Victorian Public Libraries 2030
Strategic Framework
June 2013

Background
Objectives:
• Identify global trends that may impact future public library services
• Explore alternative futures, tipping points & strategic responses to trends
• Develop & extend the capacity of the sector to think strategically
• Create an adaptable framework that can meaningfully guide strategic planning in any location

Process
Collaborative 5-stage process involving over 80 Victorian public library managers, staff & stakeholders
1. Interviews
2. Creating future scenarios workshop
3. Transitioning to the future workshop – backcasting
4. Impact on public libraries workshop – analysis
5. Strategic framework workshop

Victorian Public Libraries 2030
Strategic Framework
June 2013

Social trends
• Creativity
• Collaboration
• Brain health
• Dynamic learning
• Community connection
Photos: Brimbank Libraries, Glenelg Libraries, Wyndham Library Service

Victorian Public Libraries 2030
Strategic Framework
June 2013

Five prominent & emerging social trends
Creative scenario
Creativity
The desire to unlock, express, develop & record creative interests
Collaboration
The willingness to partner, cooperate
& share with others
Community scenario
Brain health
The need for lifelong mental engagement, stimulation & care
Dynamic learning
The need to continually learn new knowledge & skills to participate fully in a rapidly changing environment
Community connection
The desire for stable & trusted relationships with people & places of common interest

Opportunities
Community wants & needs emerging from future social trends
A drive to explore & develop creative interests
Opportunities for public libraries
Opportunities to partner & share with others, both as individuals & as organisations
Lifelong mental engagement, stimulation & care
Continuous acquisition of new knowledge & skills to participate fully in a rapidly changing environment
Stable & trusted relationships with people & places of common interest
Become vibrant creativity hubs, facilitating communal creative development & expression
Become co-working hubs, bringing people & organisations together to collaborate creatively, socially & professionally
Become the community’s brain gymnasium
Provide community learning programs that support
21st-century literacies
Become the community agora – a meeting place for people to gather, share & learn

Strategic Framework
Strategic objectives
1. Storytelling
2. Revenue & funding
3. Products, services & programs To offer a suite of products, services & programs that meets the community’s changing expectations & needs of a public library into the future
4. Facilities & resources
To develop a portfolio of revenue & funding streams that ensure the future prosperity of Victorian public libraries
To incorporate a mix of flexible spaces that facilitate & support the range of public library products & services into the future
5. Staff
To generate internal & external belief & buy-in to a shared vision for the future role of Victorian public libraries
To develop a flexible & inclusive culture that attracts & retains people with the right skills & attitude to deliver public library products & services into the future

Signals
‘With the rise of ebooks, public libraries are at a crossroads. Some book publishers … are reluctant to supply ebooks to libraries at the very time that library patrons are clamouring for greater access to such materials.
Rather than standing idly by … some libraries … are developing community publishing initiatives in partnership with self-published ebook authors.’
Mark Coker, Huffington Post, March 2013

Victorian Public Libraries 2030
Strategic Framework
June 2013
The Victorian Public Libraries
2030 Summary Report and full report are available at www.plvn.net.au