Library Board Discusses Strategic Planning, Staff Conferences
The East Lansing Public Library (ELPL) is focused on improvements in quality of work, strategic planning and serving the community to the best of its ability.
The Library Board of Trustees (LBOT) met Wednesday, April 17 to discuss a busy March and plans to continue moving the library in a positive direction.
At last month’s meeting, the board approved a contract with Midwest Collaborative for Library Services (MCLS) to assist with strategic planning. Now, Library Director Kevin King is moving forward with the strategic planning process.

A strategic planning committee has been created with 10 ELPL staff members, two Friends of the East Lansing Public Library members and two LBOT members. The committee’s first meeting will be held April 24.
“Individuals at that meeting will identify individuals within the community they want to speak with individually,” King said. “We want to look at people who are library users, people who are not library users, people who have some influence in the community, a big swath of the community as much as possible. We will interview those individuals within this team and bring that data back.”
This data will be combined with an online survey as well as the information MCLS is collecting. This data from MCLS will compare ELPL to other similar libraries. Two of the libraries are in Michigan and four are in other states.
Strategic planning will include community conversations, as well as meetings and retreats with staff and board members.
“A report will come from MCLS in August and that will be used to start determining our vision, mission, strategic focus,” King said.
The report will be finalized in October.
Library staff attends various conferences, ELPL sees high March usage.
A successful March at the library was highlighted. Multiple staff members attended specialized conferences to improve their knowledge of their role, teen and youth programs were well attended and the Books, Bites & Bids fundraiser was a hit.

Head of Technology Services Scott Drapalik attended the Innovative Users Group Conference in Detroit.
“This is my fifth time attending an IUG conference,” Drapalik said. “I really like the format in which this conference is put on, it’s just a bunch of people talking about these upgraded library systems. We’re all talking about the same thing.”
Drapalik said he learned a lot about coding, as well as new features that will help reduce staff workloads.
Youth Services Librarian Gillian Streeter and Teen Services Specialist Rheanna Reeder attended the Michigan Library Association Spring Institute in Muskegon.
“The conference was all based on breakout sessions [with] youth and teens,” Reeder said.
She enjoyed a session based on trauma-informed practices when working with teens and behavior.
“I learned a lot that I’ll be able to incorporate into my work,” Reeder said.
King, Teen Services and School Liaison Librarian Zandra Blake and Circulation Supervisor Conner Ireland attended the Public Library Association Conference in Columbus, Ohio.
Both King and Blake spoke highly of the featured speakers, which include Shola Richards, Bettina Love, Mary Annaïse Heglar and Dulcé Sloan.
“One quote Richards said that resonated with me when working with teens and some of the things we go through was ‘All that behavior is an unskilled expression of an unmet need,’ that just kind of resonated with me,” Blake said. “A lot of times people just come in and get so frustrated with how teens act, but they are really just going through something and it is up to us to get to know them and talk to them and work with them better.”

The director’s report outlined high usage of ELPL services in March. There was an increase in checkouts from February, an increase in social media following, a total of 611 attendees to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) programs and over 300 WKAR early literacy backpacks were distributed as part of March is Reading Month.
A successful Books, Bites & Bids fundraiser was highlighted by both King and Friends of the Library Liaison Toba Kaplowitz.
“A tremendous thanks goes out to Phyllis Thode, Diana Marable and Kathy Bracken for their work on Books, Bites and Bids prep all through March,” King said.
King informed the board that from their last count $11,000 was raised from Books, Bites & Bids, which is $2,500 more than last year, according to the budget.
The board unanimously approved the long awaited Work From Home Proposal, which will be department based and include frequent check-ins from the director.
The LBOT’s next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday May 15.