Help design the library of the future — and you might be surprised by what’s already offered

You can check out books for your kids through Siouxland Libraries.

You can send a document to be printed via your cellphone to the branch libraries in Sioux Falls and Brandon and pick it up there.

Your book club can choose its selection for September and reserve up to 12 kits containing not only the book but a list of discussion questions.

You can do all that and much, much more through Siouxland Libraries.

But the library staff — 62 full time and 35 part time — want to know what more they can offer. That’s why they’ve set up a short online survey on the library website to determine interest in other possible programs. The survey is available in English and Spanish. The responses will help develop a strategic plan to guide Siouxland Libraries over the next three to five years.

Within the first few days the survey was available, about 500 people responded. Library director Jodi Fick hopes that number will more than double before the Feb. 4 deadline. Fick particularly wants to hear from those who don’t use the library branches regularly, to learn what would bring them in.

“Our mission is connecting you to ideas and information for a richer life,” Fick said. “We want to know, are we succeeding in that? People who use libraries understand their value in our society.”

The strategic plan will include goals and objectives for library operations, services, technology and other areas, said senior librarian Alysia Boysen. It asks respondents to help design a “library of the future,” which could include virtual reality space, performance space, co-working areas with technology and amenities or the ability to loan unique items such as hand tools, musical instruments or kitchen equipment.

“We’re asking our public ‘What do you want to see in the library?’ ” Boysen said. “Things have changed so much over the years we want to make sure we’re providing what they want.”

Siouxland Libraries stresses flexibility and public responsiveness in its services. The library once offered mobile printing at three of its Sioux Falls branches. As the demand grew in the past year, the library expanded the service to all five Sioux Falls branches and the one in Brandon.

“So many people have mobile devices, and they can print from their phones,” Boysen said. “This is very helpful for customers.”

Siouxland Libraries’ partnership with a toy-lending library means parents can check out educational and entertaining toys for their children. Discovery-kit collections mean tote bags offer children a chance to explore topics such as the solar system or looking at the world through a microscope. The collection of board games also has expanded.

“In addition to sharing books, we’re sharing games around the community,” Fick said. “That’s very popular with families and individuals. If you want to try out a game, we might have it, and you can try it out before you decide to purchase. Or you can keep checking it out more than once.”

Nationally, most libraries serve about 25 percent children and 75 percent adults, Fick said. Siouxland Libraries, according to its most recent figures from five years ago, sees much more of an even split.

“In Sioux Falls and the entire Siouxland community, library services to children are our strong point,” Fick said. “We were built on a bookmobile-service style. At one time in Sioux Falls, we had the main library and bookmobiles would go to every school. Over time, we switched to more of a neighborhood branch service model, but all the way to the beginning, we put a lot of extra effort toward early literacy.”

That continues today with special training for librarians on incorporating literacy into story times. The programs are interactive and focus on helping children understand how letters and words work.

Siouxland Libraries also expects to resume a program later this year that the COVID pandemic disrupted. Four-session parent-child workshops meet three times a year. Childhood professionals talk to parents at the start of the meetings, but the majority of time offers parents and children a play environment. Those workshops are expected to return in August.

Responses to the online surveys will let library staff know in which areas to expand or whether current programs need strengthening. That could include more after-school homework help, computer education or maker spaces.

The survey also focuses on how to assist older learners in the community. People may not know how databases have improved in recent years, Boysen said. They can turn to the library for repair manuals, services such as LinkedIn Learning and ACT preparation for students.

“The cost of ACT prep can be a burden for a family,” Boysen said. “We offer an online version that’s free. We have CDL tests and nursing test prep — just a huge variety of things that a lot of users learned in high school and college, and are much more user-friendly now.”

Circulation for print books continues to increase, as does circulation for audio books, Fick said. The circulation of e-books has remained flat in recent years.

Siouxland Libraries includes eight branches in Minnehaha County: Baltic, Brandon, Colton, Crooks, Garretson, Hartford, Humboldt and Valley Springs. The branch libraries in Sioux Falls are Caille in the southwest, Downtown, Oak View in the northeast, Prairie West in the west and Ronning in the southeast.

Growth on the east side of Veterans Parkway and in eastern and southern Sioux Falls means those are likely areas for future branch libraries, Fick said.

“We want to have people within a certain driving distance of a library,” she said. “Even though we have people who use multiple locations, we want them to be a five- or six-minute drive from a library. Right now, most of Sioux Falls is covered by that.”

Some libraries elsewhere have begun to emphasize virtual reality services. Siouxland Libraries isn’t in that realm that much yet, Fick said. That could change if the need is out there.

Some library spaces have been changed to provide more play areas, giving parents a place to bring younger children. It allows parents to play with their children at no cost, while at the same time engage with other adults and begin building community resources, Boysen said.

Do parents and children need more space? Would adults like to come in and learn yoga? As younger families try to lead minimalist lifestyles, would aspiring cooks like to rent pots and pans rather than invest in a wok?

With enough responses to the online survey, Fick and Boysen might learn the answers to those questions.

The survey will stay online until Feb. 4. To complete it, click here.