As you may be aware, MCLS recently launched its 2023-2024 strategic planning journey. We are seeking broad input and participation in shaping our vision for the future, particularly as it relates to exploring:

• Engagement and collaboration–building community and strengthening relationships with our member libraries as well as others with whom we work and collaborate.
• Investing in innovation–doing something no one else is doing, and/or scaling ideas from one or few libraries to many, with an “innovation mindset”.
• Championing and supporting our libraries–collaborating for the benefit of our libraries and their communities.

We are partnering with Spartina Consulting who are facilitating a strengths-based, participatory approach to strategy development known as Appreciative Inquiry. Our next step will be holding a Listening Tour. At the listening sessions we’ll use Appreciative Inquiry questions to harness your wisdom and creativity in helping us to examine and further build upon a draft framework of the strategic topics above. Think of this as an invitation to help us co-create a “partially painted canvas” for our next chapter together.

We believe your perspective and experience can support us immensely, and we would like to invite you to attend an upcoming listening session. For more information, dates, and to register, please visit our website. 

We’re incredibly hopeful to have the privilege of working with you in this capacity. If you are not able to attend one of our sessions but would still like the opportunity to share your input, we are happy to conduct a one-on-one interview; simply email us at engagement@mcls.org to set up a time.

Thank you for volunteering your time and talent to be a part of this important work. As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to MCLS Executive Director, Scott Garrison, at garrisons@mcls.org.