EDITOR'S NOTE: THIS STORY WAS MODIFIED AT 6:15 p.m. THURSDAY, 6-18-2015, to correct a quote about people who use the Internet at the library.
Two down and two to go, including a visit at Coffee Zone from 8:30-10:30 a.m. today.
Missouri River Regional Library Director Claudia Schoonover is holding "Coffee with the Director" sessions to learn more from consumers about the library she's been running for nearly a year.
"We're working on a new marketing plan for the library," she said Wednesday afternoon. "We want to know how people perceive the library - what they think we're doing well, what they think we need to work on, and what they'd like to see in the future."
Schoonover said administrators also want to know how people get information about the library and its services.
"We want to know the best way to reach them, in the end," she said. "That's what our marketing plan will be about."
MRRL Marketing Director Paula Schulte added: "We start talking about all of the things that we do, and people are simply unaware.
"And we want them to recognize that our library can make a difference in the quality of their lives."
That's especially true for "our most vulnerable citizens, who need the services that we have - especially our Internet services," Schulte said. "About 50 percent of the people in the state of Missouri who don't have Internet - and the library is their sole source of the Internet - their household incomes are under $10,000."
Schoonover's first job was working at the then Thomas Jefferson Regional Library after graduating from the University of Missouri's library science master's degree program in 1996.
She said there were many discussions about how future libraries would look and operate. "The Internet's changed everything," she said.
The library also is working on a new strategic plan for its Jefferson City, Cole County bookmobile and Linn/Osage County operations.
Schoonover and Schulte noted the strategic plan will be the "overall" vision for the two-county library system and its facilities.
Linn Branch manager Noelle Parker "has her finger on the pulse out there and really gets what they need," Schulte said, "and what the best way is to reach those people" in a close community like Osage County.
In both counties, Schulte said, people support library operations even when they don't visit the branches regularly.
She hopes to have a new marketing plan in place by the end of September.
On Tuesday night, the MRRL Board approved updated plans to seek bids for replacing the original, 1974 air conditioning cooling tower and chiller.
Schoonover expects the work to be done in the fall.
The board also approved talks with Legends Bank for the possible purchase of the library's Linn building, which has been leased for the last 11 years.
Schoonover reported library administrators have had two meetings and plan another in July on reviving a "Friends" group. "We've had one at several times over the years, and they've fallen by the wayside," she said. "And we are rejuvenating a library friends group and taking a different approach - we're hoping to build a group of volunteer advocates to go out and talk about the library in their other community circles."
People interested in joining should call the library at 573-634-2464 and talk with Schoonover or Schulte.
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