MERIDEN– Library staff are trying to see how their programs can best serve the community, now that a $7.8 million renovation gave the library new spaces to host community events.
To get the widest number of responses, Library Director Becky Starr said the library is collecting surveys online and hosting focus groups in-person. The results of the survey and focus groups will inform the library’s strategic plan and guide the library’s programming initiative for the next three to five years.
She added the focus groups are designed to receive a variety of perspectives from different kinds of users, including parents, people with disabilities, teens and Latinos.
“We’re trying to reach different parts of the community. One thing that we’re very attuned to right now is the Latino community and trying to figure out what we’re not doing to reach, not just them, but any of our underserved persons in Meriden,” she said. “We’re trying to get as much input as possible from the community.”
She added that they hired Library Development Solutions as an external consultant so patrons feel comfortable sharing their real feedback.
“People can come and say whatever they would like to say, because the staff will not be in there,” she said.
Read the full story by the Record-Journal’s Latino Communities Lab at:
https://www.ctinsider.com/recordjournal/
Publisher’s Note: CT Latino News partners with the Latino Communities Reporting Lab in best serving the Hispanic-Latino communities of Connecticut.
