Engaging with Stakeholders

Depending on the size of your library, your strategic planning process could include a larger gathering involving community stakeholders. The goal of this gathering is to gather a diverse range of opinions and ideas from your community about what the strategic direction of the library should be for the next few years.  

Plan to invite twice as many people as you expect to attend in order to ensure a good representative turnout. Choose a conveniently located gathering place where people can be comfortably seated for a longer meeting. And, of course, providing refreshments is always a good idea! 

The agenda for this gathering could include an overview of the current state of the library (including a summary of your statistical findings), any survey results you’ve already collected, and possibly state or national library trends, in addition to a discussion session covering the questions listed in the Interviews and Focus Groups section. 

A skilled facilitator can really make these gatherings engaging for the participants and produce the data you need to inform the library's written plan.


In the next activity you will learn about Creating the Draft Plan.