Library Refresh Program - Supporting Community Needs @ Montgomery County, MD

About the Program

Category: Libraries (Best in Category)

Year: 2016

Montgomery County Public Libraries’ (MCPL) strategic goal is to build a 21st Century library system that provides outstanding services. In an era of reduced availability of capital improvement funds and a rapidly aging physical and technological infrastructure, achievement of this goal is a significant challenge. In response, as part of the FY13-16 Facilities Plan, an alternative branch assessment category of “Refresh” was added to provide a new structured process with which to evaluate and update MCPL’s 21 branches by “refreshing” each of them over a seven-year cycle. It consists of surveying, assessing and implementing physical improvements to the library infrastructure, updating information technologies, incorporating 21st century library trends based on changing community needs, and replacing furniture and shelving. With limited resources available for full library replacement or renovation, the Program emphasizes “refreshing” branches as a cost-effective approach to keep pace with anticipated changes due to the evolving role of public libraries, technology, and customer expectations, with the main objective of returning the “refreshed” library to its community in a timely manner.