4 - Consulting With Your Community

4.1     Identifying iportant groups: your stakeholders
4.2     Different ways of gaining public input
4.3     Interviewing community leaders
4.4     Meeting with the public
4.5     Doing a community survey
4.6     Analyzing the results
4.7     Analyzing the results
4.8     Training volunteers

4.1 Identifying important groups: your stakeholders

• One of the very first things you need to do is identify your stakeholders. Stakeholders in term which has become popular in strategic planning. It refers to those groups who for some reason or other have a "stake" in the future of the Library - either because they have direct control or influence over the Library's future (e.g. County Council) or because they may "win" or "lose" something as a result of changes in library services.
  
  
• You may already have a list of community groups. If not, in most counties, someone will probably have a list of major community groups. The types of organizations which may have a list of stakeholders include:
  
  
  • A community information center
  • The county administration offices
  • The county planning department
  • Someone who has conducted a major recent study involving / requiring public involvement (e.g. a planning or waste management study)
  • The local OMAF (Ministry of Agriculture and Food) office

  The basic information you need is names, addresses and phone numbers.
  

• You need to identify all those groups that could potentially have an influence on, or interest in the library's future. They are likely to include:
  
  
  • The Board / Committee of Council
  • County / Regional council
  • Local municipalities
  • Library users
  • Other libraries
  • Other information providers (community information centers)
  • Education organizations (local school boards, colleges, universities)
  • Social, cultural, recreational organizations (public and not-for-profit)
  • Business groups (chambers of commerce, agricultural organizations, etc.)
  • Environmental groups
  • Seniors groups
  • Citizens / ratepayers groups
  • Churches
  • Heritage groups / local historical societies

The Oxford County Experience

In Oxford County, Sam Coghlan used the Information Oxford (the local community information center) file of community groups as a starting place for the compilation of a stakeholders list. This list required considerable work and updating - leaders of community groups often change quite frequently. Sam compiled the stakeholders database using Authex (a database management software program). The final list had over 400 organizations on it. These 400 organizations were invited to participate in the study, either through direct personal interviews or invitations to a forum of community leaders.

4.2 Different ways of gaining public input: an overview

• There are many different ways of gaining public input in a community needs assessment. They key thing to remember is that no one approach is best, and that in fact the most successful studies generally use many different approaches to gain public input. A summary outlining the features of the 4 most commonly used community assessment methods is provided in Exhibit 10 (adapted from an article on "Strategic Planning for Rural Libraries: A California Case in Rural Planning", J.L. Grieshop and P.R. Frietiz, 1990). A summary of 9 different ways of gaining community input is provided in Exhibit 11. In the sections below, we provide an overview of the means of seeking public input, highlighting the objectives of each and the basic approached. In sections 4.3 through 4.6 we provide further detail regarding four primary means: interviews, public and stakeholder meeting and surveys.
  
  EXHIBIT 10: ANALYSIS OF 4 COMMUNITY CONSULTATION METHODS
  EXHIBIT 11: DIFFERENT WAYS OF GAINING COMMUNITY INPUT
  
  a.     Public Announcements
  
  

  Objectives: To inform all of the citizens of the county that a project to determine future directions for the library is being conducted and to inform them about how they can contribute and become involved. Citizens could be invited to send in written submissions responding to two or three general questions.
  
  Approaches: Put an ad in local papers, or send a 1-page flyer. Also consider local cable television and radio and placing posters in local branches and other community facilities. Information should indicate:
  

  • Why a needs assessment is being conducted
  • What a needs assessment is, and is not
  • How they can get involved.

  
  Could include a tear-off inviting citizens interested in getting involved to send back their name, address and telephone number so that they could be invited to a special public meeting.
  
  

  b.     Interviewing Key Community Representatives
  
  

  Objectives: To raise the profile of the study; to identify major study issues; and to seek viewpoints of critical groups regarding the future of the Library.
  
  Approach: Interview representatives of major county-wide organizations with a direct interest in library-related issues including representatives of other libraries and major information, education, cultural and related organizations. Interviews could be carried out individually or in small groups of 2 to 4 individuals (representing similar interests).
  
  Interview questions should include key issues facing their organization; viewpoints on current role and effectiveness of the library; their perspective o future roles or services the library could perform; and their views on viability and potential acceptance of alternative roles and services for the libraries in the future.
  
  For further details see Section 4.3.
  
  

  c.     Community Stakeholders Forum>
  
  

  Objective: To provide those with special interests with an opportunity to state their views about what issues their community or special interest is facing and to explore with them what role the library (and other organizations) could play in the future in addressing their issues. The forum will provide the library with valuable information on the issues that need to be addressed in the needs assessment.
  
  Approach: Invite community stakeholders to attend one o 2 sessions to be held at different locations in the county. Each session could involve 25 to 30 people who could be divided into 3 to 4 groups. Each forum could begin with a plenary session and the process. The meeting could then divide into smaller groups for and the process. The meeting could the divided into smaller groups for more detailed discussion. The discussion could be divided into 2 stages:
  
  

  Stage 1:	General discussion regarding how the county is changing and the key issues facing the county today.
  Stage 2:	Detailed discussion related to the role of the library and any other organizations represented. At the end of the meeting the groups would reconvene to share discussions.

  For further detail see Section 4.4
  
  

  d.     Public Meeting
  
  

  Objective: To provide all those who have expressed an interest in the study to attend a meeting, hear about the process, and have an opportunity to express their views.
  
  Approach: An invitation would be sent to all those individuals who responded to the initial announcement of the study. The meeting would also be advertised in local papers. A centrally located meeting place would be selected. The meeting would consist of an initial introduction to the study, and then open / structured discussion of views would follow.
  
  For further detail see Section 4.5
  

  e.     Staff Focus Groups
  
  

  Objective: To inform staff about the study; to give staff an opportunity to provide input to the study and to gain valuable insight from staff on needs and future directions for the library.
  
  Approach: Invite headquarters and branch staff to attend a session. Lead them through a series of questions about how they see the community and their patrons changing, and their concerns about library service. Ideally the Chief Librarian should not facilitate this session. Staff may be more forthcoming with a third party facilitating the session. Remember: your staff is your eyes and ears on the community.
  

  f.     Branch (User) Focus Groups
  
  

  Objective: To understand the viewpoints of current library users and potentially other interested groups regarding their local branch.
  
  Approach: Hold discussion in each local branch. Involve local advisory committee if they exist. Lead them through a series of structured questions related to: how their community is changing; their concerns about library service; their vision for library service in their community and in the County.
  

  g.     User Questionnaires
  
  

  Objective: To understand the viewpoints of current library users regarding the existing role and services performed by the library; to understand the priorities of users in terms of alternative future roles and services; and to assess willingness to pay for services or to pay increased taxes to support library services.
  
  Approach: Develop and pre-test a questionnaire using SOLS generic questionnaires as starting place. SOLS has many generic questionnaires available. These can be customized with the assistance of SOLS to meet individual library needs. Administer through branches.
  

  h.     Community Questionnaire/Survey
  
  

  Objective: To gain a perspective on the broad viewpoints of the general public - particularly non-users.
  
  Approach: Develop and pre-test a questionnaire. Determine appropriate distribution strategy.
  
  For further detail see Section 4.6
  

  i.     Telephone Surveys
  
  

  Objective: To gain specific feedback to specific questions from random group of individuals. This form of consultation can be especially useful when you wish to probe a small set of very specific questions. For example, you may have identified a series of service options, which you want to test with the public-at-large.
  
  Approach: Develop a short, structured questionnaire, which can be administered with relative ease by a group of individuals who have had minimal training.
  

4.3 Interviewing community leaders

• Interviews with community leaders are a critical element of any public consultation process. As indicated above, they can serve a variety of objectives including raising the profile of the study; identifying major study issues; and seeking viewpoints of critical groups regarding the future of the Library.
  
  
• Someone who is both aware of the Library and its services, but also will be seen as objective by the interviewee should conduct interviews.
  
  
• The steps involved in an interviewing process generally include:
  
  
  • Identifying the issues you want to probe in interviews
  • Developing an interview guide
  • Testing in out with a willing "guinea pig"
  • Setting up interviews (this can often take a lot of time)
  • Doing the actual interviews
  • Writing up the results

The Oxford County Experience

In Oxford County, a list of individuals to be interviewed was drawn from the list of stakeholders. Before selecting individuals we identified broad groups - elected official; s, appointed officials, educators, and library workers, business, people, heritage, groups and special interest groups. Individuals were selected in each of these groups with an eye to ensuring geographic diversity. The Community Needs Study Coordinator (Patti Wallace) then phoned and made appointments to interview these key individuals. The individuals were told that Oxford County Library was conducting a countywide community needs study. Our goal was to draw a portrait of the county that would highlight the broad issues and general concerns facing residents. 24 people were interviewed individually and 32 people were interviewed in 6 group's interviews over a 6-week period. On arranging the interviews an attempt was made to group them geographically. This was done partly for the sake of convenience, but it also allowed coordinator to get a better idea of issues in each township. A copy of the interview guide used is provided in Exhibit 12. EXHIBIT 12: INTERVIEW GUIDE The groups identified above recorded the results of the interviews. Patti Wallace described some of the lessons learned in the interviewing process as follows: "I felt that the best number of interviews to do was about 20. Fewer than that - it is difficult to identify trends and more than that - it is hard for an untrained person to remain neutral and not to presume" "It is a tiring process! Three interviews a day is plenty!" "Make sure to remind people that the interviews are confidential. After the introduction to the interview I asked them to be candid and assured them that nothing they said would be attributed to them" "Group interviews are probably of more use than individual interviews. I found that even with just two people I had more time to evaluate what was being said and to record the important points"

4.4 A forum with community leaders / stakeholders

• An increasingly popular and effective method of involving the community in a need assessment is to hold a forum with community leaders. The basic concept is to bring together representatives of community organizations to discuss a series of issues.
  
  
• The usual format for such a meeting is a short introduction to the group as a whole, followed by the group breaking out into a number of small groups to discuss a set pre-established questions, ending with a reporting back of the general themes discussed.
  
  
• Facilitators are required to assist each of the groups to work through set facilitators; it may also be desirable to appoint a recorder or reporter for each group. The Southern Ontario Library Service and/or your local rural organization specialist from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food may be able to help you with facilitating such a forum.
  
  
• The steps involved in conducting a forum for community leaders generally include:
  
  
  • Deciding on what questions you will probe in the forum
  • Developing a list of invitees
  • Setting up the logistics: location, timing, booking meeting rooms, facilitators, refreshments, audio-visual equipment (screen, overhead projector), flipcharts
  • Developing a letter / invitation
  • Mailing out invitations
  • Receiving and tracking RSVPs
  • Reminding invitees
  • Pre-forum meeting of facilitators
  • Sign-in sheet
  • Meeting place logistics (tables, chairs, microphones if a very large group, refreshments)
  • Managing the actual forum
  • Writing up the results

The Oxford County Experience

In Oxford County two "Community Involvement Meeting" were held. Individuals who were not interviewed personally were invited by mail to attend one of two "Community Involvement Meetings." The total turnout for the two meetings combined was 44 individuals. The turnout was improved by reminder calls shortly before the meetings (headquarters staff made these calls). Each meeting lasted roughly two and a half to three hours, with the majority of the time being spent in small group discussions led by facilitators. These meetings were an effective means of obtaining input to the community needs assessment, but also of building ties among the organizations in the community. Many organizations began to see not only that they face common challenges, but also that by working together they may be able to jointly solve their problems.

4.5 Meeting with the public

• Public meetings have been a traditional response to consulting with the public. While the public meeting is an effective means of ensuring that everyone has an opportunity to participate (in theory), they are often not the most effective means of seeking community views. Often the attendance at public meetings is low unless the topic of the meeting is a burning issue. More targeted means of involving the public tend to be more successful.
  
  
• The more effective public meetings tend to have the following characteristics:
  
  
  • They involve both a giving (e.g. information and education) and taking (e.g. asking for input) of information
  • They are planned long in advance
  • Advertising of the meeting which clearly indicates exactly what will happen at the meeting, and what will be expected of individuals attending
    
    
• The steps involved in conducting public meetings generally include:
  
  
  • Deciding on what you want to get out of the meeting
  • Setting up the logistics: location, timing, booking a space, refreshments, audio-visual equipment (screen, overhead projector), flipcharts
  • Developing an advertisement, poster and press release
  • Arranging for advertising
  • Sign-up sheets
  • Meeting place logistics (tables, chairs, microphones if a very large group, refreshments)
  • Managing the actual meeting
  • Writing up the results

4.6 Doing a community questionnaire/survey

• One of the most valuable (yet often troublesome), parts of a community needs assessment is a community questionnaire. Questionnaires provide specific responses to specific questions in an anonymous manner. They can be distributed widely, and have the potential to reach a large random audience.
  
  
• The development of a questionnaire requires specialized expertise. Before you start you should contact the SOLS County Libraries consultant or a specialist with expertise in consumer research and survey design. Some counties and regions have this expertise in-house in their planning departments.
  
  
• The basic steps involved in developing and administering a questionnaire are listed below. Steps where the Southern Ontario Library Service (SOLS) can provide assistance are noted.
  
  
  • Deciding what you want to know (SOLS)
  • Developing a draft questionnaire (SOLS)
  • Testing the questionnaire
  • Doing the actual design / artwork for the questionnaire (SOLS)
  • Developing a distribution strategy (how, where, when, and how many surveys will be distributed) (SOLS)
  • Printing the questionnaire (SOLS can provide advice on printing)
  • Distributing the questionnaire (SOLS can provide advice on distribution)
  • Collecting responses
  • Coding responses (SOLS)
  • Entering the responses
  • Running the data on a statistical package (SOLS)
  • Analyzing the data (SOLS can help with analysis)
    
    
• The Southern Ontario Library Service (SOLS) can provide packaged support for conducting in-house and community surveys. SOLS has a number of generic questionnaires which can be customized to meet your needs. Using the packaged support for survey studies has a number of benefits:
  
  
  • Saves staff time
  • Facilitates faster turn around time for project completion
  • Provides more accurate data
  • Provides more information from the data
  • Enables inductive procedures
    
    
• The steps for using SOLS packaged support for conducting in-house and community surveys are outlined below:
  
  
  • Libraries contact the SOLS County consultant with request for assistance with a survey
    
    
  • Requesting Libraries undertaking a survey study are provided a list of categorized tested survey questions, in print, form from SOLS machine readable file of tested questions
    
    
  • SOLS staff discusses with the study team the objectives of the survey and the requirement of the survey instrument
    
    
  • A survey instrument is electronically pasted together from the selected questions and additional modifications are done as required. SOLS staff pastes together the form where there is no automation capability to do so in the library. Alternatively the library receives the list of questions on disk in one of the two word packaging formats and creates the form themselves
    
    
  • Survey instrument forms are photocopied and administered by the local library. SOLS staff will consult on this process if required
    
    
  • Returned forms are entered into machine readable form by library staff according to the coded format provided by SOLS staff
    
    
  • Disks of data are sent to SOLS where they are transferred into a statistical program software package (SPSS) and agreed statistical runs are performed
    
    
  • Print-outs from these runs are sent to the libraries and explanation of the analyses is provided by SOLS staff
    
    
• Appendix D provides some further detail on survey design and statistical validity in some excerpts from a previous Ministry of Culture and Communications document: Assessing Your Community for Library Planning, 1987.
  
  
• One of the toughest parts of needs assessment is figuring out what you need to know. The types of questions you might ask and the reasons for asking them are outlined in Exhibit 16.
  
  SEE EXHIBIT 15: SURVEY QUESTIONS: WHAT TO ASK & WHY
  
  
• One of the critical determinants of your survey's success will be the distribution strategy for your survey. There are many different potential ways of distributing a survey including:
  
  
  • First class mail
    
    
  • Insertion in another municipal / utility mailing, e.g. tax bill, hydro bill
    
    
  • Insertion in local community newspapers
    
    
  • Distribution through local institutions or agencies, schools, churches, municipal buildings, libraries, public health nurses
    
    
  • Hand-delivery door-to-door by students or direct mail delivery services (including Canada Post)
    
    A few key points to remember in terms of your distribution strategy:
    
    
  • Make returning the survey as easy as possible
    
    

    -Include a stamped, addressed return envelop if possible
    -Put return boxes (well marked) in many locations
    -Make sure that people know how and when to return surveys
    

  • Ensure that your distribution strategy does not result in a biased sample
    • Samples must be random
      
    • Using some kind of distribution strategies may bias your results:
      E.g. distribution only through schools would be biased towards young families with children

That's what the burning question the county library, along with other organizations, will be trying to answer this summer.

A county-wide community needs study, co-ordinated by Patti Wallace of Thamesford, will include the distribution
of a survey, interviews, public meetings and the pulling together of information about the county.

The study will attempt to get an overall glimpse of what Oxford County residents are concerned about, what assistance they
need and how they feel about the community.

Oxford County cover 196,000 hectares and has organizations serving communities from Woodstock and Otterville
to Washington and Brownsville and in between.

"All organizations that serve Oxford County will be interested in learning more about the people they are trying to serve," Wallace said.

The library's chief librarian Sam Coghlan said the idea for the study emerged about two and a half years ago when he assumed the job.

"I was new to the area so I felt the need to learn about the county in a systematic way," he said. "It's being put together
about a year later thanI would have liked. Right now we're designing the survey and Patti is in the process of phoning key people."

Coghlan is acting as administrative support.

Three public meetings will take place at:

• the Innerkip Community Centre, Monday, August 19 at 7:30 p.m.
• the Norwich Community Centre, Tuesday, August 20 at 2:00 p.m.
• the Ingersoll District Arena, Wednesday, August 21 at 7:30 p.m.

Anyone with comments, ideas or concerns about their community can contact
Patti Wallace, c/o Oxford Coynty Library, 93 Graham St., Woodstock, Ontario, N4S 6J8
or call 258-3612. Information can also be obtained by calling Sam Coghlan at 421-1700.  

4.7 Analying the results

• One of the greatest challenges in a community needs assessment is analyzing the results of your community consultation. In analyzing the results of the various forms of consultation a few key points should be borne in mind:
  
  
  • Conclusions should be based on the principle of "triangularization" -i.e. you heard it from at least three angles / sources.
    
    
  • Results must be put into perspective - either historical, or comparative with others. In other words, a fact is really only relevant when put into some kind of context - e.g. in County X, circulation is increasing, decreasing, variable across the County, higher than… lower than ... etc. (The Southern Ontario Library Service and the Ministry of Culture and Communications can provide you with a significant amount of comparative data.)
    
    
  • Recognize that as soon as you attach a number to something it gains more credibility than findings which don't have numbers attached to them - try and quantify results as often as possible.
    
    
• One of the best means of analyzing and presenting raw data is to display it graphically. This not only provides the analyst with a better perspective on the results; it also provides a more effective means of displaying it to others. Graphics provide individuals with a picutre of the "message" that they can recall days or weeks later. Bar charts and pie charts are useful means of examining and displaying data.

4.8 Training volunteers

• You may be able to pull together a group of volunteers to assist with various parts of the study - particularly interviews and telephone survey. Volunteers are invaluable as long as they are well informed and guided through the process.
  
  
• A training program for volunteers should involved a number of components:
  
  
  • A briefing on why the study is being done, the overall work program and how the study will be used.
    
    
  • A training session on how to conduct interviews (whether these be personal or by phone). Volunteers should then break into groups and do practice interviews. Through these practice interviews you should be able to identify difficult questions and potential problems with the interview guide or survey form. These should be discussed with the volunteers and any anxiety or confusion should be resolved. Critical points to watch for:
    
    
    • Leading questions/interviewer bias: some interviewers unknowingly shape responses by the way they ask questions
    • Accurate recording: make sure that interviewers record exactly what the respondent says
    • Probing/clarifying: make sure that interviewers know when and how to probe for further information and clarification
  • A briefing for volunteers which provides details on the study and gives volunteers all of the information they may need to answer questions. A good addition to this tool kit is a list of typical questions and appropriate responses.
    
    
• Don't forget to reward volunteers. Volunteers who contribute their precious time to the process should be recognized for their efforts.