Library Roundup: What the ELPL Board has Been Discussing the Last Few Months
Over the past few months, the East Lansing Public Library (ELPL) team has been working to make progress on many ongoing projects and new developments, including the Core Plan, which will be presented to the ELPL Board of Trustees for approval at its February meeting.
The Core Plan is a culmination of the library’s mission, vision and core values. The Core Plan was developed during the library’s months-long strategic planning process. Strategic planning included extensive public feedback, priority setting by the ELPL board and more.
“One thing I appreciated about the plan was that not every single item demanded a measurement that showed an increase or something else,” ELPL Board Secretary Shawn Nicholson said. “Some elements just said, ‘We’re doing a really good job, and we’re going to maintain this, but we’re going to get a little feedback to make sure that we believe what we’re doing is really good.’”

A different plan, the ELPL action plan, will be presented to the board during the March meeting. Unlike the Core Plan, it does not require board approval. While the Core Plan will focus on the long-term goals and operations of the library, the action plan will detail short-term goals and tasks for the library to achieve.
ELPL to use new mini-grant program, receives large donation.
Friends of the Library board members have approved a new budgetary process model that includes offering staff mini-grants and scholarships to further education. Grants can be used to put staff members through an approved program, or classes in a master’s in library science program.
The library recently received an anonymous $10,000 donation, which will be used for a variety of resources, including outreach, materials, services and programs, according to ELPL Director Kevin King.
ELPL, partners bringing back community-wide reading event.
The One Grand Read community read will debut with full participation from all the libraries in Ingham County. Primary partners include the Capital Area District Library, East Lansing Public Library, Michigan State University, the City of East Lansing and Hooked Bookstore, representing local booksellers.
The One Grand Read program is similar to the “One Book, One Community” program previously held by ELPL and other partners, where community members are encouraged to join in reading the same book and participate in related activities.
The book selection committee has narrowed its choices to three books. The finalists will be announced in late spring, and the program is scheduled to begin in September.
Library staff members present on programs, learn about budgeting at MLA conference.
The Michigan Library Association (MLA) annual conference offered an opportunity for creative growth and connection for the ELPL team. Five staff members attended and each presented different programs.
“For a library of our size, that’s really cool and unusual — we should be proud of that,” King said.
At the November ELPL board meeting, staff members shared their experiences from the conference.
Eric Berling, the ELPL STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) educator, presented “Taking Flight: Launching and Maintaining a Successful Birding Club Program.”
“What I like about it [the program] is it’s one of our few intergenerational programs,” Berling said. “We have young kids, their parents, high schoolers, college students, senior citizens, and everyone is connecting and sharing experiences and stories.”

Teen Services and Schools Liaison Librarian Storm Hawthorn presented “Book Boxes,” a service for pre-readers, kids, teens and adults. The staff curates a box with 2-3 book recommendations based on the reader’s genre preferences. The box also contains a sweet and salty snack, plus an age-appropriate trinket, such as a bath bomb for an adult or chalk for kids. The program is available to a limited number of community members who sign up each month.
“After the event, I got stopped a couple of times by people asking me more in-depth questions about it, which was great,” Hawthorn said. “It seems that people will actually go back to their library to try it.”
Libraries across Michigan attend the MLA conference and it truly is a collaboration of love and support between each library team. ELPL staff said they took away plenty from the annual event.
“Probably the most valuable one [presentation] was from Canton Public Library on leveraging teens’ creativity to engage their whole library,” Hawthorn said. “I’m relatively new to teen services, so that one was really valuable to me, seeing how another library has used teens to help create other teen programming and engage their whole library.”
Nicholson responded by saying that after hearing from staff members, he thinks it is wise to continue to send staff to the MLA conference for training opportunities.
“One thing we’ve encouraged as a board during my time here is to fully fund the training budget,” he said. “I’m hearing from you that the opportunity to go to MLA is pretty crucial.”
Hawthorn agreed that the experience is valuable, and said staff members learned how to grow by speaking to employees from other libraries.
“I’m proud that you all went and presented, and it sounds like not only did you convey all the information, but you also had a good time and learned why you were there,” Smith said.