PERSPECTIVES

Commentary: Chance to speak up about Collier libraries

Tanya Williams
Director, Collier County Library Division
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Tanya Williams
Director, Collier County Library Division

Picture your dream library. Is it filled with books? Does it host cultural events or book clubs? Does it bring in community experts for knowledge sharing and conversations? Or is your dream library filled with cutting-edge technology that you can borrow?

The Collier County Library Division wants to know. Several years ago, we had a workshop with Collier County commissioners. And we realized that the Library Division had never done a true, all-encompassing community assessment about the library system.

We were listening to our patrons and responding to their needs. But it was clear we needed to know what that portion of the community that doesn’t come into the libraries needs, too.

Last summer, the Library Division contracted with Stantec Inc. to conduct a community assessment. Starting with our first community tabletop workshop at the South Regional Library in November, Stantec has spent the last three months visiting our libraries, speaking with patrons and working to develop a survey.

That survey opens to the public Saturday, Feb. 11, and will be open for public comment for 30 days. The survey can be accessed on our website, collierlibrary.org.

R. David Lankes, author of “Expect More: Demanding Better Libraries for Today’s Complex World,” writes “bad libraries build collections, good libraries build services and great libraries build communities.” We have a good library. We want to have a great library.

To get to a great library system, we need to hear from you. We want to know what we’re doing right. We want to know what we could do better. We want to know what the community needs that the library might be able to provide, either through the library system itself or with partners. And we need to hear from you whether you are one of the 48 percent of our library population who has a library card or if you are one of the 52 percent who doesn’t.

Following the conclusion of the survey, it is our goal to have three or four initiatives that are paramount to the community that the library can address in its next five-year plan.

The survey will open the day we host our next community event, Dream Your Library, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 11, at the Headquarters Library, 2385 Orange Blossom Drive, Naples.

The event will have something for all library patrons, both young and young at heart. The events include a reader’s roundtable; cookie decorating for children; the showing of Pixar short films in our Sugden theater; scavenger hunt; staffed tables with information about library services from 3-D printing and tech services to information on audiobooks and e-books; Lego and KEVA tables, and a visit from Collier County Sheriff’s Office deputies and their vehicles.

The Collier County Public Library strives to enlighten the minds and enrich the lives of our community, including residents and visitors of all ages. But technology, information, community needs and wants are in a constant state of change.

The Collier County Public Library Division wants to exceed your needs today and in the future as a leading source of information, learning and enjoyment.

We hope you’ll join us, lend your voice to our conversation and help us make the library the best it can be – the library of Collier County’s dreams.

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https://www.naplesnews.com/story/opinion/contributors/2017/02/09/commentary-chance-speak-up-collier-libraries/97658980/
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