An updated lower level geared to the community’s youth featuring a maker space and special areas for youngsters of different ages is part of the Waukegan Public Library’s strategic plan for the next three years.
Library Deputy Director Amy Grossman said the renovated lower level will have areas designed to engage young children, middle schoolers, and teens updating space that has not undergone refurbishing since 1990.
“This will be youth-based,” Grossman said. “There will be a teen space with materials geared specially for them. There will be a maker space with a sewing machine, a fabric stitcher, a laser cutter, and a 3D printer”
Grossman and other members of the staff gave the library Board of Trustees its first detailed look at the strategic plan during a meeting Wednesday at the library in downtown Waukegan as they get ready to launch the initial stages of the effort.
Also featuring plans to enhance community engagement, modernizing facilities along with the youth area and strengthening the organizational culture, the library is getting its first dose of strategic planning in four years.
Hired in August 2022, as the library’s first permanent head in more than two years, Executive Director Tiffany Verzani got to work on the new strategic plan within three months seeking input from a wide range of stakeholders to learn their wants and needs.
When the board voted not to renew the contract of the then-existing executive director in January 2020, and lost several board members, it took a reshaping of the board and overcoming setbacks imposed by the coronavirus pandemic before Verzani was hired.
Working with her staff, the board, community groups, and residents, Verzani said they assembled a strategic plan to guide the library’s vision and mission for the next three years. She is proud of how everyone came together to craft the new strategic plan.
“We came together to lay a strong foundation from which to dream big and are excited to launch year one activities,” Verzani said.
Along with the lower-level renovations, Verzani said the plans include mobile outreach services, strong and responsive school outreach, improvements to building accessibility and access to library materials, an updated website, and “increased partnerships to enhance health/wellness, career support and digital access services.”
With a vision of “gather, discover and grow,” the library’s mission for the next three years includes supporting the community “by connecting everyone to information, materials, and experiences that foster a love of reading, learning and exploration.”
A major part of the lower-level renovation includes creating more open space. Verzani said instead of a long hallway currently dividing the children’s section from meeting and study rooms. The study rooms will be redone to be similar to the ones on the first floor.
“It’s currently out of synch with the space on the first floor,” Verzani said after the meeting. “We want to open it up and make it more youth-friendly. There will be more room for STEM and the hydroponic garden.”
Karla Aguilera, the library’s bilingual adult program coordinator, said at the meeting the plan includes efforts to engage the entire community focusing on diversity, equity and inclusion.
“We’re looking for ways to engage more partners,” Aguilera said.
As the plan is designed to guide the library through 2027, Grossman said there will be an assessment of capital needs by looking at projects designed to last well into the future. A telehealth kiosk and a café with seats were mentioned.
Among ideas for enhanced community outreach are engaging more educational, social, and business partners as well as expanding mobile services with a recently acquired van, according to the plan. A variety of programs will be added or expanded.
