The Medicine Hat Public Library's annual community feedback survey is now available to fill out.--NEWS FILE PHOTO
reporter@medicinehatnews.com
The 2022 survey for the Medicine Hat Public Library is now available. The annual survey is available until the end of the month and is for both library users and non-users. The library is looking for both positive and negative feedback and feel constructive criticism is always useful.
Chief Librarian Ken Feser said, “We welcome all input. This is something we do every year. Questions are much the same as previous years so we can track how we are doing.”
MHPL tends to get high scores, which they are proud of, but they also know it is primarily users who are completing the survey.
“We wonder who isn’t answering the survey and what are we not hearing.”
They love hearing from those who tell them things are going great. However, they are also interested in hearing from those who don’t use the library.
“That is almost more valuable. If there is a barrier or a reason why you are not coming in that really helps us. We have a mandate to serve all of Medicine Hat and we want to,” explained Feser.
One known barrier is the location of the library. It’s inconvenient for some and often there are parking issues. While unable to build a new library, MHPL is trying to deliver as many services as possible from their current location.
While back to normal after COVID they are running a little leaner this year due to budget cutbacks, and some evening hours have been trimmed.
“This is an exploration time to figure out what services are going to be like,” said Feser. “We think the community’s tastes have changed. There is a hunger for services and more activities.”
The library now offers family bookings, such that the theatre of other areas can be booked to be used by a single party, which has been very popular. Mental health programming has also been well received and lots of people came out for the recent mental health fair at the library. They plan to continue experimenting into next year.
One area that needs more work is keeping people safe in the building.
“We get people from all walks of life coming in and it can be challenging dealing with behavioural issues. People are in need and we think that is one thing we will be expanding on in 2023.”
The print copy of the survey is available at the library. Alternatively, the survey can be accessed at mhpl.shortgrass.ca. On the home page, click on the pink banner with ‘provide feedback, share your voice!’ on it to be redirected to the survey. It can be filled in anonymously, or login to Google to save your progress.
