support the
strategic plan. Jennifer added that the plan should also be cognizant of the City’s strategic plan
and be able to connect to so that the plans were mutually suppor�ve of each other.
Themes from old SOAR process
Patrick invited Jennifer to share with the workgroup the SOAR process that was completed three
years ago and the resul�ng themes that came out of that. The Commitee engaged in a robust
conversa�on on how those themes could be used in the strategic plan as a basis for determining
“goals”. Following a good discussion some core themes were uncovered that might be a base
for formula�ng goals.
Vibrant Library, Inclusive, Community Oriented, Accessible, engaged, respec�ul, and sustainable
were captured. The commitee atempted to, as a working model, move one of those themes
into an poten�al high level goal.
Theme: Engaged
Poten�al Goal statement: Expand engagement to more of the South Burlington
community with a specific focus on tradi�onally marginalized
popula�ons.
Discuss community outreach
Patrick posed the ques�on of community outreach and if, given the recent outreach in planning
for the new building, what level of outreach was needed and at what stage of our process.
Considering the goal of inclusivity, the commitee though�ully landed on evalua�ng how best to
engage the community once we have a dra� plan to respond to.
Stakeholders
The most immediate stakeholder the workgroup wanted to engage was the library staff. The
workgroup felt that other stakeholders would be engaged indirectly through connec�ng the
eventual plan to the City’s plan and the community outreach plan previously discussed.
Laying out our process
Following more conversa�on on the current mission, vision, and values, the commitee decided
to not re-evaluate these components but use them as a test out strategic goal against. In short
the commitee felt that if a goal was valid it must support or be aligned with the mission, vision,
and values but through that process if a goal seemed to be important and valuable but did not
align with the mission, vision, and goals that might be an indicator that those components need
to be evaluated.
Next steps
The commitee agreed that each member would independently work to create a “goal” for each
of the themes uncovered. Through that process commitee members may uncover new themes
that need to be addressed and may find that current theme may not fit into “goals”, poten�ally
meaning they might be “values”. Jennifer will do a similar process with library staff. The themes
are/were:
Vibrant Library, Inclusive, Community Oriented, Accessible, engaged, respec�ul, and sustainable
The next mee�ng of the commitee will focus on sharing the independent goal ideas each
member brings, with a lens toward dra�ing singular/combined (best of the best) goals for
considera�on. Following that process, high level ac�on items will be considered.
Other Business
Seeing no other business, the Chair adjourned the mee�ng at 6:15 pm.