Library Board Approves New Strategic Plan

Mayor Pro Tem Kerry Ebersole Singh highlighted the difficult financial situation the city finds itself in at the Wednesday, Feb. 19 East Lansing Public Library Board of Trustees meeting.

Singh’s comments came the day after a presentation was given to City Council that showed the city will exhaust its fund balance within five years if it does not make cuts or find a new source of revenue. 

“Things are going to be challenging for the city moving forward,” Singh said.

“In what ways is it challenging to the city?” ELPL Board Vice President Ameenah Asante asked. 

Singh referenced the Lansing Board of Water and Light (BWL) franchise fee lawsuit the city recently lost. The suit stems from the 2017 City Council’s approval of a 5% franchise fee agreement with the BWL that the Michigan Supreme Court ruled was an illegal tax. The ruling will prevent the city from collecting more than $1.5 million annually from the fees, and require a hefty payout to BWL customers. 

Due to ongoing litigation, Singh was unable to disclose too much information about what a settlement from the lawsuit could look like. She said the lawsuit and uncertainty surrounding federal funding are worries.  

“That [lawsuit] will have an impact, as well as future collection of that franchise fee with that Board of Water and Light,” Singh said, “We’ve benefited from the Biden administration the last few years and COVID recovery dollars,  the IRA [Inflation Reduction Act], and other federal funding that has been able to expand some of our work and supports across some of our city initiatives. Those dollars have now been expended or are planned to be expended by the end of 2026.”

Changes in how the federal government is dispersing money could impact state funding as well, 

“It can unfortunately trickle down to our local communities,” Singh said. “That’s something we’re being very mindful of.” 

Looking at the budget, the library is primarily funded by property taxes. At the start of the fiscal year, the library was budgeted to receive about $3.5 million in fiscal year 2025, around $2.6 million from property taxes. Half of the property tax funding is allocated by a millage voters renewed in 2022 for 10 years. The other half is approved by City Council.

Changes in federal policy could impact the library’s intergovernmental revenue, as fewer grants may be available. However, ELPL was only budgeted to receive about $87,000 in intergovernmental revenue at the start of the fiscal year. Previously, the library has received significant grant funding, including in fiscal year 2024, when ELPL received more than $192,000 from the federal American Rescue Plan Act. 

2026-2028 Strategic Plan 

With feedback from nearly 1,200 participants, a nine-month-long process and a three-year plan–the strategic plan is a labor of love created by the library staff with guidance from the community. 

The strategic plan reflects the library’s mission, vision and core values. It’s intended to serve as framework the library will work under for the next three years to ensure its success while remaining committed to supporting the community. 

ELPL hopes the 159-page plan will guide the library to fill community needs the best it can. A meeting to formally introduce the plan is scheduled for March 17 from 3-6 p.m. That meeting will start with a short speaking program, before giving way to an open-house event with refreshments, activities, giveaways and opportunities to ask questions, according to the meeting agenda.

The three main strategic priorities for FY26-28 that were developed through the plan are: 1. Ignite collaborations, partnerships, and community engagement; 2. Expand mindset, spaces, and operations; 3. Foster a shared sense of purpose and belonging. 

Every year, the library will use the priorities, objectives and goals in the strategic plan to create an action plan to achieve those goals and objectives. 

“I will admit, sometimes I was a little skeptical of what this was going to turn into but everything does tie together,” Trustee Polly Synk said. “I can see the path from those community surveys, focus groups and planning to what we ended up with, and it’s remarkable.”

The plan received heavy contributions from the Library Board of Trustees, Operating Committee, Strategic Planning Committee, Midwest Collaborative for Library Services (MCLS), and Ahnalee Brincks, an assistant professor at Michigan State University who helped with the strategic measurements and data collection advice.

MCLS facilitated the strategic plan process. 

“Facilitators from the MCLS said out of every group they worked with, it was obvious how beloved the staff was to the library and how much people value our staff and see them as an excellent resource in the community,” Library Director Kevin King said. 

Praises were echoed all night from each board member, along with some friendly caution for moving forward. 

“While the community wants to see all things in the library–which is exciting–it’s impossible,” Board Secretary Shawn Nicholson said. “As the staff builds this action plan, the board’s obligation will be to help hear that because it will be overwhelming if you try to measure all these things. There’s such a thing as survey fatigue.”

“That’s where Dr. Brincks has been really helpful, giving us advice about survey fatigue and how to best craft surveys,” King responded. “Thank you for saying that, and putting it out into the world because it’s important.” 

Policy Updates 

There were three policy updates brought to the board. The new meeting room policy was approved, while the Service Animal Policy and the Collection Development and Intellectual Freedom Policy were discussed and will be presented to the board for approval next month. 

ELPL used the American Library Association Bill of Rights to guide the development of the meeting room policy. The most notable change to the policy is that the library won’t be charging library members to use the rooms anymore. 

The service animal policy defines ‘disability’ as: A physical or mental impairment that limits one or more of the major life activities of such individual; a record of such impairment; or being regarded as having such an impairment. Therefore, if anyone meets at least one of the three they are considered a person with a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

“I think it would be my preference at this point to see some language changed in this policy that just gives broad reference to federal, state and local applicable laws,” Nicholson said.

Collections Development Librarian Chrissie Evaskis-Garrett proposed some updates to the Collection Development and Intellectual Freedom Policy. Originally published in 2007 and reviewed in both 2015 and 2020, some of these changes include a reconsideration process. If someone doesn’t like the material on a library shelf, the policy provides a way to have a conversation with the staff to try and find a resolution. 

Additional updates include commitments to accessibility and inclusion by emphasizing that materials will be presented in an accessible format, and clarifying language about when staff decides to weed out books. 

“I think right now, more than ever, transparency needs to be our watchword,” Evakis-Garrett said. “Being very clear about why we are removing things from our shelves allows us to have those conversations with the community as necessary.”