Pinehurst Approves Funding for Library Needs Study
Final Draft of Long-Range Plan Presented | September 10, 2019
Members of the Pinehurst Village Council and the Planning and Zoning Board listen to the presentation on the comprehensive long-range plan last month.
The Pinehurst Village Council voted unanimously Tuesday evening to spend $45,000 on a study to determine what residents want in library services.
In addition to hiring a consultant to conduct a needs assessment that will include “broad” community input, a community-wide random survey will also be done to help formulate the final recommendations to council.
“We want to know what our citizens want in terms of library services,” Mayor Nancy Fiorillo said.
After interviewing four firms in August, the council decided to contract with a firm called Library IQ, a division of Library Systems & Services based in Rockville, Md., for $35,000.
The firm agreed to include the community survey in the third phase of its work, which will be carried out by the same company that conducts the village’s annual community satisfaction survey for $8,000, according to Assistant Village Manager Natalie Hawkins. She said the remaining funds would cover any other incidental expenses not included in the contract.
She said the random survey will help “test” some of preferred recommendations that will be included in the final report to help determine exactly what residents want to see.
Hawkins said the process will take about six months and likely will start in January, though she said some of the information and data-gathering work for the first phase could begin sooner.
She said the January start time is intended to help ensure “broad community” input since it will be after the holidays and after the village has completed its strategic planning process in November and December.
A joint committee that included village officials and representatives of Given Memorial Library–Tufts Archives recommended that the village hire a consulting firm to conduct a professional needs assessment after spending a year studying the best options for providing library services to the village.
Diane Westbrook, president of the Given Memorial Library Board, thanked the council for “all of the hard work” in getting to this point.
“We do look forward to starting,” she said. “We’d all like to start yesterday.”
Hawkins explained in a memo to the council that the work will be done in four phases.
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