Burnaby librarians and clerks are hitting the streets, asking people for help in shaping the library’s future.
With the advent of social media and the Internet, the way people are using public libraries is changing.
“While the physical traffic has dropped slightly, we’re seeing more people coming to use in a digital way. They’re still using our resources, they are just not coming to the building,” said the city’s chief librarian, Edel Toner-Rogala. “What we’re trying to get a handle on in the survey is what that trend may look like going forward.”
Until Feb. 7, the Burnaby Public Library is conducting an online and in-person survey to better brace for the future, and staff wants to hear from users and non-users alike.
“It’s a different approach. Libraries don’t tend to do this,” said Toner-Rogala. “We’re trying to figure out: what are we doing right for the people who use us, and what could we do better for the people who don’t use the library.”
The library has been organizing staff to form street teams to conduct surveys in public places, like community centres and malls. The teams come from all four library branches and will cover the city’s quadrants. Those who have used the library in the last year will be asked to complete the online survey at www.bpl.bc.ca, while non-users will be queried on why they don’t use the public facility.
The results will inform the library’s strategic plan, which should be ready in draft form by March and then will be subject to more public consultation in April.
The feedback will be used to plan the library’s future, Toner-Rogala said.
“People don’t read newspapers and magazines in the same way as they did 10 years ago,” she said. “People are choosing to read in a digital format. … We are going to have print for a long, long time. It’s not going to disappear, but there will be more items people choose to access digitally, … so we have to balance those two needs.”
The survey is available online at www.bpl.bc.ca and should only take five to 10 minutes. People can enter their name for a prize as well, a Kobo e-reader or a gift certificate for books.
