Park City Library has a three-year strategic plan that focuses on user experience, inclusivity, community relationships, and lifelong learning. The library has defined lifelong learning which encourages and fosters growth across all life stages. The goal for this year is to assess the YouCreate Lab and databases, in alignment with the 10-year facility analysis, in relation to the community’s creative and innovative needs.
Research
The committee researched other libraries’ offerings for makerspaces and databases. The committee explored potential new databases and analyzed current offerings and will make future decisions based on partnership funding. Park City Library is a leader in Utah public libraries by providing alternative databases to the community for research and lifelong learning pursuits.
In the Fall, the committee visited the Salt Lake City Public Library and the University of Utah Marriot Library to explore their services for makerspaces. This was very insightful and informative, as the committee was able to observe new trends in this sector of librarianship and learned that the makerspace trend is shifting to community-based needs. The findings allowed us to reflect on our service model and the YouCreate Lab as a whole. We looked at statistics of the usage of our offerings, and we are consistently visited by librarians from other libraries, who inquire about how we manage and upkeep our makerspace.
Financial Literacy & Small Businesses
The committee discussed ways to increase financial literacy and enhance the offerings for small businesses. Librarians are currently programming with Utah State University-Extension Empowering Financial Wellness Program to provide personal financial classes throughout 2024; included is a financial series for Spanish speakers. In August 2024, the Library is partnering with local government and organizations to offer a housing resource fair.  This will promote awareness and education to first-time homebuyers.  The Library applied for and was awarded the Thinking Money for Kids grant. This grant provides the Library with programming materials and items for circulation for children to engage in financial education topics for the next fiscal year. Also, enhancements to the Library’s copy center with more information about small businesses, program offerings, office supplies, certified shredding service, and plans for improvements for the business center.
Conclusions & Next Steps
The committee recommends that the YouCreate lab not be soley focused as a high-tech lab, instead continuing to offer items that our community wants and responds to such as unique items, Macs, a sound booth, a 3D printer, and meeting spaces.   Staff have reorganized the space in the YouCreate lab and obtained new shelving to house the Unique Items Collection. We have added a new sound booth, a virtual meeting space, and a quiet study space in the back room of the YouCreate lab. The Utah State Library revised its database offerings and is providing new database platforms. In FY 2025, Librarians will be assessing the state provided offerings and will compare to the Library’s current and future database subscriptions. . We are also assessing the findability of our current database offerings, and plan to update the Library’s website for a more user-friendly experience. The Library is partnering with the National Library of Medicine and the University of Utah Health to offer virtual healthcare services.