Northfield Library Board Meeting Date: January 10th, 2024
To: Library Board Members
From: Natalie Draper, Library Director
Title
Discuss and Update Library Mission Statement.
Body
Action Requested:
The Library Board will discuss and update the library’s Mission statement.
Summary Report:
The Library Board’s workplan for 2023 included the task of updating the library’s Mission, Vision, and Values statements. This work was started mid-year and will continue into the beginning of 2024. Tonight, we will focus on the mission statement. In November, the Board engaged in an exercise to identify What we do, Who we do it for, Why we do it, and How we do it. Library staff worked through the same exercise at the staff meeting that month and the answer to all 4 from both groups is quite expansive. The resulting mission statement needs to be simple yet expansive enough to allow room for the natural growth libraries undergo in tandem with the needs of the community, which has kept libraries relevant and essential to our society.
The proposed mission statement has gone through many versions in the past month:
• The short:
Inviting exploration, empowering people, engaging community.
• The long:
The Northfield Public Library invites exploration, empowers lives, and engages community by providing free access to ideas, resources, and service.
• The previous Mission statement:
Northfield Public Library strengthens community, supports literacy, provides access to information, and fosters lifelong learning and enrichment.
Both short and long statements can be used but the default would be the shorter version.
Alternative Options:
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Financial Impacts:
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Tentative Timelines:
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