Library approves strategic plan
Focus is on four main goals
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ALPENA -- In July, the Alpena County Library Board of Trustees voted to approve the library's first strategic plan since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Director Christina Markowski said that the strategic plan is meant to forward the library's goals based on understanding what the community needs from its library.
Markowski explained that the strategic plan is for the next two years and includes the following four goals: customer service excellence; collections and programs; community outreach and marketing; and collaboration.
"One of my goals is to get out in the community and get to know the patrons again," Markowski added. "What can we do with our programming? That is why we have a library, it's to serve the community."
Markowski was named director of the library in June 2025. She took over for her predecessor, Debra Greenacre who was named director in 2023.
According to Markowski, the strategic plan the board approved in July was started by Greenacre and Markowski took over and finished the plan. She worked in collaboration with an HR specialist from Kent County Library to draft and fine tune the two-year plan.
"It's better to have a strategic plan for two years," she said. "The library system is always changing."
"Back in the day, they used to ride horses to deliver books," she added.
Markowski explained that the two-year period gives library administration time to collect and review data to conclude how effective the strategic plan was in forwarding goals of the library.
The strategic plan document states the following as its main goal fo the strategic plan:
"The plan focuses on gathering and evaluating data concerning the library to continue or improve on providing information, knowledge and resources to the public. It is a living, not a
static document, and will be reviewed and revised to meet the community's changing needs."
The document also stipulates that Markowski report to board members of the progress in the four focus areas throughout the plan's lifecycle.
CUSTOMER SERVICE EXCELLENCE
To develop customer service, the plan outlines requirements for training and evaluation of staff members to better serve library patrons. This includes identifying behaviors that "support
the principles of customer service excellence and develop our library staff expectations," according to the plan.
"Our team members work tirelessly to create a welcoming environment and to that end, several steps will be undertaken to promote excellence in customer service," the document also states.
COLLECTIONS AND PROGRAMS
The strategic plan encourages an effort to expand new activities and programming which the plan states may require pausing other programming to meet the needs of the community. According to the plan, library administration will gather community feedback to help make those decisions. An estimated 25% of current programming will be updated to better meet the needs of the community and the library's patrons.
"The Library recognizes that opportunities will occur to offer new and exciting additions to the collection, services, and programs, and to accommodate those changes, important decisions to pause other activities may be necessary," the document states. "To this end, staff will expand on services and pause others as needed with help from community responses and guided by Board policies."
COMMUNITY OUTREACH AND MARKETING
To engage the community with library programming, the strategic plan focuses on increasing outreach activities by 10%, and approximately 20% of outreach events will occur at new venues or with new community partners.
"Leadership recognizes opportunities for members and organizations of the community
to become involved with the Library, while recognizing that gaining new exposure to
potential patrons is critical to growing effective outreach," the document stated.
COLLABORATION
Building on the third goal of the strategic plan, library admin aims to strengthen existing partnerships and collaborations while expanding and building on other opportunities.
"The Director and the Board recognize that collaboration takes time and patience but results in outcomes that create synergies for the parties involved," the document stated.
Kayla Wikaryasz can be reached at 989-358-5688 or kwikaryasz@TheAlpenaNews.com.