Mission Statement [purpose]
The Grand Ledge Area District Library will acquire and make readily available resources in a variety of formats, including appropriate technology, to meet the educational, recreational and informational needs of the community it serves.
Vision Statement [destination]
Our vision is to provide vibrant resources and inclusive spaces for people to thrive through innovation, education, and entertainment.
Goals
How will the Library achieve its Mission and arrive at its Vision to meet the needs of our communty? The Library Board, Staff with input from the 2021 Library Survey set these goals for the Library:
#1 Spark Imagination, Joy and Enrichment
GLADL will enhance lives by providing recreational reading, free entertainment, access to the arts, and opportunities to create and have fun.
Possible Activities: Collections continues grow to meet demand; Music, Art & Crafting programs offered
#2 Promote Learning and Literacy
GLADL will provide opportunities beyond traditional reading and writing to include multiple literacies.
Possible Activities: Hotspots, laptops, and tablets are available for checkout; Offer programs for young adults to develop life skills; Expand local history digitization content; Continue to provide book delivery to GLPS teachers and students
#3 Serve as a Community Connector
GLADL will engage patrons beyond the library building to provide collections, services, and information about community resources and activities.
Possible Activities: Continue to provide reference assistance; Continue to build relationships with homeschool, scouting, and other community organizations.
#4 Future-Ready Facility
GLADL will be a destination that is accessible, attracts visitors, accommodates meetings and programs, and provides the necessary infrastructure to support current and future needs for collections, services, and technology.
Possible Activities: Provide a variety of study spaces and explore the creation of more quiet/private areas to read and study; Conduct ADA self-assessment of GLADL physical space and online presence.
#5 Sustainable Stewardship
GLADL will be responsible and transparent in the wise use of our community’s resources, will plan for the future, will honor the past, and will be committed to fiscal sustainability.
Possible Activities: Publish an annual report displaying the return on investment of library tax dollars; Seek grants for pilot and special projects; Develop a training plan for all staff to ensure they have adequate skills to meet community needs
Events to Engage Readers of All Ages
Tech to Connect to your World
Resources Ready When You Are
Library Survey 2021 Results
Almost 300 community members responded to our survey — THANK YOU! We really apprecaite your time, comments and feedback. Here are the results of the survey:
How likely is it that you would recommend GLADL to a friend?
9.2!
I love the library! I always feel happy coming in and my four kids love it too.
Lived here most of my life. Started reading early in my childhood, binging on Nancy Drew Mysteries. Loved the GL Library then, love it now!
Absolutely LOVE your locker option to pick up my books!! 🙂
We love visiting this library and appreciate your times you’re open. Not very many libraries are accessible 7 days a week.
Your Ideas in Action -- THANKS!
We really appreciate our patrons feedback and suggestions. We have been able to put into action several ideas from our 2021 Survey and from patrons visiting the library. We are always trying to make the most of our space and collections to meet the needs of our community. THANK YOU!
First of all, let me say that I very much enjoy the Grand Ledge Area District Library! Thank you for all you do to meet the information, education, and entertainment needs of this community. It is greatly appreciated!
Within that greater context of appreciation, I’d like to weigh in on one aspect of your collection processing that I am not enthusiastic about.
I would like to suggest that you reconsider your decision to no longer spine label genre fiction.
I understand that the reasoning is that genre labels are sometimes inexact (some genres overlap; some genres are emerging; etc.), but I don’t think that’s a good reason for abandoning the practice. Genre fiction readers (whether mystery, romance, sci fi, etc.) don’t expect spine labels to be perfect. But the labels provide a very important point of access while browsing.
It is time-consuming to browse the fiction shelves in search of genre fiction. I’m a mystery reader, and I tend to like to browse through a dozen or so mysteries before choosing three or four to check out. But in order to browse a dozen mysteries, since they’re interfiled with other fiction and not labeled in any way that identifies them as mysteries, I have to browse up to around 100 fiction books if I want to find twelve potential mysteries, in order to find three or four to take home. It’s not a pleasant library experience, so I find myself going to the bookstore instead, where they have a mystery section.
Thanks — it is certainly nice to be appreciated. And thank you for understanding the difficultiies of picking just one genre. We do appreciate the time constraints of our patrons, so we have implemented back into our processing Mystery genre stickers.
We also include on our spine labels series information to make it easier for patrons to locate the next book with their favorite characters — we hope this helps with making your selections.
Maybe it already exists, but a way to request books and audio books to be added to the library.
We love to get Purchase Suggestions from our patrons — please let us know what you would like — we don’t have the space or funds to buy everything but we want our collection to be responsive to patron’s needs.
Expand children’s area
We have added new shelving for our Children picture book (juvenile easy) and for our juvenile non-fiction collections. This new arrangement has also given us a bit more space for our very popular VOX talking book collection and space to highlight new children’s books.
Our beloved new book bookcase has a new home near our DVD collections and is now highlight our Library of Things — we hope you try one of these fascinating kits and explore the world of STEAM. And to maximize our visiting contractor we were able to add addional shelving for Adult New Fiction, with that change gave more space to Adult Non-Fiction, Graphic Novels, and Adult Biography. We hope you will stop in to see our new spaces.
Put childrens computer in a different spot – it always causes a distraction w/ my kids
We moved our AWE childrens computer to less central location to make it accessible, but not the focus of the children’s area.
If it is possible, a second set of headphones or a second station in the children’s area. I have two children and that is one of their favorite things to do. To avoid fighting, my husband and I bring them in separately so each one gets their “turn”, but if they could play the educational games together or have two workstations, that would make it easier.
Done — you should find 2 headphones and splitter attached to the AWE children’s computer. Enjoy!
If you are visiting and find the headphones are broken (these things happen) or missing (we may be cleaning them) — just let us know. Thanks!
The staff is so kind and friendly when we are there! My kids would enjoy some more hands on opportunities while we are there looking for books- like some puzzles set our or blocks or even a seasonal sensory bin or something.
Thanks, we try our best! We have brought back our puppet theater, blocks and puzzles. And at our central table we are rotating different manipulatives for something different to do when visiting the library — We will be exploring texture, engineering, magnets, and a few other intersting topics!