MCLS began work on a strategic plan last year, and I’m pleased to share the basics of our emerging 2025-2028 plan this month. Our strategic plan is a flexible, living document we can adapt as rapid change for libraries and their users continues. We used a strengths-based process to create our plan based on input we gathered earlier this year from member libraries and other stakeholders. As we start to roadmap our plan, the MCLS staff is paying careful attention to balancing existing priorities and potential new ones we’ve identified from the input we gathered. I’ve also asked the MCLS Board of Directors to consider how their governance and vision-setting work will intersect with our plan over the next three years.  

Here are the steps we took to get to our plan: 

1. We opened an RFP process in 2023 and selected Spartina Consulting as our strategic planning consultant. 
2. We started our process in November 2023 at the MCLS Board retreat, where a group of our staff worked with the Board directly to create an initial strategic plan framework. 
3. We tested the framework and gathered input from a variety of stakeholders from February through April 2024 through community conversations, interviews, and a survey. 
4. Our staff reviewed the input we gathered in May and June and identified opportunities that aligned with our initial framework and ones that were new. 
5. Our managers compiled those results into our strategic plan in July, with the elements below as well as a number of potential strategies that came from the input we gathered. 
6. We began to engage with our staff on potential strategies and shared the plan with the MCLS Board in August, so we can consider how to keep the Board’s and the staff’s work aligned.  
7. We’re sharing the basics with our community now and will have much more to share in the weeks and months to come.  

Here are the basics of our 2025-2028 MCLS strategic plan. 

MCLS Strategic Plan – 2025-2028   

MISSION
We are a non-profit, member-driven organization that seeks to collaborate and share resources that support libraries of all types to better serve their communities.   

PURPOSE
Connecting libraries with quality services, cost-effective products, new approaches, and creative solutions.   

VISION
Empowering libraries to achieve the extraordinary.   

CORE VALUES  
Service Excellence  
We keep libraries and library staff at the center of all that we do, strive to be responsive to their current and future needs, and remain committed to helping them excel.   

Relationships  
We engage and listen actively with respect and authenticity.   

Equity
We believe everyone should be and feel empowered to succeed, respect individuality, and celebrate all unique perspectives.    

Collaboration
We foster community, connectedness, and partnerships to incubate ideas, co-create solutions, and experiment boldly.    

 Integrity
We support libraries professionally, ethically, and with transparency.   

Proactive
We look forward to anticipate and prepare libraries for change.  

Key Strategic Priorities   

ENGAGEMENT AND COLLABORATION
We seek to grow our community through opportunities to connect and cultivate relationships.   

INVEST IN INNOVATION
We challenge ourselves and others to imagine and re-imagine by exploring unique ideas, services, and solutions.    

STRENGTHEN AND SUPPORT  
We seek to support and advocate for libraries to advance the profession, empower library staff, and ultimately benefit and strengthen the communities we serve.      

AWARENESS AND ACCOUNTABILITY  
We continually evaluate and improve operations and policies for the benefit, service, and support for our community.    

Stay tuned for more information about our next steps to implement our strategic plan in the coming weeks and months. My thanks to everyone who participated in the work that has led us to our plan, from our Board and our staff to member libraries, vendors, and other stakeholders. Special thanks to our team at Spartina for their help and guidance throughout the process. We at MCLS look forward to engaging with you and continuing forward as an organization to serve libraries over the next three years and beyond. 

Have a question or idea for MCLS? Contact me anytime at garrisons@mcls.org.