SLNC LSTA Five Year Plan & Evaluation
The State Library has submitted to IMLS our Five Year Plan for 2023-2027. This plan takes into account findings and recommendations from the required evaluation of our current Five Year Plan (2018-2022) along with a needs assessment.
The State Library of North Carolina’s Five Year Plan for 2023-2027 consists of three goals. These goals address one or more of the LSTA purposes and priorities and is based on identified needs.
Goal 1: Community Engagement
North Carolina libraries will provide inclusive, user-focused services that enable community-wide growth and transformation.
Goal 2: Equitable Access
North Carolinians will have equitable access to information and technology needed to learn, live, govern, and work.
Goal 3: Responsive Organizations
North Carolina libraries will be places that all people find welcoming and accessible through sustainable organizational practices focused on inclusion, development, and community responsiveness.
Key Themes
In developing the LSTA 2023-2027 Five-Year Plan, the four key themes derived from the needs assessment were taken into consideration: 1) developing human capital; 2) tailoring library supports; 3) pursuing community partnerships, and 4) prioritizing activities to improve diversity, equity, and accessibility among library staff, materials, and programming.
Demographic Landscape
The 2023-2037 Plan also considers North Carolina’s demographic landscape, which includes an expanding population that is growing older, more diverse, increasingly multi-lingual, and more dependent on technology. Perhaps most salient, the low levels of reading proficiency in children, along with high poverty rates and related digital inequities, are important considerations when making state-level decisions about program design and resource allocations.
Conclusion
The State Library will meet these goals through a combination of statewide programs, sub-awards to local libraries, and special projects managed by libraries or library organizations. LSTA funds are intended to address new or expanded library programs and services, and limited ongoing projects, that advance the field and leverage other resources to build sustainability. Some grant programs that address the following goals already exist and may continue based on evidence of success or impact; others will be added to meet new needs as they become evident.