Strategic Plan
In September 2017, the Library Board of Trustees of the Ida Grove Public Library invited community members to serve on a Strategic Planning Committee that would envision the city’s future and explore the role the library would play to make that vision a reality.
Bonnie McKewon, NW District Library Consultant for the State Library of Iowa, facilitated two community focus groups that used the Strategic Planning for Results process, as developed by Sandra Nelson and June Garcia. Committee members participated in a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis of Ida Grove and were asked to envision the Ida Grove of the future and the role the library had in that future. During this process, each participant voted, identifying which of the possible eighteen service responses would be most beneficial to Ida Grove. The Library Board and staff of the Ida Grove Public Library then analyzed these results and identified the following six service responses (ranked in order) as a focus for the library’s strategic plan:
1. Satisfy Curiosity: Lifelong Learning
2. Express Creativity: Create and Share Content
3. Stimulate Imagination: Reading, Viewing and Listening for Pleasure
4. Know Your Community: Community Resources and Services
5. Create Young Readers: Early Literacy
6. Visit a Comfortable Place: Physical and Virtual Spaces
The Ida Grove Library Board of Trustees and library staff used these selected service responses as the foundation for the FY2018-2021 strategic plan. This strategic plan outlines the selected service responses as voted on by the community; along with goals and objectives that will guide the library board and staff when selecting library services to meet the needs identified during the planning process. The Ida Grove Public Library FY2018-2021 Strategic Plan is submitted as a written endeavor to envision the Ida Grove of the future and the library’s role in that future.
Read the Ida Grove Public Library Strategic Plan 2022-2025
Past Strategic Plans: