Durham County Library

Strategic Planning 2007 - 2010

Steering Committee

Charter 1/30/07

Rationale:

The Durham County Library established a Steering Committee to serve as a resource, represent community and personal interests and serve as a link between the library and the community in its strategic planning process. The Committee also functions as a focus group and sounding board for project activities and findings. 

The Committee is a group of people brought together by the Durham County Library who are committed to a common purpose – developing a three year strategic plan for the library, for which they hold themselves mutually responsible. The team is accountable to the entire Library for producing workable options that meet customer and community needs. 

Purpose of the Committee:

Each member of the Steering Committee is committed to the success of the strategic planning process and will bring energy, time, enthusiasm, and thoughtful suggestions to each meeting.  Each member will serve as a direct communications link to library staff or other stakeholders on the strategic planning process and the resulting plan.

The role of the Steering Committee includes the following tasks:

§         Attending all Steering Committee meetings (3-4) and the full search conference;

§         Identifying key library stakeholders;

§         Creating the Search Conference invitation list;

§         Contacting the stakeholders and encouraging their participation at the Search Conference;

§         Attending at least one site visit or presentation;

§         Reviewing and analyzing the data that comes out of the Search Conference and site visits;

§         Reviewing and analyzing the results of any additional internal and external assessments;

§         Discussing and/or identifying the strategic issues; and

§         Recommending strategies and priorities.

Meetings will be scheduled at key project milestones and each member will be notified as far in advance of each meeting date as possible. It is estimated that the entire strategic planning process will take about six months to complete, after which time the committee will be disbanded.

Performance Goals: 

1. Develop a list of stakeholders to attend the Search Conference to include name, title, and contact information.
2. Contact each identified stakeholder individually to encourage their participation at the Search Conference.
3. Contact stakeholders after the conference to thank them for their participation.
4. Follow up with and interview stakeholders who were not able to attend the conference.
5. Recommend ways to capitalize on any opportunities or overcome any identified barriers.

Resources:

• Facilitation:  The Consultants will facilitate all meetings.
• Documentation: The Consultants will document all meetings they attend. In the event that the Consultants are not present (e.g. at a site visit), the Project Managers will be responsible for documenting the activities and discussions.
• Meeting and working space and equipment:  The Library will provide suitable meeting rooms for all Committee Meetings.
• Administrative Support: The Core Group will coordinate all strategic planning process logistics.

Accountability and Authority:

The Committee will serve as advocates for plan implementation.  The Committee serves in and advisory capacity to the Library Director and Durham County Library Board of Directors.

Michael Page and Skip Auld serve as Co-Chairs for the Steering Committee.

Steering Committee Resources