We invite you to explore the next chapter for the Whistler Public Library! Our Strategic Plan for 2024-2029 launches today, just in time for Canadian Library Month.
We raise our hands in gratitude for the opportunity to do this work on the shared, unceded territory of the Lil’wat People and the Squamish People. We also extend our sincere thanks to the Resort Municipality of Whistler, Province of British Columbia, Squamish-Lillooet Regional District, our Board of Trustees, and the Friends of the Whistler Public Library for their ongoing support in fostering our community’s growth through library programs and services.
We are excited to embark on this journey with you. Click here to explore our Strategic Plan or read on to learn more about how and why this document came to be.
Community Engagement
This document is the result of extensive engagement with our community, board, staff, and partners. Your insights and feedback have been invaluable in shaping our vision for the future.
We began our strategic plan process by conducting research to support the library’s planning, engagement, and priority setting. The resulting research report provided Whistler community statistics, context, and insights into emerging library trends.
We then hosted pre-engagement workshops with library staff and trustees to evaluate our research, identify central themes, and to determine the best methods to reach target audiences. We also interviewed staff and leaders from key community organizations.
Using this information, we created a Community Engagement Plan—a multi-pronged framework to gather feedback from diverse voices in our community. Our goal was to connect with those historically underserved by the library and gather specific feedback to inform our vision, mission, and priorities.
In spring 2024, we launched the Your Library, Your Voice Community Engagement Campaign. Over one month, the library engaged nearly 600 participants through various activities, including passive engagements in the library, in-person interviews, focus groups, pop-up activities across Whistler, walkabout interviews on the village stroll, a community event on the library plaza, and both digital and paper surveys.
This engagement connected us with library users and non-users, allowing us to explore priority themes and identify barriers to accessing library services. We also asked participants to share their goals for the next five years to inspire our programming, displays, and collections.
Building on a strong foundation
The next chapter for Whistler Public Library means building on our strong foundation. Over the past several years, our community has experienced change that has prompted the library to look inward and strengthen our organization so that we can adapt to better serve you, our valued patrons. As our community has grown and changed, our library has evolved along with it, playing an increasingly important role in providing the vital tools and facilities necessary for our community to thrive.
Thankfully, we didn’t have to start from scratch! As with our previous Strategic Plans, this work was guided by our ongoing commitment to the core principles of the library sector, which inform our decision-making, govern our behavior, and support our values. These principles form a solid foundation on which we’ve built our strategic priorities for the next five years.
Whistler loves the library!
October is Canadian Library Month (and BC Library Month!), and this community loves our library! We’re excited to be launching our new Strategic Plan during Library Month, when we raise awareness of the valuable role libraries play in our communities. The results of our Your Library, Your Voice Community Engagement Campaign show that participants expressed strong appreciation for the library and a desire for it to grow as a dynamic community hub offering diverse programs, resources, and support. They praised our staff, facility, programming, and community engagement efforts. We also received valuable suggestions for improvement, learned more about the barriers patrons face, and how we can better communicate our offerings to the entire community.
This plan outlines our commitment to fostering a vibrant, inclusive, and innovative environment where everyone can access the resources they need for personal and professional growth.
Click here to read our Strategic Plan Report, which includes further details about our engagement process; explains our Vision, Mission, and Values; and outlines our Strategic Priorities for the next five years.
