What to expect from CADL as it celebrates 25th anniversary
Happy New Year from your local library! After we’ve dusted away the celebratory confetti and put away the party horns, Capital Area District Libraries will be shifting our attention to the year ahead.
The party supplies won’t be put away for too long, though, because we have a lot to celebrate in 2023. CADL is celebrating its 25-year anniversary. We wouldn’t have achieved this milestone without the support of the community, and we’re eager to celebrate with you.
Amongst the celebrations, we will also be getting work done. We’re in the final two years of our five-year strategic plan, which has helped guide us in our mission of empowering people to learn, imagine and connect. We are proud of what we’ve accomplished and are looking forward to what’s on the horizon.So, what can you expect from us in 2023? Here are five projects we have planned that you can look forward to:
Student Success Initiative scholarship
You can expect us to offer a new, exciting component to our Student Success Initiative. We’ll be launching an SSI scholarship that will provide two local high school seniors with $1,000, which they can use toward continuing their education. The scholarship will be funded by donations through Kroger Rewards and a donation from Capital Area Transportation Authority.
The SSI is a partnership between CADL and school districts in our service area to provide more than 30,000 students with access to our educational resources. We’re thrilled to build upon this initiative by offering a scholarship program. More details about the SSI Scholarship, including how to apply, will be announced in the coming year.
Renovations at our Foster and Mason branches
Community members can anticipate seeing “area under construction” signs at our Foster and Mason branches. Renovations will bring much-needed updates to each building. The renovation at the Foster branch includes updating its shelving, carpet and paint, while the scope of work at the Mason branch will consist of making the building more accessible for all library users.
Updates to our catalog
We have an exciting update planned for our catalog, making it a more user-friendly experience. The update consists of implementing a discovery layer that will make browsing, searching and finding library materials much easier. For example, instead of a long list of the same title in every format, all book, eBook and audiobook versions of the same title will be “rolled up” into one entry.Additionally, the update will allow our members to check out digital content from OverDrive and hoopla right from within the discovery layer. For those who aren’t familiar, OverDrive and hoopla are two of our download and streaming services that offer ebooks, audiobooks, comics, movies, music and more. The update also features a more robust spell check and new algorithms for relevancy, so the search experience is more like a Google search and not as restrictive as a traditional library catalog.
Collaborating with our communities
We are committed to our goal of increasing diversity, equity and inclusion, and we believe partnering with our community members can help us achieve that. We plan to form community groups that will assist us in developing programs, policies and library spaces that are inclusive to all our members.
Addressing digital inclusion and digital literacy
We want to ensure that all members of our communities have access to information and communication technologies, such as broadband internet service. That’s why we’re going to explore emerging funding opportunities and community partnerships to address broadband gaps.
These are just five of the projects that we have planned for 2023, with others in the works. For more details about events and projects in celebration of our 25-year anniversary, visit cadl.org/25.
Scott Duimstra is the executive director at Capital Area District Libraries.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Capital Area District Libraries 25th anniversary celebration plans
