By: Taylor Christensen | Royal Oak Review | Published March 30, 2026
ROYAL OAK — The Royal Oak City Commission unanimously approved the Royal Oak Public Library’s 2026-2028 strategic plan on March 23 at the commission’s regular meeting.
Sandy Irwin, director of the Royal Oak Public Library, was present at the meeting to present the proposed strategic plan. In June 2025, the library began preparing information to create the strategic plan, according to Irwin.
“We started last June with Fast Forward Libraries; they were our consultant and we worked with them throughout this time,” Irwin said. “First we had our planning team that worked together, and then we worked on our community input and learning report.”
Irwin said that the library conducted an online survey of residents and had more than a 2% return rate of all the residents in Royal Oak.
“It doesn't sound like a lot, but in public surveys for libraries, it’s a lot,” she said. “We also did focus groups. So, we had the online and in-person focus groups with different community organizations, educators, with parents and guardians, and seniors and businesspeople. And finally, we did one-on-one interviews with community leaders and folks from the community.”
Irwin said that during these interviews the library was looking to figure out what exactly everybody wanted from their community library.
The overall objective of the library is to “empower our community to learn, connect, create, and grow through welcoming and inclusive spaces, diverse resources, and meaningful experiences,” the purpose statement provided in the proposal presentation said.
Irwin said the library officially adopted the strategic plan on Feb. 24.
“So, instead of a mission and vision, we wanted to talk about what our purpose is here in the community. What is the library for? Why are we here?” Irwin said. “Our purpose statement is to empower our community to learn, connect, create and grow through welcoming and inclusive spaces, diverse resources, and meaningful experiences — that all came from what the community told us.”
There are three strategic directions that Irwin presented to the commissioners. The first is to foster community connections and provide valuable patron experiences; the second is to champion ease of access and inclusion through evolving services and spaces; and the third is to cultivate an internal culture of growth, learning, creativity and innovation.
Throughout the strategic plan there are various goals associated with the three main directions.
To foster community connections and provide valuable patron experiences, the library is hoping to engage with local partners to bring in new patrons. It is also hoping to form new marketing strategies to inform the community about library services.
To help ease access and inclusion through evolving services and spaces, the library is aiming to provide a welcoming environment that allows patrons to utilize the library with ease. It is also hoping to make collections and services easier to navigate.
Along with that, to achieve the second goal, the library is going to “reimagine” programs to meet the needs of the community and continue to provide a collection designed to “exceed the evolving expectations of the community,” the presentation stated.
Finally, to cultivate an internal culture of growth, learning, creativity and innovation, the library is aiming to provide professional development and learning opportunities to the public. It is also going to be supporting staff development and well-being through ongoing evaluation, support and engagement, the presentation stated.
The library said it is going to be utilizing data and patron feedback to improve its staff’s capabilities.
Now that the library has the strategic plan, the next steps are for the library to create an activity plan to guide implementation, according to the presentation.
“The timing of certain activities will be determined by priority and influenced by various factors, such as funding and other resource allocation,” the presentation stated. “Review and adjustment of the activity plan will happen on a regular basis.”
Commissioner Rebecca Cheezum said that she thinks this is a “really great report.”
“How will you communicate to the community what the action items are for the first year? Like, how will you keep that conversation going with the community?” Cheezum asked.
Irwin said that once the library figures out what it is going to begin working on, it will be sharing that information with the community.
“So, one of the things that was really clear to us is that we are not great at marketing, and that’s one of the things we need to work on,” she said. “So, we will figure out how we’re going to be better at marketing what we are doing to the community, and that will include communicating all that we do.”
Irwin said that those communication options will include the library newsletters, social media and its website, ropl.org.
“I do appreciate how I know that your staff really takes to mind the strategic goals that you set with everything that you look at,” Commissioner Brandon Kolo said. “You look at it through the lens of the strategic plan to see how you’re advancing the library based on data that you had set out like a good librarian should. … I am just excited to see it continue to evolve and get better.”
Mayor Michael Fournier said that he believes the library staff is “outstanding” and that the strategic plan was well put together.
“The learning report is great. The strategic plan makes a lot of sense. It resonates, but it’s no surprise when you feel the energy in this community in regards to our library,” Fournier said. “I think that I applaud everyone for wanting to do more marketing to figure out how to spread the good news. … I think we have something really special in Royal Oak.”
For more information about the Royal Oak Public Library, visit ropl.org. For more information on the city of Royal Oak, visit romi.org.