At the Library Faculty Retreat on November 20, faculty and staff began the strategic planning process by engaging in a lively and productive discussion on the future direction of the University Libraries. The discussion started off with a brainstorming session on the ideal academic library, followed by an exploration of the challenges we face in achieving that ideal. The final portion of the retreat was devoted to discussing and identifying the single most important thing we need to address in the next five years.
The ideal library was conceived as a collaborative, learning centered space that functions as the hub of academic life. This perfect library is easy to use, welcoming, and innovative, and focuses on preserving information for the future while providing essential services to the campus community. Challenges in creating and sustaining the ideal library of the future focused on the changing nature of libraries and the world of information, including maintaining the professional identity of librarians, protecting library space, articulating the value of libraries, and defining the meaning of a library. Other challenges included staffing and human resource issues, such as loss of expertise through retirements, developing skills in staff, and calcified administrative structures and roles for librarians and staff.
The final discussion on identifying the single most important thing to be addressed in the near future elicited suggestions related to access and discovery, staff development, information literacy, outreach, workplace culture, space planning, and preservation. The suggestion receiving the highest number of votes (27) was integrating information literacy into the curriculum. Other top vote getters related to staffing, human resources, and workplace culture, such as organizing staff and budget competitively, leveraging human resources and succession planning, and building a flexible support structure. Access and discovery emerged as major themes in the discussion, prompting suggestions to improve content delivery systems and discovery of digital resources. Other important themes included outreach and communicating the library’s value to the campus community.
The Strategic Planning Steering Committee will be using the discussion and notes from the retreat to identify topics to investigate further for strategic planning. After the first of the year we will be appointing some subcommittees to carry out some of this work, and we are also planning additional forums on various strategic planning topics. We continue to welcome your ideas, so contact us or comment below.
Read the complete notes from the Retreat.