Denver Public Library (DPL) Service Philosophy
Denver Public Library
Innovation Synopsis
The DPL’s Service Philosophy is a statement of the library’s desired impact, our unique assets/offerings and what we believe these things make possible. The philosophy is accompanied by an Alignment Questionnaire, a standardized, rigorous tool that empowers organizational leaders to implement a clear and consistent process of maintaining alignment with strategic goals, and communicate what we prioritize and how we do it.
Challenge/Opportunity
When DPL embarked on this process the library had a unified vision of the high-level deliverables the organization should prioritize and a strategic budget process to allocate dollars to those priorities; however, it was missing shared definitions for broad concepts like connection, a shared understanding of what we are uniquely positioned to do, and standardized tools for prioritizing programs and services. This left the organization feeling over-taxed by competing priorities, making investments in under-thought innovations that would ultimately fizzle out before implementation and sometimes struggling to match services to neighborhood needs and interests.
Key Elements of Innovation
As the demands placed on libraries to serve the most vulnerable populations grow, DPL leadership recognized a need to further define the role of the library in our community. A delicate balance was necessary, but we didn’t have the language or the tools to achieve it.
Through a statistically-valid community survey and 18-months of facilitated development, DPL leadership built the Service Philosophy to be a quick-application tool to keep DPL grounded in its core competencies.
The implementation of DPL’s Service Philosophy was guided by a formal Change Management Plan using the Prosci ADKAR methodology; the plan was designed to communicate the why, build belief, equip staff, create process and recognize success.
The tool is to be used in project prioritization, financial decision-making, innovation evaluation, and service planning. These applications also support more transparent and consistent decision-making, a known desire of library staff identified in the biannual employee survey.
Achieved Outcomes
As of this submission, the tool is implemented for all of the library’s 70 existing Lines of Service. The outcome of this work is being used for reorganization/restructuring efforts, and an evaluation of start/stop/continue for current services. All future investments will be measured against their alignment with the Service Philosophy beginning in 2025 and, as the tool is cascaded throughout the organization, it will support supervisors and their teams in determining the best way to serve the Denver community through location-specific programs and services.
The Service Philosophy will also be the foundation of the library’s 2025-2030 Strategic Plan, which will focus on the four Core Services identified: Collections, Technology, Spaces and Staff.
Specific measurements include: % of investment proposals in alignment with Service Philosophy; sustained or improved customer perception of access and quality of Core Services.
