Strengths

1.Experienced & well educated staff.

a. Expertise in:

Early Childhood development

Special education

Library management, planning

Collection development

Fine Arts

b. Staff is creative and innovative, willing to try new ideas.

2. Large space for collection.

3. Large meeting room for programs.

4. Supportive storytime community.

5. 5 computers available for children and their caretakers.

Weaknesses

1. All children's staff members are part time.

2. Difficulty prioritizing daily necessities versus programming/outreach ideas.

a. need either more staff to support all proposed programs, or to selectively implement program.

b. need time to plan for collection management, ordering, training, innovation.

c. dedicate time for shelving. either additional help, or fewer programs, storytimes.

3. Most daytime reference contacts in children's are for book recommendations. Need to improve homework presence - work with schools to promote public library resources. Can we access school databases from the public library.

4. No paid shelvers.

5. Old collection. Some is dated, but mostly it's worn and tired looking.

6. Lighting not adequate when searching for books especially in non-fiction.

7. Old, worn furniture & carpet.

8. Small office space.

9. Storage is spread among many places, basement, Carroll Room, AV closet, office.

10. Duplication of effort when ordering for children's & YA.

11. Not utilizing volunteers to their full abilities. We have many volunteers who would like to work with children. Investigate how other libraries make it happen. (see Weaknesses 2b and Threats 1c and 2)

12. Additional uses for the computers. Get more savvy about what's available for kids these days.

13. Don't get stuck in traditional library thinking. Respond to the needs and interests of young people. (see Weaknesses 2B)

Opportunities

1. Strong support from Storytime community. What else can we offer? What new opportunities would get current users to bring non-library users?

2. Money from HB 181 and Massie Money. One time grant for materials. Use a portion of it to refresh & enrich old, sad parts of the collection.

3. Many volunteers want to work with children. Develop a volunteer pool to do some basic everyday work.

a. shelving & displays.

b. assisting public with computers/databases.

c. visiting daycares and preschools.

4. How to get the Friends of the Library involved in promoting the library. Don't be satisfied with comments like "They just join to get in early to the book sale."

5. Perception of relevance. Stay up to date with requests from the public, yet maintain quality.

6. New business opportunities in the community. Rock River getting a new coal liquification & refinement facility (DKRW Energy)? If it happens will they need a larger branch library? If Centennial branch grows, how does that benefit the community.

Threats

1. Lack of staffing.

a. We have many great program and outreach ideas but we don't have enough hours to (1) staff everything, (2) spend time planning effectively.

b. Money from HB 181 and Massie Money. We need to purchase new materials, but also need time to evaluate new materials & spend wisely.

c. We could utilize volunteers more effectively, but need time for training.

2. Utilizing more volunteers could diminish the argument of needing additional staff. Perhaps it could be used to support need for better pay for existing staff.

3. Relying heavily on volunteers is time consuming, especially when volunteers are not long term.

4. Weeding policy. Have a standard of quality for the collection.

a. Damage to new materials. Old, worn collection leads to less respect for newer library materials. However,

b. Discarding old worn collection leads to distress by the public, friends and some staff about "throwing away perfectly good books."

5. Perception of relevance. Stay up to date with requests from the public, yet maintain quality.

6. Keeping up with new technology.

7. Finance.

a. grant & temporary funding is great for materials and one time events, but does not give permanent support for staffing, technology & programs.

b. new facility