While there is always a need for a longer, in-depth community analysis, I gathered information from employees via email, library data, from the county and statewide, town meeting documents, and anecdotes to create a picture of how the community interacts with the public library.
Firstly, from an employee point of view, I spoke with Gabrielle Barnes and Victoria Huertas, two Windsor locals who now serve Wilson Branch and the Main Library, respectively, although Victoria did work at Wilson in the past. While the libraries are not far from each other Wilson has a smaller staff and doesn't have the meeting rooms one can find at down at the main location. Privacy is an American Library Association value, but usually in the context of keeping patron data confidential (American Library Association, 2014). However, this applies to wanting to meet with a social worker at Wilson and talk about personal information, for example. While feedback is generally welcomed from the public as the library continues to think of ideas, there is no specific webpage or physical dropbox for suggestions, but there is a page to suggest materials for purchase.
I put this in reation to two short anecdotes from a young adult (over 18) patron who lives close to both public library locations, but only goes to the main location. When asked why, they replied saying that they went to an event once, but spent more time at the main library, where most teen events were hosted, especially after school. "I knew someone who lived in Wilson but would go to the Town Green. I heard that Wilson was less comfortable because there's less space than the main branch and it's not as quiet, so it can be harder to do work there (personal correspondence, August 2023)." While the Windsor Public Library website has a link on the bottom navigation to a map of the Main Library, no image loaded during the times I attempted to visit the page (Map of the Main Library – Windsor Public Library, n.d.). There is no map provided for Wilson.
According to town documents, the building ownership of Wilson Branch transferred to the Town of Windsor from the WIndsor Library Association only recently, in October 2022 (Town of Windsor, CT 2022). Huertas wrote that "most of [Windsor Public Library's] funding comes from the Windsor Library Association, but typically we are mainly dependent on the town’s budget, and I’d consider the Town itself a large stakeholder. Some programs work in conjunction with our town departments such as social services and recreation who can host adult programs at the library (personal correspondence, August 2023)." Outreach to local organizations is a central component to evaluate and continue in a variety of ways, as seen through Windsor's work and various case studies applying the methodology of Mehra and Davis. As Gabrielle stated, WIlson's main audience is the immediate neighborhoods of Wilson and Deerfield, then the rest of Windsor, and then other CT residents.
Tutoring statistics after the staff turnover associated with the pandemic is evidence of the volunteer presence. On the other hand, planning post-2020 has complicated the process of putting together a strategic action plan. Barnes mentioned that "operations had to be nimble to meet the ever changing guidance of the CDC (personal correspondence, August 2023)." Despite not creating a new strategic plan, the library continued efforts and received $2000 to improve DEI in programming and collections, which led to the Black history databases available today, two book club sets about anti-racism, and events. There is newer programming for autistic children and adults, meanwhile the ESL Tea and Talk sessions in tandem with the adult education department dissolved. Different adult needs are met throughout the year.
"Privacy Field Guides", American Library Association, April 25, 2014.
http://www.ala.org/advocacy/privacy/fieldguides (Accessed August 4, 2023)
Document ID: 8cc77977-d1b5-ce54-c51a-be6a3b6b560e
Map of the Main Library – Windsor Public Library. (n.d.). Retrieved August 4, 2023, from https://www.windsorlibrary.com/home-2/map-of-main-library/
Meeting Documents. (n.d.). Town of Windsor Connecticut. Retrieved August 4, 2023, from https://townofwindsorct.com/sf/show/documents