The Chatham-Kent Public Library is listening to the public as it writes its next chapter.
CEO and Chief Librarian Tania Sharpe says with roughly 300 responses to a recent public survey, the library service wants to re-engage with the community as they look ahead to a post-pandemic world.
“It’s helped us to see how the community views us and values us, and it’s enabled us to use those comments to reengage people that may have gotten out of the habit of going the library because we’ve gone through so many changes in terms of service and hours in the last 18 months.”
The public library has two new projects. Works Cited features artist Mark Reinhart’s famous duct tape messages on the sides of libraries across Chatham-Kent, featuring sentiments taken from responses to the community survey.
“The library has always pushed the envelope in terms of the programming, in terms of ways the organization has engaged with the community, they’ve always been very innovative, so it made sense to me to have that same sense of curiosity around how we’re engaging with the community,” Reinhart says. “We’ll have a strategic plan every few years as it is, but getting people engaged with what the library means in the community can be happening all the time.”
Reinhart is also hosting a podcast called “This is a Library,” featuring interviews with CKPL staff and music from local artists.
You can hear the podcast and learn more about the future direction of the Public Library at www.ckpl.ca/letstalklibrariesck.
Listen to the full interview with Tania Sharpe and Mark Reinhart here: