Do You Really Know Your Community? Segmentation and Strategic Planning

Library strategic planning has never been more important. A quality plan focuses decision making so libraries can really get traction in key service areas. In an increasingly politicized atmosphere for library governance and collections management, a strong strategic plan supports consistent policy. Public and patron input is part of most strategic planning efforts. But data about library patrons as well as community growth, business and educational/cultural environment is often lacking. Broad demographic summaries don’t tell you how close (or far) a patron lives from a branch, what media channels they prefer, how comfortable they are with technology or how they interact with the collection. It’s crucial to find and use this data to create a strategic plan that is tailored to your community. Join this Learning Lab to learn: • How to use data to conduct more equitable public engagement • How to find – and use – local economic data in your strategic plan • How detailed patron segmentation data can help you more deeply engage users and reach non-users