The Niles Library is considering a strategic plan to provide services and programs patrons asked for in an informal survey last fall.

Board members met Wednesday to talk about the plan's progress, and board president Barbara Nakanishi recommended hiring an architect to propose a reconfiguration of space based on the needs the strategic plan identified.

However, one trustee expressed a concern that the board needed to review the plan in more detail before staff put it into practice.

"There really hasn't been a whole lot of board input," said trustee Morgan Dubiel after the meeting. "I think (the plan) needs clarification for both the staff and the board."

Senior staff members told the board they had put a lot of thought into the strategic plan, based on what patrons had told them in the survey.

Barb Kruser, Adult Fiction and Audiovisual Services Supervisor, said she heard over and over that patrons were requesting study rooms and small group meeting space. And as the library's representative to the Niles Chamber of Commerce and Industry, she hears similar requests from small business people.

"People are working out of their living rooms, and they need a place to meet with clients," she said.

Susan Dove Lempke, Youth Services Supervisor, said tutors and children need a quiet zone in which they can work on homework and learning together. Right now, the entire children's area is an active zone, she said.

"We'll take into account staff recommendations. I understand the necessity of space analysis," said board member Danette Matyas, who cautioned that she has only been on the board four months and hadn't heard all the initial discussions about the strategic plan.

Jim McNutt, the library's business manager, explained that the strategic plan would involve reconfiguring the library's existing space, not any new construction or additions to the building.

"It's 68,000 square feet. There's plenty of space here. It just needs to be thought about in terms of how best to use it," he said.

Learn more--Like Niles Patch on Facebook