Idaho Commission for Libraries: A Case Study

The Challenge

The Idaho Commission for Libraries (ICfL) sought and received a substantial subsidy from the U.S. Dept. of the Treasury’s dedicated Capital Project Fund (CPF). ICfL envisioned these funds serving two dovetailing purposes: direct grant support to 12-15 library construction projects across their state, coupled with training and support for library leaders embarking on (or already in the midst of) a complex building addition or improvement.

This second priority reflected the agency’s understanding that most library directors in Idaho feel ill-prepared to pursue and manage a project of this kind and scale. ICFL issued an RFQ for consulting firms qualified to provide group training and individualized coaching to all interested public library directors in Idaho – whether or not they were the direct beneficiary of a CPF building subsidy.

The Approach

Library Strategies collaborated with ICFL liaisons on a customized curriculum intended to provide Idaho library leaders with a holistic grounding in library construction, renovation and expansion basics. As a supplement, Library Strategies also integrated small group and one-on-one coaching activities for library directors actively managing a capital reinvestment.

Consulting engagement opportunities included:

• Seven hour-long webinars on topics pertaining to the funding, design, construction and project management associated with improvement projects.
• Regularly scheduled online office hours that offered subgrantees the opportunity to connect with subject matter experts and be in community with one another.
• A six-hour pre-conference for library leaders held in conjunction with the yearly Public Library Directors’ Summit in Boise.

Library Strategies assigned a team of five consultants – each with hands-on experience managing library construction projects – to provide this support over a nearly 2-year project window.

The Outcome

ICFL’s fourteen subgrantee libraries pursued projects which varied widely in type and scope: from modest lot repavements and landscaping overhauls, to library renovations and expansions, to the design and construction of a brand-new branch. Library Strategies provided individualized and ongoing consultation on a host of issues encountered by subgrantees. Our team did so through 20 standing Office Hour sessions (supplemented by personal meetings as needed).

All other learning opportunities were open to any interested Idaho library staff or board member. Moreover, Library Strategies created a new Moodle learning module for ICFL so that recorded content could remain available to this targeted audience in perpetuity.

In the telling words of one participant: “Thank you for this. You don’t learn how to design a building – or oversee a construction process – in library school… We clearly needed [a consultant] but could not have afforded one without this program.”