RPL Facilities and Operations Master Plan

Space and Needs Assessment Study Session (2023)

The library presented its space needs assessment at the 1/30/23 City Council Study Session

You can find a fully detailed 444 page collection of our history (PDF).

Request for Proposals (2024)

As a result of the space needs assessment, it was decided to have the library move forward with a comprehensive study of library facilities and services offered to the community with the goal to develop a master plan to help guide library services over the next 20 years.   

The library presented at a City Council Study Session on March 25, 2024 the overall details of the planned Request for Proposal for the library study. That meeting recording can be found online along with the presentation slides. 

The full version of the project RFP can be found here: 2024 RFP

The City of Rochester along with MSR Design worked together to build out a Facilities and Operations Master Plan to help guide the future of library services for our community. To support the library’s mission of “welcoming all to connect and learn” and to support the City Council’s commitments to equity, the project included working with various stakeholders including but not limited to the public, RPL Planning Team, City of Rochester City Council and Administrative teammates, Olmsted County representatives, RPL Board, RPL Foundation, RPL Friends, and RPL staff. 

The Facilities & Operations Master Plan will be aspirational in vision, but practical and manageable for implementation. Specific attention will be devoted to quantifying the service capacity of the existing main library, bookmobile, BookBox, digital branch, and evaluate other RPL service delivery methods in context of current and future service program needs. 

The plan will be used as the city's guiding document for library services, programming, technology, and facilities over the next 5-20 years.

Project Timeline

Updated June2025

• 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

Recent Updates

• 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. The next step will be for the library to present the master plan to the Rochester City Council later this year.
  
  
• July 2025: MSR presented to the Library Board at the July monthly meeting. You can view the Board Meeting on YouTube and view the presentation slides here. Initial findings and recommendations included:
  • Explore ways to provide 2 hours of free parking for library users
  • Review and revise library organizational structure and evaluate job classifications
  • Retool collections management strategy to align with current and emerging community needs
  • Satellite location in NW and SE
  • Pilot offerings holds pickup at partner locations
  • Run a public awareness campaign about parking
  • Renovate downtown library with user-centered focus
  • Adjust bookmobile service offerings and coverage in context of emerging needs

  MSR will now be working with the Library Board on the alignment of recommendations and Board priorities and will present the final report at the August Library Board meeting on August 20, which you can watch on YouTube. 

• 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.
  
  
• May 2025: SNG Research launched the library community survey on May 19, which ran through Sunday, June 8.
  
  
• 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.
  
  
• 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.
  
  
• 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.

• 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.