The Plan

• Anchorage Public Library Community Plan
• Appendices

Libraries traditionally are used more heavily when economic conditions are poor. At the same time, libraries are faced with reduced capacity to serve the public. The Anchorage Public Library is struggling to face these challenges and trying to do more with less.

Anchorage Public Library Vision: The Anchorage Public Library is an essential partner in building and sustaining a literate citizenry, transforming lives through information and knowledge and enhancing Anchorage’s quality of life. The Library’s new mission statement underscores the Library’s role as an organization that strengthens the community and provides opportunities for discovery.
Anchorage Public Library Mission: The Anchorage Public Library enriches individual lives and strengthens our community by promoting reading, offering equitable and convenient access to information and providing opportunities for learning and enjoyment.

Recommendations

Read full recommendations for how to survive and thrive.
Our library can survive and thrive into the future. Here's how:

1. Let people know what the library offers.
2. Enhance customer service.
3. Reduce operating costs and secure new sources of funding.
4. Encourage a new generation of library users while engaging traditional users.
5. Create a more welcoming, community-centered library.

Survive

Our Library is in a struggle for survival. If left unchecked, current funding trends will lead to a library that is at best mediocre and at worst irrelevant. Although the Library is among Anchorage’s most heavily used public services and has numerous supporters, it will suffer irreparable damage if it fails in the short-term to maximize the value of existing resources, to better meet the needs of traditional users, and offer the technology-based services needed to engage a new generation of users.

Thrive

We can strive beyond the status quo to become a strong, stable library of tomorrow. In order to thrive, we must embrace a new sense of purpose and diversify our funding sources to become the library Anchorage needs and envisions. We must sustain the gains we achieve toward providing relevant information-services to our community. And, we must form new partnerships and new approaches to secure stable funding and support to operate our libary and invest in innovation.