The Hennepin County Library Strategic Planning Project
Community-driven Strategic Planning
How citizen input helped shape the Hennepin County Library's new Strategic Plan
Over the course of 2022, NCXT partnered with the Hennepin County Library (HCL) to develop a strategic plan that would see them through the year 2027.
In the course of this work we:
Visited 6 HCL sites
Reached out to county residents and library staff through sending 568 emails, 6366 text messages, 276 calls, 9074 Facebook impressions and 24,500+ views of Reddit posts.
Collected over 2000 survey inputs
Interviewed Hennepin County Board of Commissioners
Interviewed Hennepin County Library Board members
Visited 5 sites and reached 39 individuals in a second round of community engagement with youth, public transit riders, non-English speakers, and people experiencing housing insecurity
Convened a community micro group session
Hosted two focus groups with the HCL Community Engagement Team
SHaping Your Library’s Future
The resulting strategic plan enlivens HCL’s mission to inspire, facilitate, and celebrate lifelong learning.
It defines six priorities:
Upholding free access to a broad spectrum of idea
Championing the aspirations of residents with learning, literacy, and enrichment
Offering free access to essential technology and connectivity
Creating inviting, inclusive, accessible, and safe public spaces
Delivering a positive and equitable experience to every patron
Supporting individuals and their basic human needs through connections to resources and services
Additionally, the plan focuses on three specific areas:
Increasing library usage
Support for literacy and education
Ensuring a positive patron experience
We’re building it together
We’re excited to see how the wonderful library professionals at HCL continue to put this plan into action in the next few years. We’ll be here to provide support, encouragement, and enthusiasm for every step of the way.