1. Athens-Clarke County Library
Stakeholder Interviews
Summary
Prepared By Gail Griffith
August 2012
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2. Purpose of Interviews
To collect data from
keyStakeholders for input into the
Strategic Plan
To enhance relationships and
opportunities for collaboration
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3. Who we interviewed
Barbara Dooley, businesswoman and motivational
speaker
 Valdon Daniel, Principal of
Doc Eldridge, President and CEO, A-CC Chamber of Oglethorpe Middle School
Commerce (retired)
Kay Giese, attorney and retired Municipal Court Judge  Phil Pollock, former head of UGA
Institute of Government, Talking
Commissioner Kelly Girtz Book volunteer
Don Nelson, Communications Coordinator, Athens
Technical College  Mary Quinn, former City
Council, Friends of the Library
Dr. William Gray Potter, UGA Associate Provost and
University Librarian  Commissioner Harry Sims
Diego del Pozo, UGA Lecturer, Romance Languages  Julie Walker, Deputy State
Librarian, Athens resident
Amanda Tedrow, Agriculture and Natural Resources
Extension Agent, Cooperative Extension Service
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4. Relationship with the Library
All positive!
Some worked closely with the library
Even non-users felt positive about the
library and its importance to the
community
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5. Strengths
Library
 Is a presence in the community, makes itself accessible
and welcoming to all (5)
 Outreach (3)
 Levels the playing field, providing opportunities to all (2)
 Involves the community (2)
 Close relationships with partners and funders
 Provides good community meeting space (2)
 Provides broad range of services—programs, collection,
public meetings, literacy (2)
 Strong Friends group
 Strong community support
 Board members are involved—not „resume fillers‟
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6. Strengths
Technology Staff
 Computer access for  Helpful and knowledgeable
overall, provide good service (4)
public, well-used (7)
 Leadership and Advocacy—
 Keeps up to date Kathie is one of the strongest
Directors in the state (3)
 Online access to PINES
 Children‟s department staff
and account especially strong (2)
 Computers important for  “Kathryn and her staff have
job seekers done an incredible job with
limited resources of providing
what the community needs. “
 Online access to library (2)
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7. Strengths
Programs Collection
 Youth programs (children  Good collection overall (2)
and teens) excellent and
important, help introduce  Book collection well-used
children to reading (5)
 Heritage, genealogy
 Community and
educational programs (3)  Galileo
 Library is a good partner
for programs—handles
logistics well and attends
to partner‟s needs
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8. Weaknesses or Limitations
 More current e-Books—hard to find
 More social networking
anything both interesting AND
available (2)  More activities to draw in the
whole community? Ex:
 More books on CD (2) community forums, film festival
 Would love to see a significant
around cultural issues
branch with great children‟s services  More computer access for
on the east side of town (2) disadvantaged?
 Expand Heritage Room,
 Website could be more user-friendly provide access to statewide
 Wish we still had bookmobiles—both digitized materials (or promote
a symbol and a way to provide if already doing)
access  Space and programs for teens
 Establish more of a presence in  Space for tutoring
fundraising—have to compete with  Space and informational
many other organizations programs for seniors
 Larger building and more hours
 Hard to retain staff if salaries aren‟t needed for Winterville
competitive
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9. Trends
 Shift to digital and online (7)  Caterpillar plant coming, with
 Must be online to participate in the jobs (4)
world; can‟t even find a job without it  Can library collaborate with
 Technology influences how people labor department to reach
read, learn, are entertained employees?
 Free access to downloadable books,
music, and movies could attract a  High poverty rate (4)
group of non-users
 Easy to get so much from home and  Education (3)
office, need to work harder to draw  High dropout rate
people in  New superintendent focused
 It‟s everywhere—plants at Botanical and driven to improve system
Garden will have QR codes  Increase in homeschooling
 How to bring back teens once they go  Education is valued here
online?
 Growing senior population will
need info and advice (3)
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10. Trends
 Economic turnaround—when? (2)
 Athens is a music town—could the library tie into it? (2)
 Millennials are especially tech-savvy and looking at new and
creative things
 High teen pregnancy rate
 Latino population growing
 Public agencies will have less funding, will need to increase
partnerships and market their value even more
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11. Unmet Community Needs
 Bifurcated community in terms of  Tremendous resources exist
education, jobs, wealth—need to (UGA, Athens Tech); need to do
serve both parts of the community (5) more to determine what
synchronicities are possible
 Need to engage children in their own
education, have more partnerships  20% of public school population
with schools (2) is Hispanic, many come from
homes where only Spanish is
 Community always needs space to spoken
come together and engage in
activities (2)  Access to computers
 Winterville doesn‟t have as many
parks and recreational  Jobs (great that Caterpillar is
opportunities coming)
 Need to reach children Birth—4
through child care providers and  Taxes—not getting enough from
pre-K programs the tax base
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12. Ideas for Partnering
 UGA (6)  Athens Tech (2)
 More technology and digitization  Orientations for students
projects with UGA (2)  Role in training for Caterpillar?
 Internships for journalism majors
 Maintain Library Board connections  Hold more community events that
 Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at appeal to broad range of
UGA (OLLI) people—not just literature-based
programs (2)
 Local history/genealogy programs
with UGA Special Collections  Friends help at Winterville
Library
 Whatever It Takes: Athens
 School district (3) Community Plan for Children
 Library does a good job partnering with  Health services (UGA hospital)
the arts and going after grants (2)
 Full-day conference with multiple
speakers from CES—maybe a
fundraiser for the library?
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13. Opportunities to Improve
Relationship?
 “You are doing it now by reaching out to me! I feel like I
need to get involved now.”
 Be more visible participants in events like those of the
Chamber of Commerce, where many potential partners
come together.
 Many expressed interest in creating more links to the
community themselves—seemed to be waiting to be asked!
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14. Ways to Tell the Library‟s Story
 Outreach (4)
 Go to schools and talk to students
 Visit large employers and tell them what‟s in it for their
employees
 Distribute online newsletter to partners, have them link or
distribute within their network
 Already doing a good job. Word does seem to be getting
out—library is busy! (4)
 Mentioned hearing info on radio (2)
 Create relationships with opinion leaders and use their word-
of-mouth; face-to-face works here (2)
 Social media—does library have a Facebook page? (2)
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15. Ways to Tell Story
 Need a new marketing campaign with new attitude to go
along with the new building. “We‟re here—we rock and roll.”
(2)
 Get a consultant, skilled volunteer, or marketing intern to help
analyze your promotion. Community has large group of retirees
with expert knowledge. (2)
 Seek out opportunities to have events like candidate forums
that could be broadcast from the library
 Market on black radio stations using topics of interest like
health, money management, raising teens
 Library Board is key—they should be connected and use their
connections
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16. Advice for Us
 Continue to think about how to leverage  Serve everyone, including
resources and keep them going (3) the disadvantaged
 Retain good volunteers, keep program
organized
 Partner to help each other, pull
 Look for ways to draw non-
together—maybe work with schools, users in
get SPLOST money as partners
 Will have to become more of a public-  Work with leaders of the
private partnership, go after funds Hispanic community
 It‟s all going digital, you have to be there!
(2)  Ask for suggestions from the
public and show how
 Maintain good relationships with elected you‟re acting on them
leaders
 Make sure you have marketing and
technology expertise on your Board
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17. Advice for us
 May need even bigger facility in next 5 years, or a satellite
facility on the east side
 Your biggest challenge will be persuading the powers that be
that everybody needs to be served—not just certain sections
of the population.
 Continue to welcome everyone—everyone “can be a star at
the library.”
 “Don’t give up! Think of yourselves as a crucial community
resource. Don’t lose sight of this—you are education and
learning at the core. And don’t be afraid to say it!”
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18. Keep at all Costs…
 Keep technology alive (4)
 “Children‟s services are the most critical. Nobody else is doing what you are
doing for children.” (3)
 Basic collection (2)
 Facilities in lower-income neighborhoods
 Hours of operation
 Cut hours, not services (knows they have had to do this and would like to see
cuts reinstated)
 PINES system
 Talking books could be absorbed by the State
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19. $1,000,000 Gift, No Strings!
 Improve the lives of the disadvantaged (5)  New branch on east side
 Partner with social workers and
educators to raise their sights  Expand Winterville
 Ensure access to technology
 Hire educators to give programs on
 Keep collection as strong as possible (3) environment, obesity, other important topics
 Keep up with trends, including technology and  Focus on library as community gathering place
resources accessed remotely (3)
 Outreach—go into the community with books
 Put together a dynamite marketing and programs
campaign that makes people think of the
library as exciting (2)
 Focus on serving teens, seniors, and millennials
 Put some in an endowment for future needs
(2)  Augment salaries and benefits to retain quality
staff
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