A year’s worth of community research, planning, and coordinating will soon be coming to fruition at the West Liberty Public Library.
West Liberty Library Director Allie Paarsmith presented her strategic plan and annual report to the West Liberty City Council during its March 4 meeting.
“We are seeing continued growth, and are looking at expanding our collections,” Paarsmith said. This has included an increase in e-books and e-audiobooks as well as physical books and video.
For the library’s strategies going into 2025, Paarsmith said she and her staff consulted with Becky Heil from the State Library District. Heil then organized two different community sessions, one in English and one in Spanish, before then holding one final community stakeholder meeting.
“(Heil) likes to focus on the community as a whole at the very first session as opposed to talking about the library, making sure to emphasize what the community needs. Then at the second meeting, that is when we address how the library can meet those needs,” Paarsmith said.
Based on feedback received, staff decided the library would work on providing services based on three community-selected goals: know your community, satisfy curiosity, and celebrate diversity.
Heil then worked with library staff to develop vision statements and lead measures for these services. These objectives were solidified as “our community would have a centralized hub for updates and local events, with our goal being to make it both physical and digital,” Paarsmith said.
Over the next two years, the library will work with the city, the chamber and other groups within the community to develop newcomer packets and newcomer welcome wagons for those who move to West Liberty. Paarsmith said the library will also work on displaying its own services more loudly throughout the community with physical calendars at identified spaces/businesses.
“A lot of the things people thought the library should offer, we’re already doing. People just didn’t know about them,” Paarsmith said. “Paramount to everything we do at the library, we’re trying to prioritize that English and Spanish speakers feel comfortable engaging with the library.”
Some other upcoming plans include:
Providing services and programs to support different hobbies and leisure interests of all ages and increasing general interest programs
Acquiring more maker technology such as 3-D printers, tools, and Cricut cutting machines that can then be used by library patrons
Celebrating diversity by giving residents access to programs and services that reflect West Liberty’s diverse culture and heritage, such as citizenship resources, bilingual programs, Loteria (Mexican bingo) and recipe-swap potlucks
Launching a series of lunch-and-learns for all residents starting in September
Digitizing its archives to help make it more accessible to the community