FVRLibraries is committed to providing regular updates about our 2021-2024 Strategic Plan. This update provides a summary of our accomplishments since the plan was approved by the Board of Trustees in August 2021.
Equity
- The Equity Committee created and scheduled four-hour foundational equity training for all staff.
- By February, all staff completed the foundational equity training and regular quarterly trainings have been scheduled to ensure that all newly hired staff can also complete the training.
- Collection Development staff created heritage month book displays that are centrally purchased and deployed to all library locations. Since November 2021, we have celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month, Native American Heritage Month, Black History Month, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, LGBTQ+ Pride Month, and Disability Pride Month.
- Our new website, launched in December 2021, was updated for accessibility, including language access and readability.
- The Equity Committee worked with our Communications and Marketing Division to redesign pronoun buttons, allowing staff to share their pronouns and help create a more inclusive environment.
- Youth services staff added the anti-bias education framework to our storytime training, which will be used to train new staff going forward.
- The Equity Committee identified a plan for recruiting and onboarding eight new members that started in April 2022.
- The Equity Committee created an Equity Lens and Toolkit for staff to use and developed a training. As of May 2022, 35 employees had completed the training, with more rounds scheduled through the summer.
Partnerships
- The Outreach and Community Partnerships Division trained staff to use LibConnect, a partnership database, to track interactions and projects with our partners.
- We are identifying areas of the strategic plan that require partnerships in order to be intentional about where to focus our energy.
Connections
- Staff completed a language needs assessment of our service area to help us identify the most needed languages for translation and outreach.
- Communications and Marketing designed a new, monthly print newsletter to promote programs and services. This newsletter will be launched in late 2022/early 2023 to promote our programs and other resources.
- Internet access is now available to patrons in our rural communities through our bookmobiles.
Organizational Culture
- We created a communication plan for 2021-2024 Strategic Plan updates.
- A strategic planning page has been added to our intranet, The Source. It includes an action tracker to allow staff to follow the progress of strategic actions.
- Each location and division has completed updated benchmark surveys. Data will be compiled to identify our progress towards our outcomes and priorities.
- 60 staff members attended the Public Library Association semi-annual conference in Portland, OR in March. Staff attended sessions about library services, met with vendors, and learned from each other through networking.
- Four staff members attended the Washington Library Association Annual Conference in Bellevue.
- Plans are underway for revisiting the action items in the Strategic Plan for the second year of the plan (2022-2023), which should be launched in August 2022.