Durango Public Library wants residents’ feedback about its collection, services and hours as it looks to the future of how patrons borrow from and work in the facility.
The online survey – What Do You Want from Your Library? – asks questions about what materials people borrow from the library, what programs residents participate in and if the library were to extend its hours, would you use it?
The purpose of the survey is to inform the Library Advisory Board as it drafts a strategic plan and prepares a proposal to City Council for more staff at the library, said Sandy Irwin, director of the Durango Public Library. The Library Advisory Board’s last strategic plan was completed in 2016, she said.
“The world has changed in the last three years, and it’s always changing with technology,” Irwin said.
The survey asks respondents about entertainment consumption. Library staff members in the past few years have received requests from patrons about on-demand streaming services, specifically Kanopy and Hoopla.
Streaming services for libraries are expensive, Irwin said. The library survey asks respondents about personal access to high-speed internet and free or paid streaming services in an attempt to understand the demand for streaming services at the library.
DVDs are popular at the library – in 2019, it had 8,736 DVDs in its collection. But streaming services often don’t offer access to some of the most popular movies, a big draw for people to the library’s DVD collection.
The library also wants to know if people would support opening the library for full days on Sundays without a new tax. And if the library added evening hours on Thursday and Friday with abbreviated hours on Sundays, the survey asks respondents if they would use the library during those times.
The survey is also available to children in print form at the library. Anyone who completes the survey is eligible for an “I love my library” pin.
The survey will end May 3. The library advisory board is scheduled to present a staffing plan – derived, in part, from survey responses – to City Council on June 9.
bhauff@durangoherald.com
