The library's last strategic plan was not well received by the community or the Library Board; it ended up being an unimplemented document. With a new strategic planning process, it was a requirement that any community group of interest be provided with a staff committee "liaison"; community groups were provided regular updates, invited to participate in the process and provide feedback and were requested to respond to substantive milestones in the process.

This strategic plan consisted of many layers and many players; the Library Board maintained a Planning Committee which the director reported to; a main staff committee of 20 employees plus a secondary committee of 40 employees did the hard work of crafting mission, vision, values, goals and objectives; and each main committee member was a liaison to different community groups including Friends groups, community ethnic groups, teachers, parents, program participants and more.

A 2018-22 strategic plan was approved in March 2018. The result of more than a year and a half of work, it received no public criticism, no board objections and the only feedback provided was strongly in support of the new goals and objectives the library will work under for the coming years. This positive outcome was strongly influenced by the amount of community involvement in the process.