To the editor:
This summer, with the support and input from the library staff, the Great Barrington Libraries Board of Trustees started to work on a long-range Strategic Plan for the Great Barrington Libraries. The first phase was creating the Library Survey. Sharon Gregory, a longtime Great Barrington resident, developed the survey with feedback from the Trustees and Library staff.
Community support has been key to the outreach efforts for the survey. Launched at the Great Barrington Farmers’ Market Saturday, July 8, and thanks to the support of Market Manager Dennis Iodice, we surveyed shoppers for four consecutive weeks. This outreach effort was hugely successful, as we gathered 45 percent of the total completed surveys at the Farmers’ Markets. We also engaged with customers about the survey at the Berkshire Food Co-op. From these conversations, we gained some valuable insights that will be incorporated into the Strategic Plan.
We are also grateful to Kathy Couch from Town Hall, who lent us drop boxes so that we could make the surveys available at Town Hall, the Mason and Ramsdell Libraries, at Extra Special Teas in Housatonic, and Volunteers in Medicine (VIM) in Great Barrington. The staff at VIM offered suggestions for creating a Spanish language survey. Their suggestions about what the Spanish speaking community would like to see at our libraries will appear in our Strategic Plan.
Surveys were also delivered to Macony Pediatrics, Claire Teague Senior Center, Berkshire South Regional Community Center, Railroad Street Youth Center (RSYP), and CHP Family Center, and Sharon Gregory and Eileen Mooney distributed surveys to their respective neighborhoods.
In just a little over a month, we gathered 307 surveys. The majority of those surveys were completed by residents of Great Barrington and Housatonic. Responses from residents of all the towns in the southern Berkshires were represented, and there were vacationers from Rhode Island, eastern Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, Texas, Florida, Illinois, and Washington state.
Besides the number of completed forms, two things caught our attention. First, 88 people offered suggestions and comments. Many of these suggestions and comments will be used in the Strategic Plan. Second, 30 people expressed an interest in volunteering. Both of these reflect a strong community interest and support of our libraries.
A heartfelt thanks goes out to everyone for their continued help as we strive to make both the Mason and Ramsdell Libraries relevant and special places in our communities.
Rob Shaeffer on behalf of The Library Trustees
Great Barrington
