Project Timeline
- Project Kickoff: September 2024
- Public Engagement Round 1: Engagement Boards - Sept and Oct 2024
- Public Engagement Round 2: Co-design Process - December 2024 and January 2025
- Public Engagement Round 3: Survey - May 2025
- Presentation of Findings: July 2025 Library Board Meeting
- Presentation of Final Recommendations Report: August 2025 Library Board Meeting
- Presentation of Final Recommendations to City Council: November 3, 2025
Project Process
November 2024: The library completed its first round of engagement for the study on October 21, 2024. This round of engagement included gathering opinions on community needs, reasons that people visit or don't visit the library, bookmobile, or digital services, and looked for priorities based on 21st century library offerings. MSR Design collected and analyzed this feedback as they work towards their recommendations. Slides from the Library Board meeting (November 20, 2024) with the results from the first round of engagement can be found here.
December 2024: Stakeholder interviews began in the beginning of December. The Co-design process also kicked off which will include diverse voices in the conceptual and design development process through paid positions where community members develop the project’s key principles and measurements for its success. Through a series of facilitated meetings and individual explorations, the co-designers and their communities, inform a set of guiding principles that the design team can use to develop a more equitable and community-centric outcome.
The primary objectives of the co-design process are the following:
1. Meaningfully include diverse voices in the conceptual and design development process through paid positions where community members develop the project’s key principles and measurements for its success.
2. Community members are selected because they or their community is most impacted by the project and have the least amount of access to influencing its development.
3. The requests, conversations, and questions of communities acknowledge and utilize previous research and community input to scope the co-design effort. Co-design explorations are grounded in the lived experiences and assets of the communities most impacted by the project’s development.
4. Through a series of facilitated meetings and individual explorations, the co-designers and their communities, inform a set of guiding principles that the design team can use to develop a more equitable and community-centric outcome.
March 2025: MSR presented to the Library Board on Thursday, March 27. This included the first draft of recommendations from data collected in the study so far. The Library Board meeting was live streamed and recorded, and can be viewed on the library's YouTube channel.
April 2025: MSR presented to the Rochester City Council in a study session on April 14. The YouTube recording is available on the City of Rochester channel. You can also view the presentation slides and the engagement report including the co-design report. The full survey will become available in May.
May 2025: SNG Research launched the library community survey on May 19, which ran through Sunday, June 8.
June 2025: Data from the survey will be reviewed and inform recommendations for the future of library services. Survey findings and draft recommendations will be presented at the July Library Board meeting on July 16 with final recommendations being presented at the August Library Board meeting on August 20.
August 2025: MSR Design completed the Library Master Plan Study Report. You can view the final report (PDF) and the appendices (PDF) here. The final report was the topic of the August Library Board meeting on August 20, which you can watch on YouTube.
