Library Cooperative Holds ‘2020 Vision’ Meeting At New Tampa Library

What do you want from your public library?

Cooking classes? Yoga classes? More DVDs or magazines? Less noise?

These questions, and more, were asked on Feb. 16 at a Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative (HCPLC) 2020 Vision Open House at the New Tampa Regional Library (NTRL) on Cross Creek Blvd.

The NTRL stop was the third in a series of 10 open houses HCPLC is holding across Hillsborough County as the cooperative forges it’s agenda for the next five years.

“This is the public input period in the planning and design of our strategic plan,’’ said Andrew Breidenbaugh, the director of library services for Hillsborough County during the meeting. “We use this as kind of a guide to what our services are going to look like for the next five years.”

HCPLC had a handful of displays for patrons to look at in NTRL’s community room during the open house, with employees of the cooperative stationed at each display to facilitate conversation and answer questions.

The turnout was the best yet, Breidenbaugh says, as 73 people took part, compared to an average of roughly 40 at the HCPLC’s previous two stops at the Upper Tampa Bay and Jimmie B. Keel regional libraries.

“That was great and nice to see,’’ said Breidenbaugh, who says he started his career at the New Tampa location when it opened in 1997. “It’s nice to see such involvement from a community that doesn’t really have a center. Maybe the library can be that center.”

Although inconclusive at this early stage in the 2020 Vision process, some of the responses at the NTRL open house indicated a desire for the library to partner with museums, schools and neighborhood associations, but not so much with sports teams and restaurants.

Some people wanted the library to start offering yoga, cooking classes and even self-defense classes. Others expressed interest in the library carrying newer-release DVDs and books.

In 2015, the HCPLC hosted 13,452 events and classes in its 29 libraries, ranging from astronomy to computer coding, with 272,463 people participating.

“We take the public phase input on this very seriously,’’ Breidenbaugh said. “We were looking for feedback on what we are doing well, what it is we can improve and generally speaking what people want in their future library.”

When the remaining seven open houses have been completed, the HCPLC will solicit questionnaires and surveys through its website and in print, sometime in late March.

That will be followed by focus groups in late May or early June of this year. The HCLPC will analyze the raw data and put together a plan by Oct. 1, the start of the county’s new fiscal year.

One thing that Breidenbaugh says will be interesting to watch is how the HLPLC balances the technological demands of the patrons who use the library for the internet, and those who prefer it remains a completely silent place for reading books and studying.

Customers who have used the library for a long time seem to like the way it is, but the way information is presented today is far different — and far louder, according to Breidenbaugh — than it was 25 years ago.

“There are different ideas of what the library should be,’’ Breidenbaugh said. “The picture is not clear to everyone.”

By October, the HCPLC hopes the picture will be clearer.

The New Tampa Regional Library is located at 10001 Cross Creek Blvd. For more information about future open houses and how to take part in the 2020 Vision, visit 2020Vision.hcplc.org.