How this plan was developed
Our libraries are funded by the public for the public, and they survive and thrive as a reflection of the community’s aspirations and desires. Our primary business is public service and we are relentless in our efforts to better understand and serve our users.
In the spring of 2016 we kicked off our 2020 Vision strategic planning process to foster a dialog with the community, capture those aspirations and desires, and articulate the library’s role in them. This process resulted in a plan to meet the needs of our citizens while poised for future changes.
Check back here often to see updates as we work toward projects and services that continue to make a profound impact on the lives of Hillsborough County residents.
Discover
Culture and Leisure
We will...
- Offer a variety of popular print, audio visual, and digital materials
- Offer timely and relevant cultural events and classes that showcase our community’s diversity
- Support local creativity through our collections, collaborative spaces, events, and classes
- Offer makerspaces and recording studios
- Provide materials and instruction for family history and genealogy research
- Identify new ways to meet customer needs that are financially sustainable
- Foster cultural enrichment through collaboration with arts, humanities, and other creative organizations
- Support local authors by sharing their works, hosting meet-ups and seminars, and providing promotional opportunities
Engage
Technology & Information
We will...
- Provide free wireless internet, computer access, and productivity software in all libraries
- Extend opportunities to bring technology and the internet home through a laptop and tablet lending program
- Work with community partners to digitize unique local historical and literary collections
- Provide adaptive technologies for persons with disabilities to access our collections and services
- Create spaces for collaboration and creativity and offer meeting rooms of various sizes with interactive presentation technologies
- Offer high-quality, dynamic technology instruction to improve skills and digital literacy
Education
We will...
- Provide preschool materials and classes
- Create collections that support school curricula
- Offer resources for educational advancement and college preparation
- Support successful career transition through resources and classes
- Foster children’s love of reading through community partnership programs like the John Germany Young Reader’s Initiative, MILO (Mobile Interactive Literacy Opportunity), and Tampa-Hillsborough County Children’s Library Foundation
- Facilitate access to library resources for public, charter, and homeschool students
Transform
Community Engagement
We will...
- Offer an open and welcoming environment to be a trusted and neutral neighborhood gateway connecting government and people
- Support Early Voting
- Ensure citizens’ awareness and use of library services
- Support involvement of the Friends of the Library
- Support the Hillsborough Literacy Council’s tutoring and language instruction programs to remove language barriers that are an obstacle to becoming a contributing member of the community
- Create partnerships that drive economic development
- Empower community stakeholders committed to the extension of library services through their advocacy and financial, programmatic, and volunteer support