Planning for Results Library Service Responses
Planning for Results stresses the importance of the connection between community needs and library services. It guides libraries in their efforts to design an overall program of service that is both dynamic and relevant. This process provides thirteen service responses.
What exactly is a service response? How does a service response differ from the eight library roles introduced in Planning and Role Setting for Public Libraries in 1987? In simple terms, a service response is what a library does for, or offers to, the public in an effort to meet a set of well-defined community needs. Roles are broadly defined categories of service; they describe what the library does in a very general way. Service responses, on the other hand, are very distinct ways that libraries serve the public. They represent the gathering and deployment of specific critical resources to produce a specific public benefit or result.
BASIC LITERACY: A library that offers BASIC LITERACY service addresses the need to read and to perform other essential daily tasks.
BUSINESS AND CAREER INFORMATION: A library that offers BUSINESS AND CAREER INFORMATION service addresses a need for information related to business, careers, work, entrepreneurship, personal finances, and obtaining employment.
COMMONS: A library that provides a COMMONS environment helps address the need of people to meet and interact with others in their community and to participate in public discourse about community issues.
COMMUNITY REFERRAL: A library that provides COMMUNITY REFERRAL addresses the need for information related to services provided by community agencies and organizations.
CONSUMER INFORMATION: A library that provides CONSUMER INFORMATION service helps to satisfy the need for information that impacts the ability of community residents to make informed consumer decisions and to help them become more self-sufficient.
CULTURAL AWARENESS: A library that offers CULTURAL AWARENESS service helps satisfy the desire of community residents to gain an understanding of their own cultural heritage and the cultural heritage of others.
CURRENT TOPICS AND TITLES: A library that provides CURRENT TOPICS AND TITLES helps to fulfill community residents' appetite for information about popular cultural and social trends and their desire for satisfying recreational experiences.
FORMAL LEARNING SUPPORT: A library that offers FORMAL LEARNING SUPPORT helps students who are enrolled in a formal program of education or who are pursuing their education through a program of home-schooling to attain their educational goals.
GENERAL INFORMATION: A library that offers GENERAL INFORMATION helps meet the need for information and answers to question on a broad array of topics related to work, school, and personal life.
GOVERNMENT INFORMATION: The library that offers GOVERNMENT INFORMATION service helps satisfy the need for information about elected officials and governmental agencies that enable people to participate in the democratic process.
INFORMATION LITERACY: A library that provides INFORMATION LITERACY service helps address the need for skills related to finding, evaluating, and using information effectively.
LIFELONG LEARNING: A library that provides LIFELONG LEARNING service helps address the desire for self-directed personal growth and development opportunities.
LOCAL HISTORY AND GENEALOGY: A library that offers LOCAL HISTORY AND GENEALOGY service addresses the desire of community residents to know and better understand personal or community heritage.