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Leigh Anne Wilson

March 26th, 2015


Strategic Plan Analysis
LIS 770-50
Strategic Plan Analysis of the Plainfield Public Library
In my ongoing quest to keep things close to home, I chose to analyze the strategic plan of
the library in Plainfield, Illinois, my hometown library. The strategic plan covered years 20112015, so I assume a new, updated strategic plan is in the works right now getting ready for the
new fiscal year starting on July 1st, 2015 for the years 2016-2020.
The Plainfield Public Library was established on June 9th, 1925, from bequeathments from
two Plainfield residents, Ebenezer Nimmons and George R. McClester. The original library,
located on Lockport Street, opened in 1926. In 1941, a new 2700 square foot library was built
with the proceeds from the McClester and Nimmons estates. The building that was constructed
in 1941 is still in use today. (Strategic Plan, 2011, p. 14)
Plainfield, Illinois, is Will Countys oldest community. Incorporated in 1834, it is located
35 miles southwest of Chicago, with a population of 39,581 residents. At the crossroads of the
Lincoln Highway and Route 66, Plainfield experienced tremendous growth between 1990-2003,
expanding from 4,557 residents to a population of 20,673. It is expected that by the year 2030
the village will have over 62,000 residents. The median age of a Plainfield residents is 32.8
years, with 25 percent of the population holding a bachelors degree, 25 percent with a high
school diploma, and 25 percent with some college education but no degree. The average household income was $146,171 as of 2011.
66 percent of Plainfield residents are considered white collar, with 11 percent in the
service industry and 22 percent in blue collar occupations. (Plainfield Demographics, n.d.)
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Given the demographics of Plainfield, in particular its rapidly expanding population, it seems
clear that any strategic plan must include not only a plan of action to accommodate this
community explosion of growth, but must also factor in the expectation of rapid change as well.
In order to create the strategic plan for 2011-2015, the library director used the ALAs
The New Planning Results: A Streamlined Approach, as well as Strategic Planning and
Management for Library Managers.
Published in 2001, The New Planning Results: A Streamlined Approach, written by
Sandra Nelson and published by the ALA, is a resource that is used to help public librarians
envision, evaluate, and respond to community needs with distinctive programs and services.
(Transforming Libraries, n.d.) The New Planning Results focuses on the steps that are
necessary to create a thorough plan for any public library.
Strategic Planning and Management for Library Managers, by Joseph R. Matthews, was
published in 2005 by Libraries Unlimited. It provides a compendium of useful information
about the literature concerning strategies and how to effectively engage in strategic planning
and management. (Matthews, 2005, p. xii) The book also contains a sample of a library
plan as well as a critique of a library strategic plan in the appendices.
The structure of the Plainfield Public Librarys strategic plan seems to be taken primarily
from The New Planning Results: A Streamlined Approach. Originally called a long-range plan
a strategic plan is updated and refreshed to enable the library to be able to adapt for change. The
book recommends a 3-5 year plan (Plainfield Public Librarys is five years), a mission statement,
goals, objectives, and action steps or activities. Plainfields plan as written also includes an
introduction, a vision statement, a timeline for evaluation and revision, and appendices that
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include a history of the Plainfield Public Library, an evaluation of focus groups used to create
the plan, and the 2001-2010 statistical summary.
According to Moran, strategic planning requires a vision statement for the library and
the librarys services. (Moran, Stueart, & Morner, 2013) The mission statement should be
identified within the context of the vision statement.
The vision statement of the Plainfield Public Library states that The Plainfield Public
Library District provides excellent library services to satisfy the educational, informational,
entertainment, and inspirational needs of community residents throughout their lives. The
Library is a community center, where residents connect with resources, with each other and
with their community identity. The Library leverages technology and human capital to give
residents access to services and resources not only at the Librarys physical location but also
throughout the community in partnership with other organizations via virtual services. The
Library is a vibrant and visible presence in the community, making residents aware of 21st
century library services and our Librarys unique character. (Strategic Plan, 2011, p. 6)
According to Moran, a good vision statement should be inspirational and set in a future
context. It should also provide clear decision-making criteria. (Moran et al., 2005) It should be
a guiding statement and should focus on the end result, and the steps involved in how to get
to that point should not be present. The vision statement should be an excellent guideline for
implementing goals and actions for the strategic plan.
I believe that, for a small library, the Plainfield Public Library is off to a good start with
their vision plan. It sees the library as an ever-evolving community center that provides all
residents access to information and entertainment, relying not only on the printed word, but
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also on up-to-date and future changing technologies. Its vision is to use traditional resources
as well as modern technology to connect the residents of Plainfield with the information and
entertainment they need and desire. The library envisions itself as a third space, where citizens
can engage and interact with each other.
If libraries are to remain relevant, an ongoing concern in todays society of Google, they
must be willing to change perceptions of what a library is and what it can be. With its focus on
engaging the community, the vision statement of the Plainfield Public Library is laying a strong
foundation for its goals, both current and future.
As much as I liked and was inspired by the vision statement, I was disappointed in the
mission statement. I know that an organizations mission statement should not be so long that
the patron gets lost in verbiage, nor should it contained an outlined set of goals and objectives;
however, I was expecting a bit more than Plainfield Public Librarys mission statement of
Educate Captivate Connect.
In my Introduction to Library Science class, we had to write a mission statement for a
large public library, a small rural library, and an online information resource. Our instructor,
Dr. Janice del Negro, told us that a mission statement should be short, no more than three to
five sentences long. She also said it would be a great idea for libraries to come up with a three
word mantra that would be easy to remember and grab the imagination of any current and
potential patrons that may be. I found the Plainfield Public Librarys mission statement to be
more of a mantra than a mission. I looked as some other mission statements in other libraries
and found them to be much more robust, while still being short and to the point.
For example, the mission statement of the Baltimore Public Library states, Baltimore
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County Public Library will connect our diverse community with innovative, quality services as
we: Create welcoming physical and virtual spaces, champion an early and life-long love of
reading, excel as an essential information source. (BCPL Strategic Plan, 2013, p.7)
Baltimore County Public Librarys mission statement was only one sentence long, but it
managed to flesh out its intention to provide quality service in a physical and virtual world while
championing learning, information, and access for all. While it is possible that the mission
statement of the Plainfield Public Library could point accurately and concisely toward the goals
outlined in the mission statement, I feel that more attention could have been paid to it and it
could have been expanded to cover a little more ground.
The Baltimore County Public Library also had a full page delineating their values as a
library, highlighting their patrons, staff, diversity, cooperation, and innovation. Unfortunately,
the Plainfield Public Library did not list their values in their strategic plan. I feel that would have
been a great asset to the strategic plan to be able to tie their values in with their future goals and
objectives, but this was an opportunity missed. While the vision statement managed to
incorporate a few of the ALA policies into its wording life-long learning, access, democracy,
and the public good, Baltimore County Public Library, in contrast, really delved into the ALA
policies with their values and truly spoke to the stakeholders and members of the board of
trustees, and anyone else perusing their website that the Baltimore County Public Library takes
the goals and values of librarianship very seriously and holds them dear. It was very reassuring
and good to see in a strategic plan. I feel very strongly that the Plainfield Public Library did
itself a disservice by not including its values into its strategic plan.
I also felt a strong disconnect between the mission statement of the Plainfield Public
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library and what the community of Plainfield itself found to be important. On the website for
the Village of Plainfield, it states that Downtown Plainfield, which is the heart of the
community is a vibrant, pedestrian-focused destination for shopping, dining, and entertainmentAt the crossroads of the historic Lincoln Highway and Route 66, Plainfield
continues to build upon its already rich history, and the Village Government is well

positioned to accommodate growth and welcomes new commercial and industrial


development to help parallel the success of its residential expansion. (Demographics, n.d.)
Key to understanding the community here in Plainfield is understanding and
preparing for the rapid growth of the village. The strategic plans vision and mission statement
do not capture any awareness of the importance of this dramatic change to the city that the
Village of Plainfields webpage does.
The Plainfield Public Librarys strategic plan outlined three strategies: Service
Excellence, Community Focus, and Stewardship. I examined Community Focus at length to see
if it had any set objectives to accommodate such a rapidly growing community.
The librarys focus in this particular strategy is to get the word out about the library.
Their goal is to train all staff to be able to articulate properly the mission of the library, which,
given its extreme brevity, should be an easily achievable goal. They will also be expected to be
able to give a short speech (an elevator speech) telling whoever is listening what the library is
all about. The staff is also to be trained on marketing and talking points for frequently asked
questions. They will focus on outreach to the community by sending emails and newsletters to
homes in the Plainfield area. They plan to explore ways of connecting with non-users
(particularly voters) and they are looking to get enough donations to be able to rent an
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electronic billboard on Route 59, a major thoroughfare through the village, to attract the attention
of both users and non-users. They also aim to get further involvement from the trustees by
having them attend all fundraisers and major events to help get the word out about the library
to make residents aware of the community hub it strives to be.
However, nowhere is the rapid growth of the population addressed, which does not match
the major concern of the parent organization. In particular, it would have been very nice to see
the library make plans to expand its diversity. As the population is growing, the community is
becoming more diverse. Getting the word out about Spanish-speakers on staff and their
collection of books in Spanish and Polish would be beneficial, I believe. Also, according to the
staff they are making efforts to find access to books in other languages such as Hindi and Urdu.
Including this in the strategy and laying out concrete goals to include members of the area who
may not be aware there is a place for them at the library is an oversight, I believe.
The strategy of Community Focus reflects the vision statement of turning the library into
a community center to give residents access to their services and resources both at the library
and online.
I examined the strategic plan to see if any sort of assessment was made as part of the
planning process. The plan relied very heavily on focus groups from members of the community,
consisting of key stakeholders as well as representatives of community groups and general
members of the public were invited to participate in the focus group. Led by a volunteer
facilitator, four focus groups were scheduled to take place; however, only three actually
happened because of a blizzard cancelling one of them. Written reports from the focus groups
were given to management and the Board of Trustees. Goals and strategies were then drafted
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based on the feedback from the focus groups.


The questions presented to the focus groups were very similar to a SWOT analysis:
1.)
2.)
3.)
4.)

What would Plainfield lack if there were no public library here?


What are the strengths of the library?
What roles should the library fulfill in the community?
What are the weaknesses of the library? What unaddressed community needs are there
that you think the library fulfill [sic]
5.) What recommendations would you make to the library about improving its services and
resources in the next 3-5 years? (Strategic Plan, 2011, p. 16)
I did not see anywhere in the strategic plan that an internal analysis was performed, but
the use of a focus group was imperative to diagnosing change. According to Moran, (2013)
proactive change recognizes the need for change, and it is easily revealed in a SWOT analysis
that considers the Strengths and Weaknesses in the organization as well as the Opportunities
and Threats that exist in the external environment. This deliberate approach can guide the
identification and establishment of goals for change, can help diagnose relevant variables, and
can aid in the selection of change technique to be employed.
Without this outreach to the community to identify where these challenges lie, I dont
see how an effective strategic plan could be employed.
Overall, I would say this is an adequate strategic plan for a small library. I would have
like to have seen a lot more included in the plan the values of the organization, a stronger
relationship with the parent organization, particularly in making sure some of the goals were
aligned, and a SWOT analysis from the managers and staff of the organization, because I
believe these are people who are constantly challenging themselves to come up with their
strengths and weaknesses, and to identify opportunities and threats. Their vision statement was
strong, and the reliance on focus groups to make an effort to pay attention to the community
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at large and gain a better understanding about what the public would like from their library was
very important. According to Moran, (2013) thinking strategically means focusing upon a
vision for the organization as it attempts to create distinctive value.
I definitely see strategic thinking going on in the Plainfield Public Librarys strategic
plan, I would have just liked to have seen more of it.

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Works Cited
Baltimore County Public Library Strategic Plan IX. (2013) Retrieved from www.bcpl.info
/sites/default/files/images/about-us/pdf/about-us-administration-bcpl-strategic-plan
-2013.pdf
Matthews, J.R. (2005). Strategic planning and management for library managers. Westport,
CT: Libraries Unlimited.
Moran, B.B, Stueart, R.D., & Morner, C.J. (2013). Library and information center
management. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.
New Planning for Results: A Streamlined Approach (n.d.) Retrieved from www.ala.org/
transforminglibraries/new-planning-results-streamlined-approach
Strategic Plan 2011-2015 Plainfield Public Library District (2011, June 15). Retrieved from
www.plainfieldpubliclibrary.org/general/board/StrategicPlan2011-2015-2.pdf
Village of Plainfield Demographics (n.d.) Retrieved from www.plainfield-il.org/pages/
demographics

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