Yong Jun's Project Proposal: the Madison Central Library Redevelopment Project based on the Wisconsin Idea

I’d like to choose this class project for Madison Central library redevelopment project and to approach to this project in terms of strategic communication. I am going to make a little big claim for the library’s vision with the concept of the Wisconsin Idea as I have emphasized it for the previous assignment.

Historically, the state of Wisconsin has cherished a good public value: the Wisconsin Idea. The public library might be able to use this concept to redevelop the library or the library system because public library is supposed to serve public interest with public education. In particular, the Idea emphasizes expertise for serving the public interests. If the public library is able to contribute to building a variety of expertise for community development and public interest, the library becomes to realize the great value of the Wisconsin Idea in the ways of public education. So, it would be a good fit to employ the Idea for the redevelopment project of the Madison central public library.

I think that it is always important to uncover a great idea or a concept to begin a substantial project along with empirical evidence to support the idea. For the first step, I think that project-involved persons need to define the main theme of the project and then to verify the theme with public opinion. If the theme doesn’t go with the public opinion, it has to redefine the theme from the public’s ideas. However, it is also very important to deliver the theme to the public discussion by enabling the public understand the theme sufficiently because the public might not know and recall the valuable idea or concept. It doesn’t come from an elite perspective. Rather, it is more like a self-help approach, which stimulates the public’s creativities and then organizes them in an appropriate way.

As for the data collection, frankly I am not sure what data are adequate for this project. I am thinking of the central library users’ location and circulation population data. How widely is the library used? If possible, the activities and the events occurring in the library other than book rental seem appropriate to make my claim. However, I am not sure whether those data are available. Is there anyone who is interested in this theme and is willing to work together with me? I will welcome whoever wants to do it with me.