ELPL Shares New Strategic Plan With Presentation, Q&A, Trivia, Giveaways, Cake

By Sarah Spohn

Students, staff, patrons and community members gathered at the East Lansing Public Library (ELPL) last week for an unveiling of the library’s new strategic plan.

Launching on July 1, the new strategic plan will be the library's guiding document through June 30, 2028. The plan includes three strategic priorities: 1) ignite collaborations, partnerships, and community engagement; 2) expand mindset, spaces, and operations; 3) foster a shared sense of purpose and belonging. Within each priority, there are individual goals to lead the library, along with progress measurements. 

The strategic plan will provide guidance when ELPL makes decisions about its budget, programs and partnerships. To best understand the people it serves, ELPL interviewed 55 community leaders and held five community conversation focus groups during the strategic planning process.

The new plan, officially approved on Feb. 19, is the result of much community feedback, consultations with the Midwest Collaborative for Library Services (MCLS), a steering committee of staff, Board members, and Friends of the Library. Research in comparing ELPL to other similarly sized libraries and those on other college campuses was also used to help shape the roadmap.

“Our facilitators, the Midwest Collaborative for Library Services, said they’ve never had a higher community output in the survey, and it doesn’t surprise me because I know this community really loves the library," ELPL Director Kevin King said. "We appreciate that and are honored by that."

The library also updated its mission to inspire, serve and evolve as a source of knowledge, connection and growth. ELPL’s vision is to connect the community to each other and the world around. The updated core values include staff excellence, welcoming space, forward-thinking mindset, access for all and collaborative spirit.

Monday, March 17, the plan was unveiled to the larger community. Around 30 or 40 folks were in attendance for the short presentation, Q&A segment, trivia, giveaways and refreshments. 

King spoke in front of attendees, and presented feedback from over 1,250 patrons who participated in the strategic plan process. 

“The ELPL team is so very lucky to have a community that is so invested in the future plans of the library,” King said. 

During the presentation of the plan, King mentioned the feedback from surveys showed that residents love the library’s staff and its welcoming space. 

“You love this space, we love it too,” he said. “We’re going to strive to continue to make it a more welcoming space — what, in the library world, they call the third space — that space between work and home that you can go to that you can feel comfortable. You can come here, do what you need, and feel like you belong, which is really important to us.”

He also mentioned that the community has expressed interest in seeing more collaborations between ELPL with local schools, the city, local businesses and MSU. He stated the library will be working on strengthening those partnerships over the next three years as well.

“We’re going to be going out there, talking to groups, talking to people, making stronger partnerships — specifically with MSU, one that a lot of people asked us for,” he said. “One of the lines from a patron that stuck with me the most is ‘figure out how to break down or connect each side of Grand River,’ and that’s something we’re looking at a lot. We removed a lot of barriers to library cards for MSU students, been participating with some of the programs Michigan State does, and have been doing a lot.”

Within the second priority of expanding mindset, spaces and operations, King said ELPL is also going to begin a sustainable library initiative, trying to become one of the first sustainable libraries in the state. New recycling methods and strategies will be implemented over the next few years. 

“East Lansing has always been a leader in the state when it comes to sustainable efforts,” he said, “so we’re really pleased and excited to be a part of that.”

For the third priority of fostering a shared sense of purpose and belonging, King said ELPL wants to help the community tell its story.

“One of the things we heard from the community is local history," he said. "We want to know about our history. We’re going to be doing major efforts, in fact, April 11 is our Books, Bites, and Bids event. It’s our annual fundraiser, and this year, all the money we raise will be going towards local history initiatives so we can set up systems here where you can come in and learn about the past of the city of East Lansing. It’s something we believe strongly in.”

King also spoke on President Donald Trump’s promise to slash federal spending, which would hurt libraries and museums.  King said cuts in federal spending will force ELPL to seek out more grants to keep its mission alive and well. During the Q&A portion of the segment, King responded to a question from ELi about what residents can do to support the library.

“Writing your Congress people at the state and federal levels, expressing your support of the federal dollars that come to this library to help support a lot of services: things we have like MeLCat, databases, and things we get through federal dollars,” King said. “If those are things you enjoy, talk to your Congress people about protecting those things. Secondly, just come to the library. This is a great turnout, and when you have a turnout like this, people see it, talk about, and spread the word that the library is doing great stuff. That’s what’s really important as well.”

Following the presentation, ELi spoke with Gabby Kindig, Communications Team Leader at ELPL, who has been with the library for just over three years. 

“Usually we would refresh the Strategic Plan every three to five years, we were a little overdue to have a new Strategic Plan,” she said. “We started working on it about a year ago, and we really had a big and very thorough process for this. Now that we have this plan and have done all of our research, we should be able to just refresh it in the next few years.”

Kindig was part of the steering committee, and worked to identify community leaders of influential businesses, churches, and city organizations. After interviewing those community leaders about how the library could play a role in the community, Kindig also went into the community to seek out more input from people where they are. Community sessions were at the Hannah Community Center, Hooked, Schuler Books and the Broad Art Museum.

“The idea was that you could feel a little freer to talk about what you’d like out of the library if you’re not in the library, and to also try to spread out across the city a little bit more,” Kindig said. 

Kindig was happy to see folks in the library for the plan’s unveiling. 

“I think it’s great, I’m glad that people showed up and that they’re interested in it,” she said.