After finishing long planned renovations and restoring old programs after the pandemic, the Bloomington Public Library [BPL] shows no signs of slowing down its progress.
Now, the library is undergoing a new strategic plan.
Jeanne Hamilton, director of BPL, said the library is ready to start its next chapter.
“The board and the staff are really looking forward to what things we want to focus on — what priorities we want to have over the next few years,” she said.
The first step was conducting a community survey that garnered 1,865 responses. The responses will inform somewhere between a 3-to-5-year plan for the library. Hamilton said the plan will be finished this summer.
“I think we’ll really want to do a lot of programming in our spaces, and so we did ask some really focused questions about that,” said Hamilton.
“We recently launched a ‘BPL On the Go' vehicle. We’re using that for outreach services that we’ve had for a long time, like home delivery and taking books to different retirement villages.”
Hamilton said BPL has already been strategic with service points, like retaining positions during major renovations. However, laying out a detailed plan allows the library to consider new spaces and possibilities it otherwise would not have considered.
Also, a consulting firm will aid the library in formulating its plan, Fast Forward Libraries.
“We’re seeing that with even program space, being able to do the programs for the community and then also have, at the same time, community groups can come in and use our meeting spaces, the innovation lab, we’re able to do a lot of things,” she said.
Post-expansion patronage
In 2024, BPL finished its expansion renovations totaling $25 million. With data coming back on how attendance has fared, Hamilton said library use has grown by 204%, with more than 300,000 people coming through the doors in the past year.
Comparatively, from 2021 to 2022 saw 168,000 people visiting the library.
Hamilton said it is best to compare the library’s data to 5 years ago, since it went straight from COVID-19 era policies straight into construction. She added checkouts have increased 31% on top of programing.
“I look back and in the past calendar year, we’ll have 1.2 million items that are checked out this past year. That’s really exciting," she said.
One of many goals of the expansion was to address overcrowding.
“People are so excited about the new spaces, and we are able just to offer so much more than we were before. I even see people coming into the spaces with their family from out of town and showing it off because they’re so proud of it,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton said she sees constant use of the additions created during the renovations, including adding six study rooms to the existing two.
“We just see constant use in those and I think that portrays that desire to get together,” she said. “Sometimes it’s for studying, or we see tutoring going on in those places. And sometimes it’s just people wanting to connect with each other in the community.”
The library also added an innovation lab and a podcast studio.
BPL has also seen the return of the Bloomington Reads program, which was on a long hiatus during the pandemic until last year. It’s the library’s community-wide book club-like program.
In its second year returning, Hamilton said the program looks a little different. Last year, several books were themed around the Eastland disaster, when a ship sank in the Chicago River in 1915, killing more than 800 people.
“But this year, we’re back with a fiction book that is the focus of the whole series, and it’s called The Supremes at Earl’s All You Can Eat. So, through the program, we encourage the whole community to read the book together and then have some book discussion and then some other programs are tied into the theme,” she said.
The book, set in Plainview, Indiana, centers on three lifelong friends dubbed “The Supremes” since high school. One is grappling with her marriage, one with an affair and the other with a health crisis.
After its return, Hamilton said the program has retained its popularity.
“They enjoy the camaraderie of reading a book together and talking about it, and then it really varies from year to year of how many people will come to the key event with the author, but we’re hoping that we’ll have a good turnout this year,” she said.
Library funding
Last year, the Trump administration had terminated funding to libraries and museums, but the Institute of Museum and Library Services reinstated all grants, according to NPR.
BPL does not receive any direct federal funding, so Hamilton said it was largely insulated from threat of cuts.
Services such as interlibrary loan delivery do receive federal funding, but it is distributed at the state level.
“We have been fortunate that our local community supports us really well,” she said. “So, we always go and ask for funding in the November, December time, [Bloomington] City Council approves that, and they did approve the full levy request that we requested this year.”
Hamilton said library staff work diligently on their budget and make conservative requests.
“It does reflect a 1.94% increase from the previous year, but a tax rate decrease of 5.51%, so we felt like that was a happy medium where we’re still having really healthy funding for the library, but we’re answering that demand for the local taxpayers,” Hamilton said.
