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Rachel Newlin
July 17, 2017
LIS 770

Strategic Plan Analysis: Skokie Public Library

INTRODUCTION

The Skokie Public Library serves the Village of Skokie, located 16 miles northwest of
downtown Chicago, Illinois. Skokie is a large northwest suburb with a vibrant and growing
community totaling around 64,000 (2010 Skokie Census Information, 2017). Skokie has a
primarily white population, totaling around 60% of the total population. In addition, , 25% of the
population identifies as Asian, roughly 8% Hispanic, and roughly 7% Black (2010 Skokie
Census Information, 2017). The Skokie Public Library traces their history back to the 1920s,
where the Cosmo Club founded a small library (History & Buildings, 2017). Since then,
Skokies public library has consistently won awards for their progressive projects and endeavors,
including a 5-star rating from Library Journal in 2014 (History & Buildings, 2017).

PLANNING MODEL

The planning model employed in developing Skokie Public Librarys strategic plan for
2016-2019 is centered around group decision making (Moran, Stueart and Morner, p. 92, 2013).
The plan began in committee, and is intended to be active for three years. The core planning
committee was composed of two members of the Librarys board, as well as staff from various
departments (Strategic Plan, p. 16, 2016). The core planning committee met between December
2015 and April 2016, and began assessing themes from discussions with the community
(Strategic Plan, p.16, 2016). From there, various community groups informed the Library of
what it should be concerned with in the coming years. These individuals included staff members
from various departments, the planning supervisor of the Village of Skokie, representatives of
our public services in Skokie, such as the police department, and a representative of the ALAs
Center for the Future of Libraries (Strategic Plan, p. 18, 2016). The professional diversity of
these individuals helped provide perspectives that were valid, wide-ranging, and equally
important.

STRUCTURE OF PLAN

The structure of Skokies strategic plan begins with a vision, where the statement speaks
to our hope for the future of Skokie, (Strategic Plan, p. 6, 2016) provides a guiding statement
for the organization to work towards. The mission is listed next, with a statement that describes
its purpose as the primary goal of the library that lays down a path for what the library will do
to help achieve the vision (Strategic Plan, p. 6, 2016). The plan then breaks down three core
values which are meant to be vital to the entire organization (Strategic Plan, p. 7, 2016) and
should guide the work of all staff members in their fulfillment of the plan, generally. Following
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this, a list of six goals and strategies to accomplish these goals are listed. Each goal is preceded
by a paragraph that explains the justification for its inclusion, whether that be certain citizen-
centered data, a professional principle, or recent research. Following the goals, an appendix
breaks down the planning process and the findings the planning committee encountered.

EVALUATION

In evaluating the vision of Skokies strategic plan, it does well utilizing data that
prioritizes the larger community. The importance of including the larger organization overall is
outlined in Chapter 4 of our textbook, where awareness of these groups and their own goals and
objectives are equally important to serving them (Moran et al., pg. 69, 2013). Skokies vision
effectively merges the issues of community bond and safety, found in the 2015 Skokie Citizen
Survey (Strategic Plan, p. 3, 2016). The mission sufficiently answers the question, How do we
get there as outlined in our textbook (Moran et al., p. 67, 2013) The focus on resources and
experiences is especially valid in considering the ways the strategic plan will break down for
individual departments and their specific goals.

Through evaluating the values stated in Skokies plan, the idea of strategic visioning as
outlined in our textbook (Moran et al., p. 66, 2013) is an especially helpful lens through which to
view the values. The values are meant to provide a proactive view that is representative of the
future of the organization overall. These values are meant to provide guidance for every staff
member in each department, regardless of their specialty: pursuing access and equity; cultivating
learning and literacy; and engaging the community (Strategic Plan, p. 5, 2016). In considering
these values against the three primary perspectives that should be evident in any set of
objectives, they are very strong (Moran et al., p. 81, 2013). The ways these values outline the
constraints posed on the organization by society are plenty: the values consistently reference
connectedness and the importance of equity. In considering the organizational constraints, the
library focuses on what it can provide the community: learning and literacy opportunities that
level the playing field in many ways.

There are six goals outlined in the strategic plan, with each providing ways to be
specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (Strategic Plan, p. 9, 2016). When
evaluating these goals, it is important to once again reflect on s primary perspectives:
environmental, organizational, and individual. For most of these, concerns about community
aspirations and equity of opportunity, for instance, the environmental constraints of the plan are
at the forefront, where the goals themselves are representative of making change overall not
just in the Library. Organizational concerns of an open system and the learning that should take
place there is also considered, where goals are dedicated to design, decision-making, and the
organizational culture overall. Individual is perhaps the perspective with the least depth, where
personal goals are not highlighted throughout the goal setting.

In addressing a specific goal outlined in the plan and how it may support the mission and
values outlined above, the best example is seen in the very first goal. This goal reads, Address
community aspirations through sustainable partnerships, and is concerned with collective
impact (Strategic Plan, p. 18, 2016) and the importance of many organizations working together
to tackle problems that would be unsurmountable for a small organization. This goal meets the
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mission of the Library by concerning itself with community development and collaboration.
These partnerships work towards the vibrant village goal, illustrated in the vision of the
Library. This first goal is also a standard for considering ways to accomplish the vision overall,
because while the vision is beautiful, it can also seem lofty. By supporting dialogue, open data
initiatives, and measured outcomes, the goal provides a clearer way to see the vision small
steps that lead to a more open and inclusive Village of Skokie.

ASSESSMENT
In assessing the internal and external environment of the Skokie Public Library, the core
planning committee first used the appreciative inquiry model, which focused on what was done
well and how that can be improved. This model focuses on the positive things that an
organization has done to further their goals and mission, then delves into whether the current
strategies were working. In addition, much of the assessment was qualitative in nature; one
example of this is through the wishes board that library users participated in during the
planning process. This wishes board allowed for frank, but productive, conversation
surrounding improvements at the Library such that it asked those being served which areas were
important to improve in the near future. Later in the planning process, numerous individuals
stressed the importance of demographic data and utilized that to understand how to best create
avenues of equity in Skokie (Strategic Plan, p. 22, 2016). In addition to demographic data, it was
stressed that hearing from the community was one of the best ways to know how to better serve
them, as was done at one planning meeting where young adults on a panel were asked about their
hopes for the community and the Librarys role in that.

In discussing a plan for assessing goals identified in the plan, one of the goals itself was to make
data-driven decisions that lead to the best use of resources, guide effective advocacy, and
maximize impact. In strategies for that purpose, Skokie plans to use PLAs Project Outcomes
initiative as well as CommunityConnect market segmentation data (Strategic Plan, p.12, 2016).

BENCHMARKS/RESEARCH

In considering external benchmark and research utilized through the planning process,
many staff discussions were based on the Aspen Institutes Action Guide for Re-envisioning Your
Public Library, where subcommittees individually analyzed the report and how it best related the
subcommittees role in the planning process. Throughout the goals of the strategic plan, different
benchmarks were used to elevate with certain goals, especially regarding the goal of making
data-driven decisions, strategies included utilizing the Public Library Associations Project
Outcomes initiative and the Harwood Institutes turning outward. The idea of a user-centered
design was central to a large portion of the goal-setting in the strategic plan, both in terms of
services and facilitates.

CONCLUSION

Skokie Public Librarys strategic plan is one that has all the required components of
mission, vision and goal-setting according to Moran. The strengths of the plan can all be traced
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back to the importance that Skokie placed on community outreach and environment scan. Skokie
does an excellent job of creating goals within the context of the entire Village, and most of the
goals set are strong in returning to the changed environment of Skokie and income inequality
throughout the village. Additionally, there is strength in the core service values, which are
effective in answering the questions that Moran claim to be most important throughout the
strategic plan: Who are we? What are we now? Where do we want to be? How do we get there?
How are we doing? Most of these questions can find their answers through the core service
values, and these values influence all the goals throughout the plan.

The weaknesses of Skokies plan are in the specifics. While each goal has listed
strategies for accomplishing the goal, these strategies are still incredibly vague. For instance, the
strategies listed for the goal of promoting equity of opportunity include working closely with
partners, reaching potential new users, and helping community members understand their rights
(Strategic Plan, p.13, 2016). While this is a good start, it is as if the planning hierarchy outlined
by Moran et al. (89) is not complete. While the mission, goals, and objectives are solid (and even
progressive), the objectives never reach the activities in any specific way. Instead of saying that
the Library will reach potential new users it would be good to have a measurable
understanding of which users, and measured by what standard? Considering the lack of specifics,
it would be important for a library user or board member to have an additional list of department
goals and objectives, perhaps those which would include specific renovation plans, programming
objectives, or circulation or collection development goals of certain materials that support a
certain goal.

Overall, Skokies plan is complete. It strictly follows the hierarchy of planning as

outlined in Morans textbook, while also highlighting the ways that environmental scanning can
provide a context by which to evaluate the Librarys efforts. Even considering the vagueness of
the listed strategies, it can be assumed that the strategies provide enough guidance to create the
level of change that can be hoped for throughout the plans time period. All things considered,
Skokie Public Librarys strategic plan provides a progressive vision for the future, albeit a vague
one upon first glance.
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REFERENCES
Skokie Public Library. (2017). History & Building. Retrieved June 17, 2017, from
https://skokielibrary.info/about/history-building/
Skokie Public Library. (2016). Strategic Plan. Retrieved June 19, 2017, from
https://skokielibrary.info/about/strategic-plan/
Moran, B. B., Stueart, R. D., & Morner, C. J. (2013). Library and information center
management (8th ed.). Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.

Village of Skokie. (2017). Welcome to Skokie. Retrieved June 17, 2017, from
http://www.skokie.org/AboutSkokie.cfm
Village of Skokie. (2017). 2010 Skokie Census Information. Retrieved June 19, 2017, from
http://www.skokie.org/census.cfm