Community feedback shapes Monroe library plans

An ambitious and collaborative new plan is afoot at the Monroe Free Library (MFL). Recently announced on its web site, MFL’s five-year plan lays out some important goals revealed by way of some extensive community research. Using demographics; statistical data; focus groups and a survey of the Monroe-Harriman public-at-large over the summer and fall of 2021, five main themes emerged as the backbone of the library’s Long-Range Plan for 2022 to 2026.

The library gained some positive and valuable feedback in the public outreach process by asking people what they wanted and needed, and what they thought a library should be. The results of MFL’s research are comprehensively outlined in the Long-Range Plan published on the library web site, but the five themes that emerged to steer its future were awareness, space, lifelong learning, technology and community.

By the end of the five-year period, MFL anticipates that the community will notice some significant differences in what defines the library, and that people will find even more ways to take advantage of all the library has to offer.

“I think the community will be impressed to see how we have taken their input to heart,” said MFL director Amanda Primiano. “While this plan has many big picture goals, there are several smaller goals that we have already started to budget and plan for.”

Nucula Brown, the MFL Trustee who chaired the Long-Range Plan Committee, expressed the hope that residents will become more aware of MFL’s growing resources, services and events available, both now and in the future.

“The plan elicited so much constructive input from the community,” she said, “and being involved in that for me was a tremendous opportunity to support the library’s vision and plans for continuing growth. The new plan really reflects the library’s mission to better serve and be proactive for the needs of the community.”

To dive into the MFL 2022-2026 Long-Range Plan for all the details and more information, stop by the library at 44 Millpond Parkway, Monroe to read a copy, or you can log on to the library’s web site to read or download the plan. https://www.monroefreelibrary.org/Info/Long-Range-Plan