The Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative wants to hear the thoughts of area residents to help it develop its five-year plan.
The cooperative has scheduled a series of evening open houses at nine regional libraries, where residents can voice their thoughts about improving the library system, as well as changes or additions they would like to see over the next few years.
The next two open houses will be at the Jimmie B. Keel Regional Library on Feb. 2 and the New Tampa Regional Library on Feb. 16. All open houses take place on Tuesdays from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
(Courtesy of Hillsborough County Public Library)
“The way our open house works is that for each of our five major service programs of the library, there’s a station where we’re collecting input and interacting with folks to get some feedback specifically about how we’re doing stuff, and what they want,” said Andrew Breidenbaugh, director of library services for the Hillsborough County Public Library system. It’s a little too early to know what the overall picture is going to be, but the kind of things we’re trying to get information about is the things that are changing about libraries.”
Accessing more books and items in digital format appears to be one of the main changes in the habits of local library users, which includes 53 percent of all Hillsborough County residents.
From October of 2014 to October 2015, library visits decreased 11 percent, and the circulation of physical items decreased by 9 percent.
Conversely, the circulation of virtual items (e-books, e-audiobooks, magazines, streaming music/movies and full-text downloads) increased by 22 percent for the 20th largest library system in the country.
“Libraries have been going through rapid change,” Breidenbaugh said. “We are looking at those types of things to make sure the direction we’re going is what meets our customers’ needs.
“Our customers in Hillsborough County have been strong adopters of the digital format. This year, we circulated over 1 million e-books for the first time ever. So, there are some trends we’re looking at.”
In addition to possibly expanding the library system’s digital collection and other technologies, Breidenbaugh is also looking into how the library system can make a more meaningful impact in community building.
“We’re looking at how we support entrepreneurs and startup businesses,” the library director said. “We’re also looking at how we support new Americans, and how we support school-age children — people who are advancing from one level to the next.
“I would love to do a promotion of reading as an activity. We’ve been focused on our technology side for the last few years, and we’ll continue to do that, but one of the things the library offers…is literacy, and the access to information and reading.”
On the whole, the strategic plan will be a “very customer-driven process,” so the county’s library system can best serve its users for the future.
“There’s lots of ideas of things I’d like to do, but we really do need to filter that by what our customers want, because we know that no matter what we put in place, we’re going to be most successful, if we’re doing what really matters to the residents,” Breidenbaugh added.
In addition to the open houses, the library cooperative will begin offering surveys for library users in the spring. Then in the summer, the cooperative plans to create focus groups for specific segments of the library user population — teenagers, seniors, Spanish speakers, and teachers — to ensure the library is meeting their needs.
Once all the data is compiled from the open houses, surveys and focus groups, the cooperative will team up with the Hillsborough County Public Library Board to craft its five-year plan, which they hope to have in place by October, which is the beginning of fiscal year 2017.
Hillsborough County Library Cooperative
What: Open houses at regional public libraries to seek input from residents
Where: Jimmie B. Keel Regional Library and New Tampa Regional Library
When: Tuesday, Feb. 2 (Jimmie B. Keel) and Tuesday, Feb. 16 (New Tampa) from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
For more information, visit hcplc.org.
Published January 27, 2016
