2020-25 Operational Plan

Owned by Adam Murray, created
Last updated: Jul 02, 2021
2 min read

An overview of the three goals and related initiatives guiding Marmot projects

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2020-25 Operational Plan

In early 2019, Marmot completed a 360 Evaluation of member perspectives on services, desired innovations, and Marmot’s financial status. The results of the 360 Evaluation were used to develop a five-year operational plan. The operational plan has three goals, each of which has a number of associated initiatives.

Goal 1:  Build Community

  • Develop and implement a comprehensive Training Curriculum that encompasses orientation & onboarding; “majors;” learning outcomes for specific courses; course sequences that build on the advancement of learning; delivery methods; and scheduling.

  • Host regional meetings around the state each year for in-person collaboration and training.

  • Develop and use a clear methodology for identifying or vetting possible new Voting Members, Associate Members, and IT Services subscribers to carefully add member libraries that contribute to the value of the overall consortium.  

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Goal 2:  Enhance or Expand Service Programs

  • Develop and complete a plan for cross-training employees on essential services such as data backups, Apple support, and systems administration.

  • Conduct feasibility studies of the desired innovations expressed in the 360 evaluation and, for potential new services, pilot in volunteer libraries.

  • Carefully consider a “Comprehensive Support” model for Marmot staff to serve as full IT support for ALL library technology.

  • Develop and implement a clearly articulated, transparent, and member-driven method of ongoing prioritization of common and unique needs and desires in Pika.

  • Identify publishers or vendors - not already provided by Marmot’s allies - which offer content or services relevant to Marmot libraries that are available for consortial sharing.  Work with allies or set up Marmot-specific service models for any adopted vendors.  

  • Establish a long-range task force for identifying needs/desires, feasibility, and interest/commitment for a new ILS, while monitoring FOLIO developments and providing awareness to Colorado libraries in conjunction with CliC and the Alliance.

  • Investigate Event Management/Calendar systems for implementation.

  • Develop and implement an expansion of Marmot’s current hosting services, investigating options for Marmot to host VuFind, Sierra, archive systems, or other systems as a supplemental source of income.

  • Develop an ongoing data collection, research/assessment, and analysis program addressing the value of Marmot membership, recurring reports required of libraries by the State, their parent institutions, and national statistics programs, technology feasibility studies, and custom research or assessment consulting.  

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Goal 3:  Improve Administrative Infrastructure

  • Review and/or update all Marmot policies and governance documents, develop a schedule for recurring review, and compile a Board orientation manual.

  • Administer an effective and affordable staff retention plan that includes paid and unpaid benefits, as well as a culture supportive of professional development and innovation.  

  • Develop and implement a comprehensive capital plan that accounts for funding sources/strategies, benchmarks, capitalizable technology expenses, investment goals, and account definitions of acceptable use.

  • Develop a clear and comprehensive emergency plan encompassing technology failures, physical disasters, personnel emergency procedures, and financial emergencies.  

  • Pursue the highest standards of security, privacy, and accessibility, including recurring external security audits; formal certification of Marmot staff in appropriate security assessment methodologies; and compliance with both GDPR and WCAG 2.1 accessibility guidelines.

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