THE JOHNSON COUNTY LIBRARY ANALYSIS

The Johnson County Library Analysis



The Johnson County Library Analysis

Introduction

Johnson County Library is divided into a Central Resource Library and 12 other libraries serving at the neighborhood levels. The Library was established in the year 1952 by volunteers. Over the time, it has emerged as one of the most significant and popular services of the county. It is estimated that the Library will be checking out more than 6 million items in the current year. Every year, Johnson County Library serves number of visitors greater than the number of visitors at the Kansas City Royals, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and the Kansas City Chiefs combined. Recently, the Library is ranked as the best county service in a survey.

Board of Trustees

The JCL Board of Trustees have a shared vision of increasing the number of people served by the Library, enhancing its role as a center of intellectual and cultural growth of the community, which it serves, and developing a balance between technological advancements and human interaction. Being responsible for community resources, the Library Board is supportive of developing beneficial partnerships for the purpose of enhancing the Library's effectiveness and efficiency. The Board believes that learning to develop a capability to “do more with less” provides an opportunity for innovative practices that may serve as a model for others to follow.

The Community Steering Committee with more than 30 members represents the community. Although the overall performance the Library is commendable, there are several factors that need to be improved. Some of the suggestions proposed by different section of the society to introduce improvements include enhancing partnerships and cooperation with community institutions, such as educaiton institutions, in order to ensure continuous use and steady growth in the long run.

The fruitful recruitment and growth of staff, volunteers, and members of the Board was perceived as the establishment on which a neighborhood library flourishes, whereas having a strong and enthusiastic workforce is basic to providing optimum quality of customer service. It is additionally essential that JCL administer a prominent physical municipal presence inside the group. JCL is perceived as an open and crucial community asset, yet strong competition for for financing coupled with an absence of familiarity with numerous library operations make it necessary to adopt stronger and aggressive marketing and promotion techniques in order to provide critical funding for the Library so that this institution may grow and be able to satisfy the increasing demands of the community. And to serve the whole neighborhood viably, it is likewise fundamental that the Library ensures it has suitable assets.

Adults and Teens

Six concentration groups focused on teenagers and adults pointed out important areas that may impact the use of library. The adults (mostly older) have clearly demonstrated acknowledgement of generation difference in terms of the way information is being accessed and used; and while they would like to this community institution to be consistent in fulfilling the requirements of adults, they also emphasized the need of fulfilling the requirements of teens ...