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Here at Library Strategies, we’re always happy to help, so you’re never entirely without someone to go to in pursuit of answers to your implementation questions. However, there will be a time, following all the work we’ve done together, that you will need to rely on the brilliant minds in your own library. That is…

Pretend, with your humble author, that your library has just finished a strategic plan. You’ve got all these great ideas. Your community is engaged and excited about the future of the library. Momentum is still palpable, but what do you do with it? Strategic planning is not the “end.” (Don’t panic.) Library Strategies suggests following…

Say you have a project like strategic planning that you know will require the help of an outside consultant. An RFP (Request for Proposal) is a document you create that includes a detailed description of your project and the services you’re requesting that invites prospective vendors to respond with their approach and cost. This document…

Library Strategies is a consulting group of The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library. We are the only consulting group in the country based inside of a library organization. As such, we often have big picture conversations with our local library leadership. We offer a unique set of services designed specifically to strengthen libraries…

During the summer of last year, while we were still finding our footing in response to the pandemic, we conducted a survey of libraries and library-support organizations across the country. The two most pressing challenges libraries identified were the ability to effectively meet the needs of a changing community with static or declining budgets and…

A year ago, when we thought we would be using virtual meetings and events as stop-gaps for a time, we did not consider just how vital they’d become to the way we do business as an organization. Of course, we had “webinars” like most places operating in the 21st century. We had the ability to…

Whelp (as we say here in Minnesota as a precursor to a statement of finality), we’ve reached the end of a very long 2020. I’ve already seen articles calling it “the lost year,” and I don’t think that’s accurate. We may have missed concerts, State Fairs, vacations, all those opportunities to be a stranger among…

In late July, The Montana State Library (MSL), in partnership with Library Strategies, was awarded a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to launch “Framing the Future: Advancing Strategic Planning for Small and Rural Libraries.” The grain of the idea came out of Library Strategies’ strategic planning training sessions with MSL in…