BROKEN BOW – The Broken Bow Public Library held its community needs forum on Thursday as part of an effort to retain its gold accreditation status with the Nebraska Library Commission.
The forum drew librarians, board members, community members, and a city councilman familiar with how the institution weaves itself throughout the community; roughly 15 gathered in the library’s meeting room to brainstorm just how the library’s footprint could better fit Broken Bow’s shoe.
Divided into several small group discussions, the library faithful addressed how they defined the library, its strengths and the strengths of the Broken Bow community as a whole, the shortcomings of services within Broken Bow, and how the library may be best able to assist in filling those gaps.
The library seems to change hats with the months: it can by season provide classes, youth programming, reading programs, social and meeting spaces, and internet and printing access, not to mention a constantly evolving and growing collection of books. City Councilman Paul Holland might have put it best: “It’s a combination of everything.”
Some of the biggest needs the group highlighted were increased childcare services, workforce housing, and a variety of wellness programs, which could include bike trails, mental health resources, dog parks, and in the eyes of Liz Babcock, a single roof under which most of it could happen.
“For wellness, we talked about a centralized place for classes, a place to host martial arts or things like that.”
Unsurprisingly, according to a recent survey released by the library regarding community needs childcare and housing were the top 2 concerns for the community at large.
As far as how the library could address some of the community needs, it may come down less to providing space, and more to providing connections; the Broken Bow Public Library already has an extensive reach not only in town but around the county as well.
Broken Bow Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Stephanie Grafel, in an idea that was echoed at several points throughout the evening, posited that one way the library could potentially expand its reach without overextending itself would be to rely a bit more on its community to provide additional services.
“Maybe there should be more partnerships with the library: partnering with the hospital or clinics for mental health but using the library’s building. Maybe with Kindermusik, partnering with area schools, seeing if there would be music teachers interested in doing something like that, maybe either as an after-school or summer program.”
Topping the community survey list of areas for library improvement were adult programming, evening classes and book clubs, mother and son events, and arts engagement such as painting and crafting classes.
Library board member Mike Garner, present to track the small groups’ input, concluded the meeting with remarks of his own, stating that community feedback goes further than merely providing an accreditation piece; it is crucial to how the library can evolve to best continue to serve its community.
“I know we’ve all been at meetings where you share input and feel like it’s forgotten the moment you walk away, but we are really interested in what that input. Within our ability to do those things you’ve suggested, we really would like to do them. We understand the role the library plays in the community.”
