There was a fair amount of information about general FLP updates to be shared at this meeting. I have found that by delivering as much "news" as possible to the group as a whole is appreciated by most of the staff. It allows for questions and clarification, which tends to alleviate some tension. (This is not a new concept, but the opportunity to make it happen has not always been realistically available in the Free Library structure.)
I did a quick poll of the group to see if anyone knew the name of every other person in the room. None did, including me. Therefore, we will be working hard in future meetings to get to know one another.
After a break, we worked through one of the Public Innovation exercises mentioned in the previous post. Here are the questions and consolidated responses that comprised the discussion.
1. What are your aspirations for your community?
1)
Safety
No abandoned buildings
Involvement in neighborhood clean-up
Improve quality-of-life: jobs, etc.
2)
Interaction
& Communication
Harmony and Elder
Parental involvement with children
Places/activities for children/teens
Stimulation for children
3)
“Stuff”
Supplies in school
Better nutrition for children
Single directory for resources responding to
needs
Electronic services: fax, print, scan, etc.
readily available
More green space
More open recreation centers
More programs for children/teens/adults
Spaces for community conversations/events
The challenges we face in reaching these aspirations are:
1)
Money
Poverty
Greed
Insufficient staffing
Insufficient police presence
Unfilled job slots
2)
Lack
of basic skills/tools/literacy
Ignorance
Resistance to/fear of change
Unaware of community contacts/resources
Behavioral issues
Treating libraries as daycare centers (lack
of adults)
Guest pass issue
Failure of the School District/poor education
Lack of understanding of different cultures
3)
Mental
Health
Drugs
Untreatable mental illness
The changes needed in my community to reach our aspirations are:
1)
Human
development
2)
Modeling
behavior/commitment with neighborhood
3)
Organizing
skills/conflict resolution
4)
Communication
5)
Making
free transit available
6)
Fixing
physical infrastructure
7)
Calmly understanding and implementing Acceptable Standards of Behavior
8)
Giving
patrons a sense of being stakeholders / ownership of their library
9)
Inter-generational
sack race
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