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Nathan Camp
INFO 5320: Public Libraries
Dr. Maurice B. Wheeler
October 17, 2020
Mid-Term: Available Information Regarding the Plano Public Library System
It is more important than ever for library’s to remain as open and accessible as ever,
providing as much in terms of services and information as possible to best service its community.
The Plano Public Library System is one such institution, hosting an impressive number of
services and is home to a library with five branches across the city to serve its population of
approximately 284,000 (“Maps and Demographics,” 2019). Through a comprehensive strategic
plan, a seasonal brochure of classes and programs, a monthly newsletter, and other miscellaneous
resources the Plano Public Library provides a cohesive look at their role, history, governance,
marketing, policies, services, and use of technology.
Roles
The most immediate source of information discussing the role of the Plano Public Library
and its mission comes from the publicly available “Strategic Plan” brochure, available at all PPL
branches and on their website. Included are guiding statements for the library split into four
sections: a vision statement, a list of values, a mission statement, and initiatives. The vision
statement reads, “Our vision is to be a valuable resource and partner that connects and serves our
community with excellence” (Plano Public Library, 2018, p. 4). The values listed are: customer
focus, excellence, good stewardship, innovation, and intellectual freedom, along with
explanations of what each value means to the PPL. These explanations consistently using the
“we” pronoun to drive in the idea that the library is part of the community. The mission
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statement is, “Plano Public Library provides a welcoming environment for engaging our
community, enriching lives and educating minds” (Plano Public Library, p. 5). The three
initiatives, community, development, and library experience, fill out the guiding statements,
along with a short explanation of each point.
Following these guiding statements is a summary of goals for the PPL, a solid strategy as
the document is a strategic plan brochure. The goals are three separate pillars: community,
development, and library experience (Plano Public Library, p. 6). Each goal gets a definition and
a couple of bullet points expanding on each idea. Each one of these goals and the separate bullet
points are then followed up with a chart list out each goal, the strategies to achieve that goal,
actions being taken, and a timeframe for each one.
While a bit higher level than say a list of services available at the library, this document is
invaluable at examining the growth trajectory of the Plano Public Library and gaining insight
into the publicly stated goals of the organization. There is repeated mention of customer focus
for instance, pointing to a focus on positive interactions between library staff and the community
while also clarifying those interactions as taking place within a customer service model. The
approach of the document is also highly goal oriented, showing the community it serves that the
PPL is a goal-oriented organization that is always looking to grow and improve itself. While it
leans more toward PR than actual growth strategies at times, the “Strategic Plan” brochure is an
invaluable look at the organizational ethos of the Plano Public Library and its plans for the
future, and it readily available online and in-person.
History
A timeline of the history of the Plano Public Library System is available on the library’s
website in the form of a timeline named “History of the Plano Public Library System”. The
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timeline starts out in 1884 with the first library service in Plano when Louise Ernestine Rammers
Schimelpfenig opened up the use of her personal library to the community (“History of the Plano
Public Library System,” n.d.). It details a few other important pre-government organized library
events before May 24, 1965 with the event of the “Plano City Council passed an ordinance
establishing a municipal library and appointed a Board of Trustees” (“History”). From there, the
timeline is primarily comprised of dates of bond elections followed by the opening or expansion
of various library branches. The Plano Public Library System is made up of five different
branches: Harrington Library, Schimelpfenig Library, Haggard Library, Davis Library, and Parr
Library, opened in that order. Some of the more recent events on the timeline include events like
the introduction of dial-up access to the library catalog in January 1992, the debut of self-check
machines in November 1994, and the introduction of public Internet access in July 1995
(“History”). The timeline only extends to 2005, indicating that the timeline is an older document
and in need of revision as there are certainly events that have taken place in the past fifteen years
of note for the PPLS that are not recorded on the timeline. For a historical look at the PPLS
though, this document offers a great overview, providing important dates and events in an
accessible and simple to read format available to the public on the library’s website.
Governance
The City of Plano utilizes an advisory board for the Plano Public Library System with
nine members operating on two-year terms. The board advises the city council on “matters
relating to the operations of the library department”, though the ultimate responsibility lies with
the city council (“Library Advisory Board,” 2020). The advisory board presents the annual
budget, future plans for the library, and updates on current programs. The public is allowed to
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attend the quarterly meetings of the advisory board and fifteen minutes is set aside each meeting
for public comments, with each speaker limited to three minutes (“May 1, 2018 Packet,” 2018).
The public has access to the agendas, packets, and minutes of each quarterly meeting of
the advisory board dating back to 2012. The packets are distributed prior to the meeting and
provide a planned schedule of the meeting as well as any pertinent information. For the May 1,
2018 meeting for instance, the Program Use Policy was updated to include language prohibiting
solicitation and the exchange of money or goods without express permission, as well as the
nonrefundable nature of the reservation fee (“May 1, 2018 Packet,” 2018). The entirety of the
policy was provided with the updated sections highlighted. The agenda for each meeting is the
outline of the schedule that is also included in the packet. Minutes for the meetings include the
advisory board members who were present for the meeting as well as those who were absent
(“Meeting Minutes,” 2018). From there, the minutes are precisely what they sound like: a record
of the previous quarterly meeting. All of this information is available for the public and resides
on a portal page with agendas for all of the City of Plano Boards and Commissions which is
linked from the library home page. There is also a centralized page briefly explaining the role of
the advisory board, linking to agendas and minutes, and providing the date for the next meeting
(“Library Advisory Board,” 2020).
Also available is the budget information for the PPLS, found from the City of Plano
website section dedicated to the operating budget. The budget is split into seven sections: one for
library administration, one for library technical services, and the other five for each branch of the
library. Listed for each section are the objectives of that part of the city for the year, any budget
highlights to point out new programs, enhancements, or new personnel requests, and then a
breakdown of the budget itself (“Program of Service,” 2019, p. 184-192). This compares
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previous budgets to the year in question and shows the percentage change. The budget also
includes some additional information about the total circulation of books, new patron
registration, computer usage, home page visits, program attendance, and new books, removed
materials, and the total collection numbers. This information is likely provided as a way of
demonstrating the total usage of the library system to justify the budget expenditures.
Marketing
The Plano Public Library Systems serves over 284,000 citizens, engaging with 147,606
patrons in 2018 alone (Plano Public Library, 2019). As such, the PPLS has a variety of services
and programs available to members of the community and therefore makes a concerted effort to
disseminate information about those services, programs, and events. This information takes a
variety of forms such as the previously discussed “Strategic Plan,” the “Engage” brochure
detailing upcoming programs printed three times a year, a monthly newsletter, as well as social
media accounts like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
The “Strategic Plan” was already discussed in terms of guiding statements and goals for
the future, both of which contain a degree of marketing strategy as they inform patrons of the
current state of the library and the vision for the future. Also included in the document is
information about the year in review, like the 4.6 million items check out, the 3.1 million app
usages, 1.5 million visitors, 20,214 new library cards issued, or 232 outreach events hosting
22,616 people (Plano Public Library, 2019). The information is useful for demonstrating the
general engagement of the PPLS and providing a high level overview of its impact on the
community. While less rigorous than a survey conducted within the community, the statistics
point to a positive relationship between the PPLS and the community with hundreds of thousands
of patrons engaged and dozens of programs conducted. And since all of this information is
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condensed into a single page on the “Year in Review” of the “Strategic Plan,” this also becomes
a handy flyer that can be reproduced and distributed as needed in other situations to quickly point
to the benefit of the PPLS.
The “Engage” brochure is a seasonal brochure that is available online and from every
library branch containing a full list of the programs offered at the library each season. “Engage”
is printed three times and serves the dual purpose of informing the public about the available
offerings at the various branches as well as marketing those same programs and the wide variety
of services the PPLS offers to the community. The programs listed come with a recommended
age range, a short description of the program, and a time and location (Plano Public Library,
2019, p. 3-19). The programs are split into various sections like transportation, art exhibits, early
learning/preschool, just of kids, STEAM, book clubs, career and business, genealogy, technology
classes, and more. Most of the programs are one-and-done activities that are a single lecture or
activity, but some are ongoing classes like citizenship or ESL classes.
The latter part of the brochure is dedicated to more direct advertising about the library.
The first page of this discusses the Friends of the Plano Public Library, an annual membership
that helps to directly support library activities. It lists the activities funded by the Friends as well
as the benefits offered to members (Plano Public Library, p. 20). The next page lists out most of
the services offered by the PPLS such as ebooks, ESL, 3D printing, InterLibrary Loan, oversized
book scanners, and more that will be discussed later (Plano Public Library, p. 21). After the
services is a page detailing the library outreach program, a van designed to helped bring library
staff into the community to showcase the variety of resources available at the library and bring
those to members of the community who would not otherwise have access to them (Plano Public
Library, p. 22). Then comes a section detailing the various events that the PPLS participates in in
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the greater city like the Balloon Fest and a Trick or Treat event, at least during years without a
pandemic (Plano Public Library, p. 23). The back page of the brochure has a map listing out the
various branches of the PPLS and their respective addresses, phone numbers, and hours (Plano
Public Library, p. 24). The “Engage” brochure is a full color 8.5”x11” brochure printed on
glossy paper with attractive pastel colors. As mentioned, it is available in person from every
PPLS branch as well as online. An archive of previous “Engage” brochures is not available. In
terms of marketing, this brochure is more about advertising to existing patrons to get them to
inform them about and engage with services that they may not know about rather than advertise
to people who are not active users of the library. This is evident from the positioning of the
brochure within libraries and the depth of information provided. While sections of this could
potentially be reused within marketing materials, the primary purpose of this brochure is to
create a reference catalog to point patrons to in order to inform them about upcoming programs
and classes offered within the Plano Public Library System.
The PPLS also publishes a monthly newsletter titled “Check It Out”. It is pared down
version of the “Engage” brochure and limits itself to the month it is published, listing only the
October events and classes for this month’s newsletter for example (Plano Public Library, 2020).
Because of the digital nature of the newsletter, certain elements of it can make use of the medium
in ways unavailable to a print brochure. This includes elements such as embedded videos and
direct links to activities or resources. The monthly newsletter is emailed out to anyone who signs
up for it and is also viewable on the library’s website from within a browser. The past years’
worth of newsletters are also available.
The Plano Public Library System also has the standard bevy of social media accounts:
Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Each account appears to have bespoke posts, though they
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often overlap in terms of the events being discussed. The Twitter account primarily relies on text,
along with links to more information about the events or news being discussed (Plano Public
Library, n.d.). The Facebook posts are a mixture of text, photos, and videos as are the Instagram
posts (Plano Public Library, n.d., Plano Library, n.d.). These social media accounts don’t seem
overly active, averaging out at about one post a day. The library also maintains a YouTube
channel that has become quite active in 2020 though. Some videos are shorter videos that
highlight a simple activity, a small tip from a librarian, or informational video (Plano Public
Library, n.d.). As of 2020, the PPLS began uploading longer, approximately one hour long
videos of classes that were previously hosted in-person at the library. This allows for more
patrons to make use of library resources while also keeping the instructors and community safe
by encouraging limited social interaction. Additionally, with a growing archive of these videos,
the PPLS is creating resources that can be utilized to supplement future instruction. The “Year in
Review” notes an increased engagement of 15% on Facebook, 20% on Instagram, and 46% on
YouTube in 2018, so the social media arena is clearly an area of growth for the PPLS and one
that it has definitely focused on even more in a year where everyone has been forced to stay
inside substantially more (Plano Public Library, 2018).
Unsurprisingly given that it’s quite literally the name of the game, the marketing
information for the PPLS is the most forward facing and readily accessible information about the
library system. Given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, marketing is also more crucial than
ever for a library. In that sense, the Plano Public Library System excels, utilizing a variety of
different approaches that coalesce to reach as many patrons and Plano citizens as possible.
Sometimes this means repeating information across the various media, as is done with specific
information about how the PPLS is dealing with COVID-19 (offering curbside pickup, a timeline
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for reopening the branches to the public, and cleaning processes for check-out materials). Other
times, this means creating bespoke marketing materials for each of the different materials, as is
done with the “Engage” brochure and the social media accounts.
Policies
A variety of different policies are available in a specific section of the library website
dedicated to the topic. On it are policies for 3D printing, collection development, exhibiting in
the library, internet use, the library code of conduct, online bill paying, and use of the public
computers (“Policies,” n.d.). The policies are fairly straightforward and outline the appropriate
rules for utilizing the different services the PPLS has to offer. Each policy is provided in a PDF
format and ranges between one and five pages utilizing plain English. Additionally, these
policies are available in every PPLS branch to encourage appropriate behavior.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the PPLS has implemented curbside pickup at all
five branches. As such, the procedure for doing so is listed prominently on the website every
time a patron goes to it. The specific policy is available in a PDF format and lists the hours that
curbside pickup is available, how to place a hold, the procedure to follow when picking up
materials curbside, and how to return specialty items like STEAM kits and InterLibrary Loans
(“Porch side Pickup,” 2020). Since curbside pickup was the only method for checking out
materials from the library for about six months of the year and remains an option to encourage
social distancing, the specific procedure for utilizing this service is prominently featured on the
website and is easy to find.
Services
As with most of the information mentioned above, the services available from the PPLS
are detailed on the library’s home page. A more comprehensive list is available in the “Engage”
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brochure. Services include: 3D printing, booking a librarian, business/marketing research,
citizenship preparation, computer skills with Lynda.com, digital creation spaces, eBooks,
eAudiobooks, digital magazines, ESL, foreign languages, GED preparation, genealogy services,
InterLibrary Loan, investment research, online access and Wi-Fi, oversized book scanning and
printing, room rental, test preparation and study guides, tutoring and homework help, wireless
printing, STEAM kits, and traditional book and other media lending services (“Engage,” 2019, p.
21). Each service is listed out with a short description as well as the location patrons can take
advantage of it, and whether or not the service is available online. The PPLS website also has
each service listed out on the “About” and “Learn” sections along with more fully fleshed out
descriptions of the services than the “Engage” brochure. The website also includes relevant links
for each service, like when the service can be used online as in the instance of the eBooks section
or a signup section for the programs and classes (“Learn,” n.d.). While the “Engage” brochure
does a good job of listing out most of the PPLS services in one place, the website presents the
information in a more attractive format, with more complete information, and has the ability to
provide immediate access to the online components of the relevant services.
Technology
As mentioned previously in the services section, the PPLS provides various technological
services like 3D printing, eBooks, eAudiobooks, digital magazines, online access and Wi-Fi,
oversized book scanning and printing, and STEAM kits (“Engage,” 2019, p. 21). In addition,
technology training classes are available that are designed to teach patrons how to use specific
software like Photoshop, Microsoft Office, and Premiere (“Engage,” 2019, p. 19). All of this
information can be found in the “Engage” brochure as well as on the PPLS website.
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The STEAM kits bear particular mention as it is an initiative the PPLS goes to a great
deal of effort to promote them in marketing materials, on their website, and in the physical
library branches. STEAM kits are small kits that patrons can check out from the library that
include various activities, books and DVDS in the areas of science, technology, engineering, arts,
and math to support and encourage learning (“STEAM Kits,” n.d.). The PPLS has over 100
STEAM kits covering a variety of topics from programming to weather to macramé to animation
and much more (“STEAM Kits,” n.d.). STEAM kits are divided into different age brackets for
preschool, elementary school, teenagers, and adults. In addition to the STEAM kits, the PPLS
YouTube page has a STEAM playlist of 70 videos created to demonstrate short STEAM
activities patrons can engage with at home (Plano Public Library, n.d.). The STEAM section of
the PPLS website is the best source of information about the topic, though it frequently gets call
outs on the various PPLS social media platforms as well as in the marketing materials.
The Plano Public Library System has also developed an app available on Android and
iOS devices titled “PPL to go”. From the app, patrons can search the catalog, renew or request
books, access eBooks, audiobooks, and digital magazines, find upcoming library events, and
look up hours and locations of library branches (Plano Public Library, 2019). Additionally, the
app can function as a library card with a barcode that can be pulled up to scan when checking out
books. The “Year in Review” for 2018 notes that the mobile app was used 3.1 million times
(“Strategic Plan,” 2019).
As with many modern libraries, the PPLS provides online access to the library catalog
from which patrons can search for, check out, and renew books. The catalog also has some
recommended books on the home page sorted into different categories like children’s books or
seasonal books (“Plano Public Library Catalog,” 2020). Searches are filterable using the
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expected categories of keyword, title, subject, author, ISBN, etc. The library catalog has a
prominent position on the PPLS home page, with both a discrete section linking to the catalog as
well as an integrated search bar that, when used, redirects to the catalog and fulfills the search
request.
Conclusion
On the whole, the Plano Public Library System is extremely accessible in terms of the
information they provide and the manner in which they provide it. From diversifying the sources
between the main website, physical brochures and social media accounts to prominently placing
the most frequently used resources like the library catalog or information about how the PPLS is
taking precautions against COVID-19, the Plano Public Library System presents itself as a
modern library system that serves its community well.
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References
“History of the Plano Public Library System.” (n.d.). PPLS History Timeline,
https://www.plano.gov/DocumentCenter/View/242/PPLS-History-Timeline?bidId=
“Learn.” (n.d.). Plano Public Library. https://www.plano.gov/2483/Learn
“Library Advisory Board.” (2020). Library Advisory Board
www.plano.gov/166/Library-Advisory-Board.
“Library Advisory Board Meeting Minutes May 1, 2018.” (2018). City of Plano Library
Advisory Board. https://www.plano.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_050120182518
“Maps and Demographics.” (2019). City of Plano.
https://www.plano.gov/664/Maps-Demographics
“May 1, 2018 Packet.” (2018). City of Plano Library Advisory Board.
from https://www.plano.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_05012018-2519
Plano Public Library. (2020, October). Check It Out.
https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Sunday-Stories-at-theFarmstead.html?soid=1112819780769&aid=gk3q95PTfO8
Plano Public Library Catalog. (2020). City of Plano.
http://polaris.plano.gov/polaris/
Plano Public Library. (2019). Engage [Brochure].
Plano Public Library. (n.d.) Home [Facebook page]. Facebook. Retrieved October 8, 2020 from
https://www.facebook.com/planolibrary
Plano Public Library. (2019). Plano Public Library (Version 5.1.10) [Mobile application
software]. Retrieved from https://play.google.com/
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Plano Library [@planolibrary]. (n.d.). Posts [Instagram profile]. Retrieved October 8,
2020 from https://www.instagram.com/planolibrary/?hl=en
Plano Public Library. (2018). Strategic Plan 2017-2020: 2018 Update [Brochure].
https://www.plano.gov/DocumentCenter/View/24356/2017-2020-Plano-Public-LibraryStrategic-Plan---2018-Update?bidId=
Plano Public Library [@planolibrary]. (n.d.). Tweets [Twitter profile]. Retrieved October 8, 2020
from https://twitter.com/planolibrary?lang=en
Plano Public Library. (n.d.). Videos [YouTube page]. Retrieved October 8, 2020 from
https://www.youtube.com/c/PlanoPublicLibrary/videos
“Policies.” (n.d.). City of Plano. https://www.plano.gov/2834/Policies
“Porch side Pickup.” (2020). City of Plano.
https://www.plano.gov/DocumentCenter/View/43173/Holds-Pickup-and-Specialty-ItemsReturn-Information-at-Plano-Public-Library
“Program of Service.” (2019). Plano Public Library.
https://www.plano.gov/DocumentCenter/View/40521/2019-20-Program-of-Service
“STEAM Kits.” (n.d.). City of Plano.
https://www.plano.gov/DocumentCenter/View/26178/Plano-Public-Library---PreschoolSTEAM-Kits?bidId=