Mission: Our Library will inspire our community to become more literate and engaged.

Vision: We are an agent for positive community transformation through interaction, discovery and learning.

Our values include:

  • Access, inclusiveness and intellectual freedom
  • Literacy, discovery and learning
  • Service excellence
  • Partnership
  • Innovation
  • Valuing and empowering employees 
  • Integrity

2023 - 2026 Strategic Plan

The library is excited to share our strategic direction for the next four years! Expand the accordions to learn more about each of our strategic directions.

Advocacy & Community Development
Definition: The community is aware of the Library's purpose and the role it serves.

4-year Vision: There is a positive perception of the Library, its offerings and its place within the community.

Goals:

  1. Increase awareness and use of Library services, programs and collections.

  2. Create a streamlined community development process for staff.
Community Hub
Definition: The library is a centre for community events, activities and interactions.

4-year Vision: The Library connects people and is supported by a broad range of partnerships.

Goals:

  1. The Library is a central space for events and opportunities in the community.

  2. The Library is a desirable community partner.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Definition: The Library is a place where everyone is welcome and belongs.

4-year Vision: The library’s programs, services, staff and collections are inclusive of the diversity of Peterborough.

Goals:

  1. Staff are diverse and demonstrate support for library values and approaches.

  2. Programs, services, and collections are inclusive of our community and DEI principles and help to reduce stigma.

  3. Create a clear understanding of where the library stands on DEI issues.
Infrastructure & Facilities
Definition: Concerning the library building, service points, and transportation.

4-year Vision: The library has an active network of service points throughout the city using Kiosks,

the Book Bike and an electric vehicle.

Goals: 

  1. Increase library service points in the City.

  2. Identify areas of our current building to provide better use of the space.

  3. Establish a working and sustainable café.
Lifelong Engagement
Definition: The Library is seen as the go to place for satisfying ongoing curiosity and learning.

4-year Vision: There are spaces, programs, collections and services available for people of every age.

Goals:

  1. Full life support for all library members, and future members, integrated with our physical and virtual space.
Sustainability & Climate Change
Definition: Become carbon neutral and embody sustainable practices.

4-year Vision: The library is environmentally sustainable and helps others to adopt sustainable life practices.

Goals:

  1. Staff use an environmental sustainability lens on everything we do.

  2.  Increase programming and services that help our community adopt sustainable life practices.

  3. Demonstrate sustainability in our physical spaces.
Technology
Definition: The Library is supporting digital literacy and helping the community stay connected with a continually developing medium.

4-year Vision: The library supports digital literacy initiatives and supports the community with access to technology.

Goals:

  1. Support technology use and adoption in the community.

  2. Library member access to resources is streamlined and user friendly.

  3. Staff are trained and confident using and supporting the public with new technologies.
Truth & Reconciliation
Definition: The library is a place that can help the greater community learn about indigenous experiences.

4-year Vision: The library is a genuine and trusted ally in the project for Truth & Reconciliation. The library’s spaces, programs, services, and collections include Nogojiwanong’s indigenous communities.

Goals:

  1. Establish a Downie-Wenjack Legacy Space and integrate it within the library as a whole.

  2. Develop a Reconciliation Plan with programming, events, and educational opportunities for the community.
Workplace Culture
Definition: The sum of the values, traditions, beliefs, interactions, behaviours, and attitudes of employees at the library.

4-year Vision: Library staff are engaged in realizing the Library's mission and feel a sense of trust in each other and purpose in the work.

Goals:

  1. The Library’s values and mission are applied consistently and are a part of all actions undertaken.

  2. Staff trust each other and work as a team.

  3. Increase staff satisfaction and engagement in the workplace.