Describe the ideal academic library in 2020.  What defines it as the ideal?

What will our Knowledge Commons look like in five years?

Our spaces are more centered on learning than on collections.  Should we begin to align more with student services?

We need to better leverage our ability to collaborate between campuses and University Park?  We are unable to build on programs that are given at University Park (perhaps those speakers could also visit campuses).  How can we better leverage our Penn State partnerships.

Where does the library fit into discussions of closing campuses and becoming regional hubs rather than community hubs.

Global engagements–we need to discuss our initiatives on a more shared level so that we can leverage our strengths across campuses.

The library of the future is more than space, and is truly about collaboration, shared communication, and partnerships, globally and locally.

What does having a local presence and a global reach mean?  We have an international reputation, but we have not necessarily built upon that.

How can we better support our international undergraduate and graduate students?  These populations are exploding, and have specific needs (acculturation to the educational system) that should be addressed.

We should move towards more specialization in terms of our expertise and collections; deeper subject specialization; deep knowledge of technology

We must put an emphasis on collecting data to help us define our future and show our value to the entire university.

Challenges:

Replacing people who are retiring with people with appropriate skill sets.

We are the Hub of the University.  The library should strive to put itself at the center of the hub, and place itself at the center of the University’s work.  We need to establish a more proactive identity.  A challenge relative to this is establishing a continued partnership as researchers and teachers with faculty.

It will be a challenge to preserve our physical spaces and preserve collections that are unique, while in tandem managing electronic collections, that may be broadly dispersed and beyond the boundaries of this University.

Will Penn State online be a challenge?  What happens when we have another Big Ten university sitting out there online?

What about our partnerships with other libraries?  Should we broaden our borders to collaborate with other libraries (non-Penn State) both nationally and internationally, in an effort to serve our students, both online and in person.

We must be embedded with the design of classes so that our resources are linked from the beginning.  We need to cultivate buy in with our faculty — we must tie ourselves to pedagogy and teaching and learning.

Students are lacking basic information literacy skills, we must partner with faculty to build these skills

What if we assessed the needs for information literacy and then (if needed) developed credit courses to address this need?

A challenge is simply the concept of information literacy—this is our jurisdiction, but external stakeholders still may not understand it.

How can we give up legacy issues so that we can focus on broader issues such as information literacy assessment?

We are intermediaries and central players in the scholarly publishing conundrum.  How can we continue to encourage access and responsible stewardship of research.

What is the single most important thing that we need to address in the next five years?

(pick two)

Succession planning and institutional memory:  Appropriate level of staffing will be crucial.  Cross-training of staff so that they have a broader base of knowledge is much more critical.

Staff development and training

Assessment–we must assess what we do and show our value.

Staying relevant to the institution–we must be aligned with teaching, learning and research.

Penn State online—the growth of that enterprise, and supporting online students.

Global engagement with students, faculty, and staff.  The internationalization of the campus.

Alignment with teaching, learning, and research