CAVEAT: Mike Furlough took the following notes during the February 6 forum rapidly during the discussion. They are not complete, and have not been corrected for spelling, clarity, etc. No warranty expressed or implied. Note reflect only audience discussion, not text on slides.
Notes for PSUL Strat Planning Forum: Foundational Issues: Feb 17 2014
(Recorded by Furlough)
Originally recorded at http://is.gd/PSUL_found
Topics for discussion: Diversity, Ethics & Integrity, Sustainability.
What are the Libraries’ commitment to these issues, and what does it mean for us to incorporate them into our planning and decision-making? Intention is derive some “foundational principles” for our strategic plan in these three areas.
Diversity
Working group was asked to look at the Libraries current statements regarding diversity and to look at the seven challenges for diversity in the University’s Framework to Foster Diversity: http://equity.psu.edu/framework
What are we doing well?
- The focus on web accessibility–migrating the website to be fully compliant with new standards
- We are deeply involved in all three commissions for equity at Penn STate (one of our librarians is chair of Commission for Women).
- Our services around adaptive technologies for folks with learning needs.
- PSUL librarians have published a lot in the area of services/librarianship re diversity issues.
- Diversity residence program: build on it, institutionalize it.
- Diversity statement is important and useful; range of forums for inclusions.
What could we do differently:
- Signage, tours, services for international students (in other languages); International students: increase engagement with Office of Global Programs;
- Work on physical accessibility to collections and facilities (how do we support students who are parents?)
- Supporting the wide range of students from different populations.
- What support, help, etc can we direct to libraries’ employees with disabilities? Employee feels a little bit on their own in the libraries–who else has similar issues?
- Highlight the diversity in our own employee population?
- Need to continue strategically develop library collections in areas that are relevant.
How do we measure our progress? What does success look like?
- *Crickets*
- What do our different populations need, and how well are we serving them? Need to target some of our assessments towards specific communities?
- Let’s not focus solely on quantification: what is the impact? What is the actual result?Qualifications based on impact.
- CAn we work more closely with registrar to analyze how we are servicing particular student populations? [Really this is a point about understanding our user community needs.]
Last question: why is this an important issue for the Libraries?
- Because we have an important role in learning, teaching, in helping prepare our students for future life beyond the university.
- “Every reader his book. Every book its reader.” Equity of Access!
Ethics & Integrity
Why important?
- Communicating our core values
- Principles of our profession pay close attention to this.
- ALA professional code/state on ethics. What are we in the Libraries doing to support each of these 8 statements? (http://www.ala.org/advocacy/proethics/codeofethics/codeethics)
- Office of compliance has given us some input: questions about the issues of success, measures of accountability?
What aspects of ethics & integrity should we be highlighting in the strategic plan?
- Engagement with students in specific fields, like business.
- Authentication and integrity in information management/manipulation/archiving: also an important part. How we train folks to make responsible use of information.
- We are in a position to stress to vendors ethical behavior: looking at the broader profession.
- Our business practices in the Libraries hold us to a very high standard of financial management.
How do you demonstrate these commitments?
- Are decisions made by exploring ethical implications for constituents?
- Current working on a taskforce on issues of academic integrity?
- We need to move towards a culture in which we discuss ethics as a proactive issue. Usually we only talk about ethics when there is a problem.
- Is there a role for us to play in working with faculty when academic integrity is in question? Hard to articulate this. There’s an intersection here with diversity, in addressing how scholarly expectations may vary in different fields, or from different cultural background.
- Transparency in our practices, policies, decision-making: promoting that.
Sustainability
Question: do we need to rework the definition for ourselves?
- The Libraries specific brief is to sustain information/knowledge in all areas. Can focus on definitions beyond the environmental.
- Think about sustainability in sense of ability of a program or service.
- For what we do, sustainability may at first be at odds with needs for preservation and control of climate. (ASIDE: What’s the impact of having multiple off-site storage locations?)
- Continue to address overduplication of print collections.
- Institutional sustainability: staffing, succession planning, etc.