City Council adopts new strategic and facilities plan for Austin Public Library

AUSTIN, Texas - The Austin City Council voted to adopt the Austin Public Library Comprehensive Library Strategic and Facilities Plan, according to the library system.

The plan lays out new strategic goals for the Austin Public Library, as well as recommends construction of new branch libraries, along with the expansion of many existing libraries, to keep up with the city's population growth.

Austin's rapid population growth has led to a lag in the city's "library square foot per capita," a metric used to calculate a library system's capacity to serve the community.

The facilities plan component includes recommendations for increasing the square footage of library spaces in the city, including building four "net new" large library branches and projects to expand, replace and/or relocate more than half of the library's current branches, according to the release.

The adopted plan also includes a new Mission Statement and vision Statement for Austin Public Library. The new statements address the themes heard throughout the strategic planning process about the library's role in education, culture, creativity and the community, according to the press release.

The plan also includes five new Strategic Goals for the library: