Ohio County library seeking input

Christie Netherton, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.
·2 min read

Jul. 27—The Ohio County Public Library is utilizing a survey to get community feedback about how the library can improve its services.

The survey, according to director Melanie Warga, is open to anyone in Ohio County, whether they are a patron of the library or not.

The goal, she said, is to set long-range goals for the library and figure out what it needs to provide for the community.

Warga said the library, and most other libraries, try to adjust their services every three to five years to ensure programming is in line with community needs.

"One of the things that we are trying to ascertain is, how people utilize the library. With COVID, we've had so many changes in the structure of the way that the library is run, so we're looking to see what changes people want to keep, what changes people want to move on from," she said.

"This is just the early stage of this particular endeavor, and the closer we get to the end of the year, we'll start putting together these focus groups and we'll start taking volunteers from the community and we'll start doing some direct mailing to get as many voices heard as we can."

Warga said one change people have requested in the past is for the library to provide more services and programming for teens.

She said offering more programming, space and accessibility for teens at the library are goals for the library in the next year or so.

Once the survey has been completed, Warga said the library will develop focus groups for different age groups and demographics to help target specific changes in programming and what the library can do to better engage those specific people.

"Hopefully we'll get lots of feedback because the only way we can know what the community needs is if they tell us, so we're very excited to get as much feedback as we can," she said.

The survey will run through September. It is accessible on the Ohio County Public Library website, Facebook page and in-person at the library. Patrons can also request a mail-in survey as well.

Christie Netherton, cnetherton@messenger-inquirer.com, 270-691-7360