Library staffer Eric Chalfant helps with a book request in the Santa Cruz Public Library Bookmobile. While Santa Cruz County Public Libraries has a bookmobile with stops at various locations in Watsonville, the Watsonville Public Library is looking at adding its own bookmobile. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel file)
WATSONVILLE — The Watsonville Public Library now has a roadmap to work on its goals over the next five years. The Watsonville City Council approved the library’s Strategic Plan at its Tuesday meeting.
In February, the library contracted with consulting firm MJ Gómez Associates LLC to identify focus areas for the library. President and CEO Martin Gómez said staff had taken cues from the Harwood Institute, which places an emphasis on community-focused strategic planning.
“That process includes really learning as much as we can about the community and trying to build a Strategic Plan that will respond to some of the needs of the community,” he said. “We reviewed the library policies, and we did a staff and community survey. We did about a dozen stakeholder interviews. Focus groups, we had about three of them: one with the staff, one with the nonprofit community and one with educators. We also did a goal-setting workshop with staff.”
Associate consultant Grace Stetson said all the survey respondents believed the library was fulfilling its mission but still felt it could improve community outreach and programming and enhance safety around the library. Specific requests included weekend hours, additional resources in all formats, more social and cultural arts and expanded programming such as more author talks and book clubs.
“The main takeaways were that respondents were frequent library users with over 50% using the library one to five-plus times per month,” she said. “Sixty-four percent use the library email newsletter or website to find out about library events and news. Sixty-two percent come to the library to borrow books, DVDs and other materials. Seventy-four percent feel that more books and other information resources are important, and 67% feel that STEM, arts and cultural and summer reading programming is important.”
From those surveys and workshops, staff were able to outline four goals to work on over the next five years. The first was to open the library on weekends and implement a bookmobile to go into different neighborhoods and to city events. Citing his experience as a librarian, Gómez said bookmobiles are a big hit and serve as low-cost marketing strategies for libraries.
“People still love them,” he said. “They’re attractions for kids. You have a lot of flexibility for your senior centers, schools and fairs. It’s a great way to promote the library and promote the brand.”
The second goal was to increase public awareness about library services by working with a firm to identify target audiences, key messages and creating a communication strategy.
“A lot of people didn’t really know about the services the library offers,” said Gómez.
The third goal was to streamline an in-house process regarding technical, circulation and information technology services by exploring contracts with the city or third-party vendors.
“Vendors, for example, can provide cataloging for materials so that they’re basically delivered to the library shelf-ready,” said Gómez.
The final goal was to work with nonprofit organizations who share the vision of Watsonville as a community that values and supports the arts.
“It’s our understanding that there are plans in the future for creating a more friendly zone around City Hall,” said Gómez. “I could see the library being a strong anchor (for downtown), especially when you look at additional hours on the weekends, providing more programming and having a destination for people to not only use the library, but on hot days to hopefully get some refreshing, cooler air.”
Library Director Alicia Martinez said the next steps would be to develop a work plan outlining work to be done through 2028, posting public goals and strategies on the library’s website and throughout both library branches and providing an annual report to the City Council regarding goals.
Watsonville City Councilman Jimmy Dutra said he liked the bookmobile goal. While Santa Cruz County Public Libraries has a bookmobile with stops at various locations in Watsonville, he would like to see something bigger.
“Hopefully, that’s in the future,” he said. “We can be bringing this big bus so people can escape in literature.”
Councilwoman Maria Orozco suggested the library occasionally hold events such as storytimes or book fairs in the City Plaza.
“Instead of having the community come to us, we’ve gotta go to them and really build that partnership and that connection,” she said. “Those community events, when it’s catered to them, I think we’re gonna reap the benefits of taking the time to really connect with our community members.”
The council voted 5-0 to approve the plan. Mayor Eduardo Montesino was absent, and Councilwoman Ari Parker was not present for this item.
