Library officials ask public how they can do better

Staff of the Kitsap Regional Library system are touring each branch to collect public input as they create their next Strategic Plan, and stopped Wednesday night in Manchester.

Jeff Brody, KRL’s part-time Strategic Planning Director, said he and the rest of the staff were hoping to brainstorm with customers on five topics:

• How to foster a love of reading and intellectual curiosity to encourage Kitsap County youth to explore their potential beyond high school.

Brody said that while Kitsap County beats the state average when it comes to the amount of students that graduate high school, there are also many of those students that do not continue their education past high school in any form.

• How to provide practical resources for people wanting to build their careers and businesses

• How to make its services more convenient for its patrons

• How to be welcoming, safe, and “green” gathering places for the community.

• How to operate efficiently, frugally and productively with the taxpayers’ dollars.

Brody said that the meetings so far have been sparsely attended, and Manchester’s was no exception. Nearly everyone who attended was either a staff member, volunteer or supporter of the library.

The biggest priority for the Manchester branch is expansion, the group agreed.

The meeting room, which is the only such place in the community, has been increased in size thanks to some recent work by the volunteers and the Friends of the Library, but Branch Manager Dee D’Haem said that she does not have enough room to host large events, such as when the South Kitsap School District buses each elementary school’s third graders to the Port Orchard Library.

If the library had more space, the group also said it could have a dedicated teen area, which many attendees said was sorely needed.

To attract teens, they said, the library needed to offer them dedicated computers and games.

Unfortunately, Brody said even if KRL had the funds available to expand its branches, the system only owns two of the buildings that house them.

The Manchester library is owned by the Friends of the Library, who have struggled for years to find ways to expand the building.

KRL staff will be at the Port Orchard Branch Sept. 29 at 6:30 p.m.

Any patrons that cannot attend meetings can still submit their opinions by filling out the survey at www.KRL.org.

Brody said 1,100 people have already done so, and the staff is hoping many more will, particularly people aged 25 to 40, and those from military families, who have filled out the least amount of surveys.

By next month, the survey will be removed from the Web site, and the writing of the draft Strategic Plan will begin.

A draft plan will be presented to the KRL board of trustees in November and December, with final approval expected in early 2010.

The last Strategic plan was created in 2005.

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