New York State Board of Regents Accepts 2020 Vision and Plan for Library Service
Deputy Commissioner for Cultural Education and Acting State Librarian Jeffrey W. Cannell has announced that the New York State Board of Regents Cultural Education Committee unanimously and enthusiastically accepted Creating the Future, a 2020 Vision and Plan for Library Service in New York State: Recommendations of the New York State Regents Advisory Council on Libraries to the New York State Board of Regents at their meeting on Tuesday, April 24.
Gerald Nichols, Chair of the Regents Advisory Council on Libraries, and John Hammond, Vice-Chair, presented the vision and plan and reviewed major highlights of the two-year statewide planning process. Their remarks are posted here. Nichols summarized his remarks with the following statement, “We ask you (the Board of Regents) to reaffirm your role as champion of our state’s libraries and library systems; to help us set a new course for the future and to recognize that, in spite of economic challenges, quality library service must be available to every child and every adult in New York.”
In addition to voting unanimously to accept the plan, the Board of Regents also directed Deputy Commissioner Cannell to work with the Council and others to develop an implementation strategy and detailed action plan. The plan will identify which of the recommendations will be implemented through Regents action, which may require changes to legislation and which may require some other type of action by the State Library, the library community and/or other key stakeholders.
In April 2010 the Board of Regents challenged the Regents Advisory Council on Libraries to develop a new plan for library services in New York. In response, the Council requested input from the library and education communities, as well as from library users across the state. Hundreds of comments were received and used to develop initial drafts of the vision document. Responses informed the Council on the importance of libraries in their communities, particularly with regard to the ability of libraries to adapt to the surrounding technological environment and serve individuals of any age or economic standing.