Library Launches Planning Effort

An effort to produce a new long-range plan is underway at the Seekonk Public Library. The plan will provide goals and objectives to guide library operations through June of 2024. The plan is an important management tool that sets priorities and informs choices about which services and programs will be offered by the library over the next four years. The plan is also a tool for assessing the library’s performance and progress towards meeting the goals established in the plan.

The last long-range plan for the library expired in 2017, and the library has been operating under a series of interim plans. The library will be facing some significant challenges in the next several years, however. Chief among these challenges is the possible construction of a new library building. The Town of Seekonk is on a waiting list to receive a 7.2 million dollars construction grant from the Massachusetts Board of Library

Commissioners. The award of the grant funds is expected to come in fiscal year 2021 or 2022. If voters approve the 15 million dollar construction project, the library will have to be temporarily relocated while the new library is being built. If the new building is not constructed, however, then the library must address how to operate within an inadequate facility that will require major renovations and upgrades. The Library Trustees decided that these conditions required an entirely new, multi-year plan that will address both possibilities.

According to Library Director Peter Fuller, either choice will have a major impact on the type of library service being provided, and it will be important to have the public involved in the planning to address these major changes. The library is in the process of recruiting a planning committee that will help draft the new long-range plan. The library hopes to recruit a group that reflects the diverse population and interests in Seekonk. Persons interested in serving on the committee are asked to email Mr. Fuller at pfuller@seekonkpl.org.