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Boston Public Library Long Range Plan 2000-2003 Board of Trustees |
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| Introduction Access Services Information about Boston The Planning Process The Mission Statement Principle Strategies Implementation Plan Appendices The Boston Public Library Founded in 1848, the Boston Public Library was the first large free municipal library in the United States. The present Copley Square location has been home to the Library since 1895 when architect Charles Follen McKim completed his "palace for the people". Today, the McKim building houses the BPL's vast research collection. The General Library, primarily housed in the 1972 Johnson Building, designed by Philip Johnson, holds the circulating collection of the General Library and serves as headquarters for the Boston Public Library's 25 branch libraries. Housed in the Johnson Building is a circulating collection of some 700,000 volumes, which includes standard public library age-level fare (best-sellers, how-to, and children's and young adult books), as well as resources to support high school and college-level study, a world language collection representing some 35 languages, videos, music CDs, and audiobooks. The Access Services Program, which is part of Adult Readers and Information Services, located on the concourse level of the Johnson Building, contains reference materials and equipment to help patrons with disabilities use Library materials within the Library. The catalog of the circulating collection of the Boston Public Library resides in the MetroBoston Library Network (MBLN) DRA system, along with the collections of the Malden and Chelsea Public libraries, 25 Boston Public School libraries, and the State Transportation Library. Efforts are currently underway to transfer approximately 2 million electronic bibliographic records for holdings of the Research collection, representing those holdings acquired since 1971, to the DRA system. In addition, an estimated 3 million bibliographic records remain to be converted to machine-readable form. The 25 branch libraries offer services as community centers in Boston's diverse neighborhoods and have collections and programs for children, young adults, adults and senior citizens. A new branch is currently under construction in the Allston neighborhood, the first new branch library in 20 years. The Library also provides a Mobile Library Services operation, visiting nursing homes, senior citizen centers, as well as providing direct services to homebound people. For many of these clients, the Library contracts with service agencies to deliver books along with meals to this client group. Through its Research Library Services Program, the Boston Public Library seeks to acquire, make available, preserve, and service significant research materials in all fields of knowledge. In order to ensure that highly specialized research collections and information are available, the Library maintains professionally skilled staff and in-depth resources in a variety of fields. These reference and research services include &endash; in addition to the basic book collection of over 6,000,000 volumes &endash; microforms, electronic databases, special collections, business information services, research publications and other materials from around the world. The Library maintains significant monograph and serial collections in virtually every subject category; special manuscript and archive collections in many of these fields enhance general research collections. The Rare Books and Manuscripts Department, apart from its collection of rare books from around the world, retains a number of collections, which are particularly important to Massachusetts residents. The John Adams Collection, on which the Library has completed a comprehensive conservation program, contains the personal library and papers of John Adams, the second President of the United States. The Sacco-Vanzetti Archives consists of thousands of letters, manuscripts, broadsides and pamphlets connected to the Sacco-Vanzetti case. The Library collects and preserves newspapers from Massachusetts and other areas. The Microtext Department retains approximately 4,500 Massachusetts newspaper titles, an invaluable source on the cultural, political and social history of the Commonwealth. Because of this collection, the Library was designated as the site for the Massachusetts Newspaper Program, part of the United States Newspaper Program sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Since 1859 the Library has served as an officially designated Federal Depository for government documents and in 1972 became a Regional Depository, the only library so designated in Massachusetts. The Library also collects state, local and city documents and, as a United Nations Depository Library, acquires publications from the United Nations and other international organizations. The Library is a United States Patent Depository Library, the only such library in eastern Massachusetts and one of only a few in New England. In addition, the Boston Public Library has a long-standing commitment to acquire all foreign patents from Europe and Canada. Scientists, engineers, attorneys, students and inventors from throughout the region make use of this valuable resource. The Boston Public Library also serves as the administrative headquarters for the Boston Regional Library System, a State-funded program of the MA Board of Library Commissioners, serving over one hundred libraries of all types in the cities of Boston, Malden and Chelsea. The present membership of the Region includes three public, 29 academic, 23 school, and 43 special libraries. The Boston Public Library also contracts with the MA Board of Library Commissioners to manage the Statewide Reference and Referral Services program, providing journal document delivery, statewide courier delivery, back-up reference, and database access services to libraries throughout the Commonwealth. Over 2 million patrons visit the BPL each year, many in pursuit of research material, others looking for an afternoon's reading, still others for the magnificent and unique art and architecture.
Library Buildings: The Library has been working for a number of years to make all of its facilities accessible. ADA projects are annually put forward as part of the Library's capital budget projects initiative, and are included in all major renovation project planning. ADA projects are for the most part funded through the City of Boston capital program with the construction managed by the City's Department of Neighborhood Development. Of the 25 branch libraries, there are four branch libraries that require ADA improvements. The Kirstein Business Branch, located near City Hall, is also not accessible. These projects are included in the City's 5-year capital plan, but have not yet been scheduled and funded. In the Copley Square facility, the front doors on the Johnson building need to be equipped with automated opening devices. During the past year the elevators in the Johnson Building were all upgraded, including Braille numbering on the floor button pad. Handicapped lifts, which provide accommodation for the different levels between the Johnson and McKim Buildings, were installed in the second phase of McKim renovation, and are currently equipped with self-service keys for public use. Plans are currently under consideration for ramping of the Dartmouth Street entrance into the McKim building. The next phase of the McKim restoration includes a new elevator, which will provide additional access to public space in the upper floors of the McKim Building. That work is scheduled to begin in late spring 2001.
Library Services: The Boston Public Library's Access Services Program is part of the Adult Readers and Information Services Department of the Central Library. The area contains reference materials and equipment to help patrons with disabilities use Library materials within the Library and beyond Library walls. During the current year, the Library upgraded accessibility equipment and technology. Staff training on the new equipment is scheduled for September 2000. The Access Center now has Jaws, Zoom Text, Kurzweil 3000, Duxbury Braille, and a Juliet Braille printer in addition to the Kurzweil 1000. Internet access has been substantially improved through this new equipment and software. The next phase of this project is expansion to the four District Libraries. Opportunities to partner with other organizations to fund the expansion are currently being explored. Staff provides assistance and individualized training of the customer in the operation of special equipment linking users to a full range of materials and services. The collection includes materials in Braille and recorded books, generally from the collection of the Talking Books Library at the Perkins School for the Blind, as well as a reference collection of disability-related materials and a "Lifelong Learning" collection for adults who would like to improve their basic reading and writing skills. Periodicals in Braille, produced by the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, and current back issues of Braille Forum, Braille Monitor, Deaf/Blind Contact Newsletter, Dialogue with the Blind, Journal of Visual Impairment, and Blindness and Tactic are available. Staff maintains a list of Braille periodicals currently available. The library receives approximately 100 periodical titles relating to disabilities. Video tapes which offer closed captioning and American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation for deaf and hard of hearing people and descriptive narratives for blind and visually disabled people (DVS videos) are available in the adjacent Audio-Visual Services Department. Staff maintains a list of videos currently available. Fiction in large print format is on the first floor of the General Library (Fiction and New Books sections). Non-fiction materials in large print format are also available on the first floor of the General Library. The City of Boston (2000 estimated census population of 569,385) is a city of neighborhoods, a vital natural environment, the hub of New England, and a cultural and learning center. The neighborhoods offer great diversity of housing, transit access to the city and region, vital parks and natural spaces, and great cultural and civic spaces. From the elegant rowhouses of Back Bay and Beacon Hill to the majestic Victorians of Dorchester and Roxbury, from the classic apartment buildings of Fenway and Allston-Brighton to the triple-deckers of Jamaica Plain and Hyde Park, people of all types have rediscovered the convenience and excitement of urban living. New waves of immigrants from Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America are bringing new vibrancy to the City. At last count some 140 non-English languages were represented in the City's school-age population. Boston lies at the center of the regional economy and transportation system. Every day, 250,000 people come to Boston to work, attend classes, and visit cultural attractions. Boston is a global magnet for people who care about higher education and research, the fine arts, and every form of music, theater and film. The Boston Public Library numbers among those institutions that serve as a draw for visitors from all over the world. Over 225,000 individuals recorded their visit to the "Mapping Boston" exhibit this past year. On average each year, some 100 people cite the Boston Public Library as a source in books and other publications. Public use of the Boston Public Library is changing, similar to many public libraries, driven by changes in community and technology. On-site circulation has been relatively flat in recent years, 2,308,307 items in FY99; 2,258,524 in FY2000. In a similar timeframe, electronic visits to the Library have doubled. In 1998 users logged some 416,496 visits to the BPL homepage. Projections for 2000 are just under a million electronic visits. The Organization Improvement Model, the planning process undertaken by the Boston Public Library, is driven by stakeholder needs and expectations, the current organizational results, and ways to close the gap between the two. The Planning Process-Teaming for Change In March of 1998 Library President Bernard Margolis brought together a team of library staff charged with initiating a library-wide planning process "…to position our library, our services, and our staff to meet the challenge of providing excellent library service to our very diverse clientele as we enter the 21st century." (Appendix A) Working with consultant David Burnham, a leading consultant in organizational change, a process utilizing the organizational improvement model was put in place (Appendix B). For the next year, the eighteen members of the Change Team solicited input from library staff and the public about the Boston Public Library of today and ideas for tomorrow (Appendix C), developed a library purpose statement to complement the mission statement, and identified eight key values which underlie the mission and purpose of the Library (Appendix D). By the fall of 1999, the Change Team had, in addition, developed and presented to the Board of Trustees for their review seventeen statements of strategic direction (Appendix E). These seventeen strategic statements provided the foundation for the library's strategic goals and offered both immediate and long-term direction for the Boston Public Library. In February 2000, the Library's management team (also serving as the Strategic Process Team) consolidated the seventeen strategic statements into three principle strategies:
In March of 2000, volunteers were solicited from the staff to form a Strategic Implementation Team (SIT). The fifteen staff selected worked with the Strategic Process Team to formulate goals for each principle strategy. SIT members were divided into three sub-groups, each charged with looking at a particular Principle Strategy and drafting SMART goals, that is, goals that were: specific, measurable, action-oriented, realistic and time-bound, and met the intent of the strategic statements. Five all-staff meetings were held to solicit input on the set of draft goals prepared by the SIT. After revisions and additions from the staff were included, the SIT sub-groups each prioritized their goals keeping the mission and purpose of the Library foremost. The draft goals were presented to the Library Board of Trustees at their May, 2000 meeting for their review and consideration. The following strategic statements and implementation plan represent the next steps in the process.
• To provide and preserve access to Information and Collections • To be a center for, and facilitator of, Lifelong Learning • To continuously strive for improved Service to the Public To provide and preserve access to Information and Collections
To be a center for, and facilitator of, Lifelong Learning
To continuously strive for improved Service to the Public
Presented to the Massachusetts
Board of Library Commissioners Glossary: Retrospective Conversion - the transfer of the information maintained in a classic card catalog into an automated card catalog. Guide - where to find services/research departments. Policy - a course of action pursued by the Boston Public Library Library Guides - volunteers or paid staff who would physically guide patrons to the various departments within the central library. |
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