Vancouver Public Library prepares to move forward on three-year strategic plan

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      Vancouver's chief librarian, Sandra Singh, is seeking her board's approval to spend $151,300 on a three-year strategic planning project.

      According to a report going to the Vancouver library board on Wednesday (March 30), the board passed a motion in January authorizing Singh to "award a consulting contract for consultants to assist with the development of the 2017-2019 Strategic Plan".

      The report states that the successful proponent is Prime Strategic Planning Inc., initially for a $95,000 fee. However, the cost has increased slightly.

      "After initial meetings with the consultants, it is anticipated that additional costs may be required for meetings with stakeholders," the report states. "As a result, the budget for the cost of the consultant (fees and disbursements) has been increased by $4,000."

      According to Linkedin, Calgary management consultant Joanne O'Shea has been director at Prime Strategic Planning since November 2011.

      Pior to that, she was a strategic planning consultant and project manager at Southern Alberta Institute of Technology Polytechnic and before that, she was corporate development manager at the University of London.

      The remaining costs are broken down in the following ways:

      * $10,900: project team backfill cost for members whose work cannot be deferred;

      * $8,000: staff ambassadors backfill cost to host staff public-engagement sessions;

      * $1,600: auxiliary hours for a City of Vancouver engagement expert to advise and support the engagement process;

      * $10,000: engagement materials, including disussion boards, activity materials, surveys, translation, promotion, coffee, tea, and room rental, if required;

      * $5,000: launch event for speaking fees and disbursements for a speaker on the fuure of libraries at an engagement launch event;

      * $3,000: printing costs for the strategic plan document;

      * $13,800: contingency costs for unanticipated expenses.

      Another report going to the board shows that Vancouver Public Library revenues were $8,992 lower than budgeted in the first two months of 2016. One of the reasons was that fines were $14,500 under what was budgeted.

      Meanwhile, library expenditures were nearly $17,639 higher than budgeted over the first two months of 2016.

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