Category Archives: Strategic Planning

Strategic Plan Charge Update: General Education

By: Victoria Raish

The Libraries’ strategic plan reinforces our focus on programmatic and effective library instruction, which should be both intentional and able to be assessed. This programmatic and
thoughtful approach to instruction through the Libraries emphasizes the importance of strategically integrating information literacy into Penn State’s general education program.

In order to support this work, a strategic action team was charged with developing a “plan to integrate information literacy into the newly revised general education framework” (Teaching and Learning Goal 1, Objective 1). This aligns with the Penn State strategic priority of  transforming education. Our charge was not to develop a completely novel approach to general
education integration, as the library is already heavily involved with many general education courses providing students with a strong background in information literacy. Rather, our group was tasked with two tangible goals:

(1) to identify the courses in which we have integrated information literacy, to describe that
integration, and to describe characteristics of courses that would make them good candidates for library integration in the future; and (2) to create a set of programmatic learning outcomes
that define the scope of our integration into general education courses. The team was also charged with developing an assessment plan for both of these components. Members of the team responsible for accomplishing this strategic action item are Rebecca Miller, Erin Burns, Kristin Green, Stephanie Diaz, and Torrie Raish.

The team’s progress for the first charge includes sending out a survey to see which general education courses we were already partnering with, classifying those integrations, and researching the University’s course catalog to see which other courses could be would be good fits for library integration. This survey helped us identify over 100 unique gen-ed courses where we have already integrated information literacy on some level. This integration ranges from creating a course guide to offering one-shot instruction to embedding to offering information
literacy digital badges. The second part of the first charge involved identifying additional existing and forthcoming general education courses that would be a good fit for library  instruction. The team developed five categories of courses that may be appropriate for information literacy integration: research methods, workplace preparation, analysis of information, critical information consumption, and specialized information literacy connection.

The second charge involved compiling existing learning outcomes created by librarians at Penn State, curating them, and drafting new learning outcomes. We loosely followed an article titled “Be critical, but be flexible” by Andrea Falcone and Lyda McCartin in order to provide a framework for learning outcomes development. These were presented at the January COP conversation in which a Google Doc was shared. The goal of this Google Doc was to present
a draft of possible learning outcomes and seek feedback from colleagues as to how these learning outcomes meet our goals for general education integration. The general education team is now in the process of incorporating feedback and creating a set of more finalized learning outcomes.

Future communication on progress will take place May 9 at the Community of Practice and May 18 for the Instruction Steering Committee with a final report expected at the end of May. If you have any questions on progress and outcomes of the group, please email Rebecca Miller at rkm17@psu.edu.

 

Creating a Data Services Model

By: John Meier, Physical and Mathematical Sciences Library

One of the key objectives of our Strategic Plan is to develop and implement programs to promote discovery, access, and preservation.  In the 2017-2018 Action Plan, this includes developing a library data warehouse.  A data warehouse is a central system for gathering and storing data collected from all parts of an organization (example Google BigQuery).  The methods and formats of data the University Libraries collects are extremely diverse but the overall goal is to use the data we gather.  A data warehouse would allow us to easily keep track of the data we gather, and to give staff access to the data they need to work more effectively.  To better understand the need for a data warehouse and how it is being developed at the University Libraries, I sat down with Rob Olendorf, the Prystowsky Early Career Science Librarian.  Rob came to Penn State with a background in software and system, supports research data management in the Eberly College of Science, and is the product owner for ScholarSphere.  The Data Warehouse Steering Committee includes Steve Borelli, Sherry Lonsdale, Julia Proctor, and Matt Ciszek.

The team interviewed staff from around the Libraries and developed user personas for the various ways we use and gather data.  They attempted to find all data sources within our organization, including: Desk Tracker, circulation, gate counts, ILLIAD, teaching, and more.  For each data source, they need to develop a data dictionary for interpreting each unique source and later development.  This can take quite a while as some systems only allow a few users to access the data.  Even in the information gathering process, the team has already made some recommendations for data cleanup or streamlining our gathering to create more usable data.  They have also given feedback to different units in the University Libraries to help improve data entry.

You can follow their work in progress on their GitHub website.  It is setting goals and defining what needs to be developed over the next few years to make the data warehouse a reality.  This includes policies about what data can be added, some manually, some automatically.  It is also important to sketch out how open the data can be and determine the levels of access for staff to parts of the collection.  The design has to be open and flexible to operate with other application programming interfaces (APIs).  One example might be a data dashboard, which visualizes data from the warehouse.  This will also leave it open to new data inputs, such as an app for counting patrons that also indicates where they are in our spaces.

We can look forward to exciting new ways to gather data and to use the data we are currently gathering in visual, high-impact forms.  While the full data warehouse is still a few years away, stakeholders from around the University Libraries and Penn State can help build it.

Seeking your ideas for 2018-19 Strategic Plan action items!

By: Amanda S Clossen

The 2018-19 Strategic Action Plan Team invites you to submit your ideas for action items for the 2018-19 Action Plan!

We are looking for suggestions for action items that the University Libraries can work on in the next fiscal year to support the goals and objectives of the Libraries Strategic Plan. If you have a great idea, big or small, that you think should be explored as an action item, we want to hear about it! These action items help us to further our efforts in Discovery, Access and Preservation, Teaching and Learning, and Advancing University Research. Details of last year’s action items can be found here. Our recent staff post includes information on how submitted ideas will be reviewed, as well as the ideas submitted so far.

Have a voice in the future of the Libraries! We welcome all ideas – please submit them using this survey by Wednesday, March 21:
https://pennstate.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2tqYzTHwENHVy9D

You may submit as many ideas as you like. Questions? Please email the Strategic Action Plan Team at ul-action-team@lists.psu.edu or contact team members directly.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Paige Andrew, Maps Cataloging Librarian
Paul Burnell, Information Resources and Services Support Specialist, Knowledge Commons
Amanda Clossen, Learning Design Librarian
Matt Ciszek, Head Librarian, Penn State Erie
Jen Jarson, Head Librarian, Penn State Lehigh Valley
Glenn McGuigan, Head Librarian, Penn State Harrisburg
Binky Lush, Manager Discovery Access and Web Services (co-chair)
Lana Munip, Analysis and Planning Consultant (co-chair)
Martha Ney, Proposal and Awards Generalist
Billie Walker, Head Librarian, Penn State Great Valley
Rachel White, Information Resources and Services Supervisor-Manager, Lending Services

The 2018-19 Strategic Action Plan Team survey update

By: Paul C Burnell

The Strategic Action Plan team is pleased to announce that the “Submission details, FAQ, and ideas received so far” Intranet page is now live! This features information about the Libraries Strategic Plan, last year’s action items, a FAQ section, and most importantly, a list of ideas received  from colleagues.
https://staff.libraries.psu.edu/posts/2018-19-action-plan-submission-details-faq-and-ideas-received-so-far

We are looking for suggestions for action items that the University Libraries can work on in the next fiscal year to support the goals and objectives of the Libraries Strategic Plan. If you have a great idea, big or small, that you think should be explored as an action item, we want to hear about it! These action items help us to further our efforts in Discovery, Access and Preservation, Teaching and Learning, and Advancing University Research. Please submit as many ideas as you would like by Wednesday, March 21. :https://pennstate.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2tqYzTHwENHVy9D

Questions? Please email the Strategic Action Plan Team at ul-action-team@lists.psu.edu or contact team members directly.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Paige Andrew, Maps Cataloging Librarian
Paul Burnell, Information Resources and Services Support Specialist,
Knowledge Commons
Amanda Clossen, Learning Design Librarian
Matt Ciszek, Head Librarian, Penn State Erie
Jen Jarson, Head Librarian, Penn State Lehigh Valley
Glenn McGuigan, Head Librarian, Penn State Harrisburg
Binky Lush, Manager Discovery Access and Web Services (co-chair)
Lana Munip, Analysis and Planning Consultant (co-chair)
Martha Ney, Proposal and Awards Generalist
Billie Walker, Head Librarian, Penn State Great Valley
Rachel White, Information Resources and Services Supervisor-Manager, Lending
Services

The 2018-19 Strategic Action Plan Team Survey

By: Rachel H White

We are looking for suggestions for action items that the University Libraries can work on in the next fiscal year to support the goals and objectives of the Libraries Strategic Plan. If you have a great idea, big or small, that you think should be explored as an action item, we want to hear about it! These action items help us to further our efforts in Discovery, Access and Preservation, Teaching and Learning, and Advancing University Research. Details of last year’s action items can be found here:
https://libraries.psu.edu/file/8563/download?token=dbTSZk6S.

Have a voice in the future of the Libraries! We welcome all ideas – please submit them using this survey by Wednesday, March 21:
https://pennstate.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2tqYzTHwENHVy9D

You may submit as many ideas as you like. Questions? Please email the Strategic Action Plan Team at ul-action-team@lists.psu.edu or contact team members directly.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Paige Andrew, Maps Cataloging Librarian
Paul Burnell, Information Resources and Services Support Specialist, Knowledge Commons
Amanda Clossen, Learning Design Librarian
Matt Ciszek, Head Librarian, Penn State Erie
Jen Jarson, Head Librarian, Penn State Lehigh Valley
Glenn McGuigan, Head Librarian, Penn State Harrisburg
Binky Lush, Manager Discovery Access and Web Services (co-chair)
Lana Munip, Analysis and Planning Consultant (co-chair)
Martha Ney, Proposal and Awards Generalist
Billie Walker, Head Librarian, Penn State Great Valley
Rachel White, Information Resources and Services Supervisor-Manager, Lending Services

Strategic Plan Update: Action Plan progress as of Dec. 31, 2017

By: Martha Ney

We are pleased  to announce the launch of a new University Libraries Strategic Plan web site.

The December 31, 2017, action plan update for the University Libraries 2014-2019 Strategic Plan is now available as a pdf hereQ2_Update Action-Plan-2017-2018-wwewnp. It also is available for download via the new Strategic Plan website.

The 2017-2018 Action Plan began with 19 actions – 4 for Advancing University Research; 7 for Discovery, Access and Preservation; and 8 for Teaching and Learning.  As of the end of the second quarter 3  of the actions were substantially completed and/or operationalized, 10 are in process, 5 are in the planning phase and 1 is to be initiated.

We welcome your feedback on the current update of the action plan, process for updating the action plan, communications strategy, and revision to the strategic plan. Please feel free to send your comments or question to the Strategic Plan Steering Committee (ul-strategic-plan-steering@lists.psu.edu).

Members:

Joe Salem, Chair, jas1218@psu.edu

Chris Avery, cca2@psu.edu

Anne Behler acb10@psu.edu

Paul Burnell, pcb15@psu.edu

Matt Ciszek, mpc16@psu.edu

Karen Estlund, kme20@psu.edu

Jennifer Gilley, jrg15@psu.edu

Glenn Masuchika, gnm1@psu.edu

Martha Ney, mdn1@psu.edu

Kimlyn Patishnock, kjp2@psu.edu

Diane Zabel, dxz2@psu.edu

 

Strategic Plan in Action : Open Access & OSTP/RDM Outreach

By Shea Wert

Thus far in our Strategic Plan in Action series, we’ve taken a look at many innovative ways the Libraries is evolving to meet users’ needs and the employees that make it all happen—from materials delivery expansion, 3D printing, to the Center for Humanities and Information. For this installment we’re looking at Open Access & OSTP/RDM Outreach.

Some terms to understand:

Open Access: The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) explains it as, “the free, immediate, online availability of research articles coupled with the rights to use these articles fully in the digital environment. Open Access ensures that anyone can access and use these results—to turn ideas into industries and breakthroughs into better lives.

 OSTP: The Office of Science and Technology. In this context OSTP is referring to the directive issued by the office in 2013 that addresses public access to the results of federally funded research. You can explore these here. (http://datasharing.sparcopen.org/)

 RDM: Research Data Management Services. At Penn State the RDM team is available to, “consult with questions about research data, including compliance with funding agency mandates.” Following the 2013 OSTP directive, in April of 2015 the University Faculty Senate unanimously passed an open access resolution that impacts all faculty at the university:

“This resolution calls upon Penn State faculty authors to consider and utilize available options for sharing our scholarly work…Taking advantage of open access opportunities when possible leads to ease of discovery and helps our scholarly contributions achieve greater recognition and impact through increased readership and citations.”

In response to these two directives, the work already being done here at Penn State in this area, and the growing trend of open access in general, a plan was created by the strategic action group of Tom Reinsfelder, Linda Friend, Esther Dell, Eric Novoty, Brandy Karl, Nan Butkovich, and Christina Wissinger.

The group’s plan aimed to “pursue an outreach program to increase awareness of OSTP requirements for public access as well as the University Faculty Senate open access resolution to help faculty and other researchers understand and comply with various regulations, and to encourage all Penn State faculty to choose open access publishing opportunities whenever possible.”

One particular way this goal has been met is through the successful development and hiring of a Scholarly Communications Librarian. The position has been filled, and the individual will begin towards the end of next summer.

According to Brandy Karl, of the newly expanded Office of Scholarly Communication and Copyright (formally the Copyright Office), the position, “will have the primary responsibility for open access matters as well as liaise with other groups in the library, like RDM, to present up-to-date cohesive information on OSTP mandates.”

For now, the mandates are maintained by RDM and you can you can find article sharing requirements at SPARC. If you have questions regarding open data and RDM, Rob Olendorf and the RDM team are available to help. For open access questions, Brandy Karl is your contact. Additionally, if you’re not sure where your question falls there is good news—there are plans to highlight the work of all of those working on “open” issues in one central area to  streamline services.

In addition to the new position that will connect the many folks working open access matters, the group’s plan also aims to promote open access initiatives and highlight holistic outreach efforts—including one-on-one consultations, brief and in-depth presentations and workshops, website content, and asynchronous training across the university. Keep an eye out for these opportunities to answer questions you may have or just to expand your knowledge!

Libraries’ 2016-2017 annual report now online

cover of Penn State University Libraries 2016-2017 annual report, "Transformative Partners for Knowledge Outreach and Innovation" title, with six images of students in the Libraries, studying, readingThe University Libraries’ 2016-2017 annual report, “Transformative Partners for Knowledge Outreach and Innovation,” is now available online as an accessible PDF.

Print copies of the annual report are mailed to ARL peer institutions by the dean’s office and are shared with the Provost, other members of Penn State leadership and with select donors at the discretion of Libraries leadership and the Libraries’ Development team.

Strategic Plan in Action: 3D printing

3D printing, or additive manufacturing, has grown from a small scale novelty of engineers to a ubiquitous technology approaching affordability for anyone. You may see 3D printed objects included in arts and crafts, used to repair appliances and other household hardware, and even as parts of the car you drive.

3D printing can involve plastic, metal, or even living cells. The “additive” part of additive manufacturing means layers of material are slowly deposited on top of each other until a 3D object is produced.  These are “printed” from a 3D computer model, which can be created from simple shapes or a complex CAD drawing. Penn State graduates use 3D printing in their jobs
from Boeing aircraft to local manufacturing to high-tech startup companies.

Students are learning both the software and hardware skills in courses offered by the Colleges of Engineering, Liberal Arts, and many more.  In the past only architecture and engineering students had access to 3D printing for specific courses, but thanks to a partnership between the Libraries and ITS, it is available to all students, staff, and faculty.

The Maker Commons, located at University Park in Pattee Library’s Knowledge Commons, has been offering free 3D printing since the Spring of 2016. It serves all Penn State campuses through an online submission form and delivery throughout the state through our lending services.

The Strategic Planning Action Team of Joe Fennewald, Ryan Wetzel, Trace Brown, and John
Meier have tracked the successes and challenges of the Maker Commons and other makerspaces across the University Libraries.

Since its launch just over a year ago, the Maker Commons has produced over 2,000 objects per semester from the 32 MakerBot printers on site. The success rate of these prints has improved from 70% to 90%, through changes including a weight limit for non-class projects. Almost half of the printouts each semester are for class-specific assignments from the Colleges of IST, Engineering, Arts and Architecture, and EMS. There were also a number of classes from Commonwealth Campuses using the Maker Commons for student projects.

Indeed, 3D printing and scanning technology have a large and growing presence throughout the Libraries.  In the Spring of 2017, the Harrell Health Sciences Library in Hershey dedicated its renovated Research and Learning Commons with twin 3D printers, virtual reality headsets, and other new technology.

Penn State Wilkes-Barre has offered free 3D printing to their local campus community since 2015.  Penn State Hazleton Library has offered 3D printing and makerspace programs since 2014 in conjunction with course curricula and campus activities.  Penn State Mont Alto Library also has a 3D resin printer from Formlabs. Penn State Schuylkill Library has a 3D printer (MakerBot 5th generation replicator) as well as a NextEngine 3D scanner. The Engineering
Library at University Park has a portable 3D scanner to create models of real
world objects.

Other Commonwealth Campuses and University Park branch libraries are exploring possible makerspaces tailored to their unique user needs.  The Maker Commons is also constantly improving their procedures for faster output and more efficient use of material. We are “making” the future at Penn State in the University Libraries.

– submitted by John Meier

Strategic Plan Update: 2017-2018 Action Plan

The Libraries’ Strategic Plan Steering Committee is please to introduce the 2017-2018 Action Plan. The Action Plan is now available as a PDF on the Libraries Strategic Planning & Initiatives web page.

The action plan includes a timeline for each action, expected deliverables, a leadership sponsor, and the action’s reflection of the Penn State Strategic Plan thematic priority or supporting element.

There are a total of 19 proposed actions — four for Advancing University Research, seven for Discovery, Access, and Preservation, and eight for Teaching and Learning.

The Strategic Plan Steering Committee has established a communication strategy to keep everyone updated on each action item and the continue to involve University Libraries faculty and staff in advancing the strategic plan. Each quarter, we will update the status of each action item.

To continue to advance the strategic plan, an action plan will be completed during the spring semester. In the fall of each year a small group will be charged to gather feedback on the current action items and to brainstorm additional action items for the upcoming action plan.

We welcome your feedback on the current action plan, process for updating the action plan, communication strategy, and revisions to the strategic plan. Please feel free to send you comments or question to any member of the Strategic Plan Steering Committee (UL-STRATEGIC-PLAN-STEERING@lists.psu.edu):

Members:
Chris Avery (cca2@psu.edu)
Matt Ciszek (mpc16@psu.edu)
Karen Estlund (kme20@psu.edu)
Jennifer Gilley (jrg15@psu.edu)
Anne Langley (ael22@psu.edu)
Lana Munip (lzm10@psu.edu)
Rob Olendorf (rko5039@psu.edu)
Kimlyn Patishnock (kjp2@psu.edu)
Sheila Sager (sss2@psu.edu)
Joe Salem (jas1218@psu.edu)
Diane Zabel (dxz2@psu.edu)

Strategic Plan Update: Action Plan progress as of June 30, 2017

The June 30, 2017 action plan update for the University Libraries 2014-2019 Strategic Plan is now available as a PDF on the Libraries’ Strategic Planning & Initiatives web page.

The 2016-2017 Action Plan began with 33 actions — 11 for Advancing University Research; 9 for Discovery, Access and Preservation; and 13 for Teaching and Learning.  Of these, 21 of the actions were substantially completed and/or operationalized and 11 more are in process or in an assessment phase.  Only one item was not initiated in order to take advantage of recently recruited expertise in the areas of digital preservation and collection strategy.

The Action Plan for 2017-2018 is forthcoming.

We welcome your feedback on the current update of the action plan, process for updating the action plan, communications strategy, and revision to the strategic plan. Please feel free to send your comments or question to any member of the Strategic Plan Steering Committee (ul-strategic-plan-steering@lists.psu.edu).

Members:
Chris Avery (cca2@psu.edu)
Matt Ciszek (mpc16@psu.edu)
Karen Estlund (kme20@psu.edu)
Jennifer Gilley (jrg15@psu.edu)
Anne Langley (ael22@psu.edu)
Lana Munip (lzm10@psu.edu)
Rob Olendorf (rko5039@psu.edu)
Kimlyn Patishnock (kjp2@psu.edu)
Sheila Sager (sss2@psu.edu)
Joe Salem (jas1218@psu.edu)
Diane Zabel (dxz2@psu.edu)

Strategic Plan in Action: Forming an instructional community

by Ellysa Stern Cahoy, Education and Behavioral Sciences Library, Strategic Action Plan Blogging Team

The University Libraries have a unique instructional advantage — a breadth of instruction librarians situated across all twenty-four Penn State campuses and the World Campus. In sheer numbers, we are very lucky to have our own substantial academic library teaching cohort. Few academic librarians have this dynamic college of instructors in their own institution. This dispersed and significant instructional community mandates a strategic approach to our
engaged pedagogy. In our current Libraries Strategic Plan, we have committed to the goal of “Expand(ing) our role as a partner in online and resident education to support engaged, critical, and informed learners,” with the objective to “support excellence in teaching through professional development for library instructors.”

Our size and breadth dictate an approach that builds community among all of our librarians with an instructional focus. In “Library Instructor Development and Cultivating a Community of Practice,” Malia Willey describes the need for a faculty collaborative focused on instructional work in an academic library. Willey identifies the following challenges for academic instruction librarians:  a (still) developing identity for the academic librarian as teaching partner; a continuing (although improving) lack of pedagogical teacher training in LIS programs; and a host of on-campus demands, including challenges with faculty buy-in for information literacy
instruction and curricular reform, and a distinct possibility of building stress and burnout due to the continued advocacy expectations placed on instruction coordinators and librarians. She describes a community of practice as an antidote to these issues, providing a network of colleagues to facilitate instructional professional development, engage in problem-solving, and organize strategic instructional efforts across the organization.

In the Libraries, we have taken on this challenge with several approaches: an Instructional Community of Practice and a Libraries-wide Instruction Steering Committee. These groups allow us to informally, formally and strategically pursue and build upon pedagogical initiatives across all Penn State campuses. Our Instructional Community of Practice was initiated by
Anne Behler in 2013 with the following identified goals:

  • Continued informal instructional discussions
  • Peer-to-peer mentoring/observation of instruction
  • Larger professional development opportunities (speakers, workshops, etc.)
  • Communication – liaisons to liaisons, instructional needs, etc.

Over four years later, we have a robust Instructional Community of Practice (COP) connecting our librarians in support of our students and users diverse learning needs, and an Instruction Steering Committee working in collaboration with Library Learning Services to direct a robust professional development program for instruction librarians. Monthly discussions on a variety of teaching topics occur regularly, communication among instruction librarians has been facilitated through a variety of outlets, including a common listserv, and there have been multiple large professional development opportunities for Penn State instruction librarians, including a 2016 regional Immersion program facilitated by Immersion faculty members Craig
Gibson, Lisa Hinchliffe and Karen Nicholson.

The COP continued this conversation on May 9 with the first Community of Practice Instruction Showcase. This day-long event focused on pedagogy and sharing new ideas relevant to teaching and learning for our users. Whether you are a newer librarian or a seasoned teacher, our instructional community now has many opportunities to involve and embed yourself as a pedagogical practitioner. These efforts foster our strategic role as a teaching partner
and lay a path for even greater and broader curricular impact in the future.

Strategic Plan in Action: Center for Humanities and Information

by Shea Wert, Engineering Library, Strategic Action Plan Blogging Team

Like the needs of those they serve, libraries evolve. One way that university libraries in particular are evolving is by directing their focus to enriching and illuminating the area known as digital scholarship—research or scholarship that makes use of the vast array of tools and opportunities that now exist digitally.

Although many universities have instituted departments to work on digital scholarship, Penn State’s Center for Humanities and Information (CHI) is the first to be created specifically in conjunction with the humanities. Created in conjunction with the College of the Liberal Arts, the center aims to fulfill the strategic action plan’s goal of providing scholarly collections and services needed for cross-disciplinary research by undergraduate, graduate and faculty researchers.

In alignment with the objective set for it, CHI is creating a research model that crosses organizational boundaries for researcher needs. In the case of the center, they are particularly focused on increasing digital scholarship within the humanities.

If you are anything like me, this all sounds quite interesting, but is a little harder to imagine what it all looks like off paper. I spoke with John Russell, the associate director of CHI to gain a better understanding of the work being done within. John was hired just over a year ago to head the CHI’s library-based component of the initiative. He notes that being physically located in West Pattee will hopefully contribute to the promotion of digital humanities, while also making it more convenient to work with other librarians.

Throughout last year, John and a working group consisting of Chuck Jones, Nathan Piekelek, Patricia Hswe, and Laura Helton worked on assessing the needs of digital scholarship across disciplines—particularly within the humanities. This has entailed compiling, and then assessing, the technology support that exists within colleges and the library in regards to digital scholarship.

One gap already located, for instance, has been the need for support in regards to text analysis. The center is planning to fill this need in the near future with a new hire specializing in text analysis that will be available to help researchers create data from, and find patterns within, sometimes very massive collections of text. For instance, one of the fellows of CHI is currently analyzing a huge set of Chinese literature from the 20th century.

The needs assessment will naturally be ongoing, but John has already reached out to others within the library that work around digital scholarship and the humanities to do everything from identifying the types of questions that are received to beginning to work on a webpage that compiles the related services. He also contributes as a regular resource in a digital art history course among many other things.

CHI at large supports the fellowship of up to six faculty members, doctoral students, and visiting scholars. These fellows participate in colloquia in regards to information and the humanities all while working on their own research and projects. They also participate in an annual conference. This year’s conference will happen on September 22 & 23 and will feature a panel on Mary Poovey’s “A History of the Modern Fact,” as well as presentations from all of CHI’s visiting fellows. More on the fellowships and fellows can be found here: http://chi.la.psu.edu/fellowships.

Moving forward, John is hopeful about CHI exploring ways to more actively become engaged with special collections. Although what that looks like exactly is still in the works, the idea of integrating technology into those very unique collections is quite exciting.

Keep an eye out for presentations and resources created by John Russell and CHI to learn more about the center or inquire about your own digital scholarship and research questions.

Strategic Plan Update: Action Plan progress as of March 31, 2017

The March 31, 2017 action plan update for the University Libraries 2014-2019 Strategic Plan is now available as a PDF. Please note the progress that has occurred in since the December update.

On February 27 and 28, the 2016-2017 Action Plan Team held open forums to solicit feedback on the 2015/2016 Action Plan process and gather ideas for 2017/2018 Action Plan. In addition, surveys were conducted to collect the feedback and suggestions.

The Strategic Plan Steering Committee hosted a forum on April 13 at which John Russell, Cheryl McCallips, Jeff Knapp, Mark Mattson and Lauren Reiter gave reports on the accomplishments of several the Action Teams. The forum is available for viewing on Mediasite Live.

We welcome your feedback on the current update of the action plan, process for updating the action plan, communication strategy, and revisions to the strategic plan. Please feel free to send your comments or questions to any member of the Strategic Plan Steering Committee:

Chris Avery (cca2@psu.edu)
Matt Ciszek (mpc16@psu.edu)
Karen Estlund (kme20@psu.edu)
Jennifer Gilley (jrg15@psu.edu)
Anne Langley (ael22@psu.edu)
Lana Munip (lzm10@psu.edu)
Rob Olendorf (rko5039@psu.edu)
Kimlyn Patishnock (kjp2@psu.edu)
Sheila Sager (sss2@psu.edu)
Joe Salem (jas1218@psu.edu)
Diane Zabel (dxz2@psu.edu)

– submitted by Martha Ney, Administrative and Financial Services

Strategic Plan in Action: Expansive ideas in delivery of library materials

by Tim Auman, Architecture and Landscape Architecture Library, Strategic Action Plan Blogging Team

In keeping with the Libraries’ Strategic Plan value of “equity of access” the Materials Delivery Program Expansion Action Item Team was created in March 2016 and charged to “investigate the expansion of the delivery of Library materials.” The team, consisting of Barbara Coopey (chair), Amy Deuink, Jackie Dillon-Fast, Chris Holobar and Verne Neff considered several ideas using the following criteria to prioritize their recommendations:

  • target constituency
  • projected impact of the service
  • alignment with the Libraries Strategic Plan
  • feasibility and ease of offering or expanding the service

The resulting seven recommendations were then passed off to the appropriate stakeholders in order to come up with possible implementation plans. The following recommendations are in the final planning stages and are scheduled to be implemented sometime this calendar year.

Office Delivery for Graduate Students at University Park
Expanding the Office Delivery program to University Park graduate students is one of the larger endeavors proposed by the Action Team. This is a service that graduate students have requested, and with over 6,000 active University Park graduate student borrowers, Barbara Coopey anticipates that it will double the number of items processed for office delivery. Due to its anticipated popularity, a soft launch is planned to help estimate the increased workload on ILL, Receiving Room and Campus Mail staff and resources.

Home Delivery of PSUL Materials for Students, Faculty and Staff with Temporary Impairments
While the number of patrons needing this service is small, the benefit to those patrons is quite large. Since this service is already being provided informally, creating a formal procedure will be relatively simple. The Libraries’ Accessibility Committee is being consulted and the Libraries will formally roll out the service after details are finalized.

Reducing Turnaround Time for Delivery of Holds to all PSUL Locations
Due to concerns about turnaround time for delivery of holds expressed by campus librarians, an analysis of current holds processes is underway that will investigate average turnaround time, possible process improvements, and ways to expedite or improve delivery. The holds group will be presenting their report at the April Access Services Council meeting.

Delivery and Pickup of PSUL Materials to Schlow Centre Region Library (University Park)
In what can only be attributed to Town & Gown kismet, University Park and Schlow Centre Region Library staff began meeting to discuss possible collaborative efforts to expand access to and delivery of library material between the two libraries. While the Action Team was exploring ways of expanding delivery options to our patrons, the staff at Schlow were looking at ways to decrease their ILL shipping costs. A phone call and a few meetings later and the two ideas are quickly merging into a plan. The key to this collaboration has been the willingness of the Receiving Room to add a delivery/pickup for Schlow Library three times a week. This effort will begin by providing patrons the option of returning Schlow materials at the Pattee Commons Desk as well as patrons returning Penn State material to Schlow, and we hope to partner with Schlow on other initiatives in the future.

Looking to the future, the Materials Delivery Program Expansion Action Item Team has made additional recommendations that are still being explored:

  • office delivery to faculty and staff at the Commonwealth Campuses
  • self-service pickup of library materials
  • delivery and pickup of PSUL materials to the Village at Penn State (University Park)

Keep an eye on your inbox for further details.

Strategic Action Plan team seeks feedback on 2016-17 items

Please provide feedback on the 2016-2017 Action Plan items. You may fill out the survey to provide your feedback and suggestions for the 2016/2017 items, email the Strategic Action Plan team at UL-ACTION-TEAM@lists.psu.edu, or email team members directly.

Click on the link to access the survey: https://pennstate.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_06g6Daz8OrQ0OP3

From the 2017-2018 Strategic Planning Team: Heather Benner, Matt Ciszek (Co-chair), Hailley Fargo, Rob Olendorf (Co-chair), and Angel Peterson.

– submitted by Angel Peterson, Strategic Planning Team

Strategic Plan Input Forums Feb. 27-28

The 2017-18 Strategic Action Plan Team seeks your feedback!

Join us on Monday, Feb. 27 from 3-4 p.m. or Tuesday, Feb. 28 from 10-11 a.m. in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, or on Mediasite Live to provide input on the 2016-17 Action Plan and brainstorm ideas for the 2017-18 Action Plan. We want to hear from you!

From the 2017-2018 Strategic Planning Team: Heather Benner, Matt Ciszek (Co-chair), Hailley Fargo, Rob Olendorf (Co-chair), and Angel Peterson.

– submitted by Angel Peterson, Strategic Planning Team

Save the Date: Strategic Plan Input Forums

The 2017-18 Strategic Action Plan Team seeks your feedback!

Join us on Monday, Feb. 27 from 3-4 p.m. or Tuesday, Feb. 28 from 10-11 a.m. in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, or on Mediasite Live to provide input on the 2016-17 Action Plan and brainstorm ideas for the 2017-18 Action Plan. We want to hear from you!

From the 2017-2018 Strategic Planning Team: Heather Benner, Matt Ciszek (Co-chair), Hailley Fargo, Rob Olendorf (Co-chair), and Angel Peterson.

– submitted by Hailley Fargo, Strategic Planning Team