Santa Cruz Public Library - Community Meetings: Garfield Park Branch

Santa Cruz Public Libraries Seeks Community Input on Strategic Plan

“In current public library research and practice, we have found that the most effective strategic plans begin with the community, not in the library,” stated Janis O’Driscoll, Manager of System Services. The community meetings will be facilitated by Library Director Susan Nemitz as roundtable conversations with community members to determine shared priorities, passions, and values with an eye toward where the library fits in. O’Driscoll continues, “That’s why we really hope the entire community around each branch will attend the meetings, whether they use the library or not.”

The process of garnering input for the library’s Strategic Plan will take a “Community First” approach. The Strategic Plan will be a roadmap for library decision-making about what services, programs, and activities to focus on over the next 3 years. Library Director Susan Nemitz says, “In June 2016, the voters gave their support to the improvement of each of SCPL’s ten physical branches. We are very grateful for that support- and we owe it to the voters to create spaces that support services and programs that are relevant to our communities’ values, needs, and goals. We need a plan.”

Community Meeting Schedule:
Wednesday, October 19th 2:30 pm Branciforte Library, 230 Gault St. SC
Thursday, October 20th 4:00 pm Garfield Park Library, 705 Woodrow Ave. SC
Tuesday, October 25th 7:00 pm La Selva Beach Library, 316 Estrella Ave. LSB
Wednesday, October 26th 7:00 pm Boulder Creek Library, 13390 West Park Ave. BC
Thursday, October 27th 6:00 pm Aptos Library, 7695 Aoquel Dr. Aptos
Tuesday, November 1st 7:00 pm Capitola Library, 2005 Wharf Rd. CAP
Saturday, November 5th 10:00 am Downtown Library, 224 Church St. SC
Sunday, November 6th 2:00 pm Live Oak Library, 2380 Portola Ave. SC
Wednesday, November 9th 7:00 pm Felton Library, 6299 Gushee, FEL
Thursday, November 10th 7:00 pm Scotts Valley Library, 251 Kings Village Rd. SV


In addition to each of these Branch Meetings, library staff are also participating in conversations with individuals, groups, and organizations to gain input. This information, combined with benchmarking studies against other California Libraries, demographic and other data analytics, will be analyzed in preparation for the written plan. The 2017-2020 Strategic Plan is expected to be complete in January.