Indiana State Library Strategic Plan
2022-2027
Mission: Serving Indiana residents, leading and supporting the library community and preserving Indiana history
About ISL: The Indiana State Library is responsible for:
- Developing and providing library services to state government, its branches, its departments and its officials and employees;
- Providing for the individual citizens of the state those specialized library services not generally appropriate, economical or available in other libraries of the state;
- Encouraging and supporting the development of the library profession; and
- Strengthening services of all types of publicly and privately supported special, school, academic, and public libraries.
- Presenting and promoting publications, programs, and other opportunities for Indiana citizens of all ages to learn and teach about the history of their communities, the state of Indiana, and their relationships to the nation and the world.
Throughout its history, the Indiana State Library has developed strong collections in the fields of Indiana history and culture, Indiana state government and United States government publications, Indiana newspapers, genealogy and family history resources on Indiana and the eastern United States, Braille, large print, and books on tape for the visually impaired, library science, and American history, politics, and economics. Its collections in these areas support research by state agency employees, scholars, genealogists, librarians, students, Indiana residents who are blind or have physical disabilities, and the general public. The Indiana Historical Bureau provides public and digital history publications, programs, and educational opportunities that promote a more thorough and diverse understanding of Indiana history and the process of creating history. They have operated the State Historical Marker Program since 1946 and the Indiana Legislative Oral History Initiative since 2017, among other public programs. The Library Development Office and Professional Development Office work to improve and support the libraries of Indiana through assistance, training, and supervising the distribution of state and federal funds.
To fulfill our mission, we will:
- Provide excellent customer service.
- Assist patrons in meeting their own information needs.
- Be aware of and utilize a wide variety of resources and technologies to increase the quality and efficiency of our work.
- Continue to be the most educated and proficient researchers on the topics of Indiana history and genealogy.
- Continue to have the most complete collections of federal and state documents in Indiana.
- Stay ahead of the curve in utilizing new information resources by continuing to purchase new resources to better meet our patron’s needs.
- Track our services through quality control checks and conversations with users.
- Develop new services and consistently re-evaluate existing services.
- Demonstrate leadership within the library and historical community by establishing a presence within professional associations and literature.
- Commit to change when necessary and update our skills to accommodate those changes.
- Utilize strategic alliances with other organizations to help us accomplish our goals and provide outstanding service to our patrons and community partners.
- Continue to maintain and circulate Indiana's most comprehensive collection of special materials for its citizens who have a visual or physical disability that prevents them from reading standard print.
- Remain conscientious of these initiatives to help meet the mission of the Indiana State Library.
Goal 1: Increase Hoosiers’ awareness, appreciation, and use of the Indiana State Library’s programs, services, and resources and provide excellent service in the use of those collections.
Objectives:
Increase promotion of events and services via social media, YouTube videos, podcasts, public calendars, and other promotional platforms and tailor the message to the intended audience.
Develop and implement a recognizable brand for the library that can be used when creating a marketing campaign and marketing style guide for promotion of library events and services.
Utilize various data and analytics to evaluate and report how frequently ISL’s resources are used and in what capacities.
Assist the ISL Foundation in creating a unique event and donor list that can be used to market ISL’s programs and services.
Increase awareness to state employees of services provided by ISL. Create and implement an outreach plan to build relationships with and increase awareness of ISL services to state government.
Expand opportunities for patrons having difficulty using library services.
Goal 2: Promote an environment that ensures the Indiana State Library staff and librarians statewide are equipped with the resources, processes and professional development to be successful.
Objectives:
Allocate adequate funding for professional development, resources, and supplies.
Provide training opportunities at least once a year, either in person or electronically, that will serve as professional development for library staff and can also serve as training for other librarians and state employees. Inform and encourage other librarians and state employees about the ability to use ISL’s archived training resources for their own professional development.
Implement cross training initiatives to equip each division with a stronger understanding of resources and services provided by the other library divisions.
Goal 3: Leverage partnership opportunities to enhance services to the communities we serve.
Objectives:
Work with the various agencies that serve citizens with disabilities to educate and promote the Talking Book and Braille Library.
Create and implement a list of active and potential partnerships that can be used to open communication, increase cross-promotion, and facilitate potential collaborations.
Continue to work with the State Personnel Department to ensure all new state employees are aware of the value of the State Library borrower’s card, interlibrary loan, and research services available.
Seek out and foster partnerships with various genealogical, cultural, and historical institutions to better serve the patrons with their research needs.
Goal 4: Build ISL’s services to the communities we serve with innovative uses of technology to align with evolving conditions.
Objectives:
Create a long-term digital collection plan to address the needs of collection storage, data and metadata cleanup, workflow, and oversight.
Create and implement a digitization plan, including adding and/or expanding digital contextualization, to provide increased digital access to the unique items in the ISL’s collection.
Complete a yearly analysis on all electronic resources to ensure the ISL’s collections and databases are meeting the needs of the communities we serve.
Goal 5: Continue to build a relevant collection that emphasizes Indiana History, establishing ISL as a premier Indiana history research destination that reflects the vision and mission of the ISL, and strive to appropriately preserve the collection to ensure long-term access for future generations of Hoosiers.
Objectives:
Establish ISL as a premier research library acquiring materials from federal and state government agencies, purchases, donations, and community-based digitization projects.
Evaluate preservation needs and create a funding plan to meet the needs of caring for a large historical collection.
Evaluate the print collection to fill subject gaps and weed so that the resources in each collection remain relevant to the communities served. Continue to shift collections and create spaces, both physical and digital, to make material easily accessible.
Evaluate collection acquisition methods to identify and acquire published and unpublished material that enhances ISL’s collection and ensures acquisition of relevant material in various formats.
Goal 6: Provide the support needed to help Indiana public libraries extend and provide 21st Century library services.
Objectives:
Provide guidance, training, material resources, services, and support to public libraries and public library staff across the state.
Provide guidance to public library boards and to help libraries achieve standards across the state.
Provide up-to-date, reliable access to information to meet the needs of all Indiana residents by utilizing effective technology, telecommunications, and resources.
Aid libraries in improving services to Indiana residents, including services that support lifelong learning and human services.
Provide training and resources to public libraries across the state that are specific to help bridge the digital equity gap.
Goal 7: Cultivate historical awareness and a sense of place and identity for local communities and Hoosiers across the state through our original research and the stories, programs, and lessons we share about Indiana’s past.
Objectives:
Increase awareness of hidden histories, acknowledge diverse perspectives, and present new understandings through the stories we gather and share through state historical markers, digital publications, and oral histories.
Facilitate forums through our public programming and social media where citizens can respectfully engage with various perspectives, sources, and conclusions.
Support the digitization of local history collections including newspapers as a means for the residents of these communities to engage with and learn about their community’s past.
Goal 8: Offer accessible, inclusive resources and programs that help our audience engage in historical thinking and better understand the process of history and the history of our state.
Objectives:
Establish the new historical marker center as a resource center for internal and external patrons and partners to learn and teach about how history is created.
Help citizens understand the inner workings of Indiana’s government better through the Indiana Legislative Oral History Initiative (ILOHI). This deeper understanding of the legislature will motivate citizens to be active participants in exercising their civic duties. It will also provide insights into the rationales and intents of legislators in passing certain laws and share the lawmakers’ reflections on the merits of those decisions.
Develop stronger relationships with other state agencies and state partners to strengthen awareness of IHB’s programs and research assistance.
Promote history relevance and history communication through IHB resources and programs.
Organizational Competencies
Organizational competencies are the library’s capacity or efficiency that is necessary to enable the library to achieve the goals and objectives in its strategic plan.
Marketing
Create a social media committee and focus group that will ensure the library is effectively using print media, the website and electronic media to communicate with the public.
Create a logo that will be used in re-branding and can be consistently used in all promotional materials.
Regularly use marketing data and analytics to evaluate the effectiveness of all marketing and public relations.
Track and utilize trending hashtags to promote library events and services.
Regularly evaluate the website as a marketing tool and ensure material is accurate, up to date, and easy to find. Ensure notable events are placed in highly visible locations.
External partnerships
Perform state agency survey on awareness of ISL’s collections and services. Establish contact within various agencies to discuss needs and the potential to meet those needs.
Create a list of current and potential partners and include what their organization does. Plan to reach out to other similar organizations to discuss potential partnerships. Facilitate and encourage cross-promotion of events and services offered by partner organizations.
Facilitate a conversation with other State Libraries regarding their services and potential idea sharing.
Training and staff development
Create and facilitate a new hire orientation that adequately trains new employees on ISL’s service priorities.
Regularly identify staff training needs and structure training to meet these needs. Draft annual goals to assist staff in completing necessary training.
Create training for staff on the difference between marketing and leveraging partnerships.
Continue to offer relevant in-house and webinar training opportunities that ensures staff are proficient in current technology.
Organizational structure
Review and revise all staff job descriptions to match changing work priorities given to ensure strategic plan goals and objectives are completed.
Create and regularly monitor the ISL committee list to ensure relevance of all committees and their activities. Develop inter-divisional collaboration through projects and/or activities that promote better relationships across departments and recognize joint or overlapping interests and specialties.
ADM SA 8/17/2023