Sunday, January 25, 2015

The Numbers: What am I doing with them? or, We have goals and we're not afraid to use them

Because my garden makes me happy
I love planning. In fact, sometimes I like planning things more than actually doing them. I am sure I am not alone in this. However, this year I tried to...plan my planning, if that makes sense. I have goals from my evaluation in May, from discussions with my director and colleague about where we're going with programming in the fall, and finally I put together a department mission and goals.

Mission Statement
The mission of the Youth Services Department of the Matheson Memorial Library is to provide informational, educational, and recreational services, in a friendly and supportive setting, to all families, children, and caregivers of the Elkhorn community. These services are available through quality materials and programs offered by a friendly and knowledgeable staff in a comfortable and welcoming environment. The Youth Services Department serves as a family gathering place focused on educating, enriching, and entertaining the families, children, teens, and caregivers of the public.

Department Goals
  • Serve all age groups with a variety of programs.
  • Serve all families and caregivers with a broad programming schedule
  • Make the Youth Services Department a destination by offering a welcoming, fun, and enriching environment
2014/2015 Objectives
  • Offer programs for each time slot (morning, afternoon, early evening, late evening)
  • Offer a wider variety of programs for early childhood; active/movement programs and programs directed at smaller groups.
  • Offer a wider variety of school­-age programs, specifically for smaller groups, which will enable us to build relationships and encourage use of the collection
  • Revive middle school and teen programs, creating simple, sustainable programs that build on school­-age program participants 
  • Expand outreach to four year olds to build an audience for the preschool programming schedule.
How Will We Get There? Meeting Objectives
  • Alternate programs in time slots so we can offer more variety (monthly/bi­monthly instead of weekly)
  • Alternate programs ­storytime/dance program/art program etc. instead of the same program every week
  • Stagger programs ­ don’t start everything all at once, put in gaps when I know there will be heavy calls for outreach (end of October, end of April)
  • Start with one middle school program (reviving middle school madness) and creating a teen volunteer program
  • Implement a planning schedule to streamline marketing, budgeting and create better long­-term evaluation of programming and build word­-of­-mouth interest in programs
    • November (Thanksgiving) finalize plans for January-May
    • April (after big party) finalize plans for June-August
    • August finalize plans for September-December

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