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University Libraries > Libraries & Departments > Dean's Office >
Libraries
Strategic Plan
- University Libraries Strategic Directions
2002 - 2005
- January 24, 2002
Outline: CU-B Libraries Strategic Plan
Introduction to the Plan
Brief Description of the University of Colorado, Boulder Libraries
Context of the Plan including a summary of emerging national trends in
the four core areas of the plan that informed the planners -- Scholarly Communication,
Users Needs and Demands, Learning and Libraries, and the Relationship of
the Library to the campus and the community.
University of Colorado, Boulder Libraries Mission (Existing Statement)
University of Colorado, Boulder Libraries Vision Statement
University of Colorado, Boulder Libraries Strategic Plan -- Directions,
Initiatives, and Strategies 2002-2005
Appendices
Appendix I - Learning and the Library
Appendix II - Scholarly Communication and the Library
Appendix III - Users/Services
Appendix IV - Resources
Appendix V - Communication, Funding and Outcomes
Appendix VI - Focus Group Questions
Appendix VII - Focus Group Feedback
Introduction
This Strategic Plan has been developed as part of the Program Review process
of the campus, which involves a comprehensive internal and external review
of schools, colleges and major service units on a seven-year review cycle.
The Libraries' plan is a direct response to the recommendations of a Blue Ribbon
Report about the Libraries that was developed by a panel of faculty representing
the academic community on campus. The plan has been organized within the context
of the faculty's recommendations. It was completed through a lockstep process
that included:
A review of the following planning documents from the campus that bear
upon the faculty's recommendations:
A corresponding review of emerging national trends that relate to research
libraries in general;
And, the development of directions, initiatives, and strategies particular
to the Libraries on the Boulder campus.
The emergent trends that form the focus of this plan are Scholarly Communication,
User Needs and Demands, Learning and Libraries, and the Relationship of the
Library to the Campus and the Community.
The core of this plan is a strategy that views the University Libraries-as-an-academic
partner, rather than the traditional view of the University Libraries-as-a-service.
It is a near-term plan set in an environment of constant change and based on
the following guiding principles:
- Focus on the user
- Know your constituents
- Encourage collaboration
- Integrate and augment
- Manage technology as an investment
- Rethink historic assumptions
- Embed policies in strategies
- Enhance what is distinctive
The Library System on the Boulder campus comprises five branch libraries --Business,
Earth Sciences, Engineering, Math/Physics, and Music -- and the Norlin Library,
housing the Humanities and Social Sciences Collection as well as Archives,
Central Reference, and Special Collections Departments and the Art/Architecture,
East Asian, Government Publications, and Science libraries.
This plan reflects the work of a Core Planning Committee whose work was led
by Louella Wetherbee, a library consultant, with the assistance of Mary Jane
Davey, Office of the Dean of Libraries. The members of the Core Planning Committee
are as follows:
- Susan Anthes, Public Services
- Jeffrey Cox, Director, Center for the Humanities and the Arts
- Janet Swan Hill, Technical Services
- Sheryl Holmes, Cataloging Department
- Margaret Jobe, Government Publications Library
- Suzanne Larsen, Earth Sciences & Map Library
- Ruth Leahy, Technical Services Division
- Helene McHendry, Cataloging Department
- Gregory Robl, Science Library
- Scott Seaman, Administrative Services
- Curt Williams, Mathematics and Physics Library
- James F. Williams II, Dean of Libraries
- Joseph Yue, Central Reference Department
Mission
The three parts of our Mission are:
First: To be central to the University community's discovery,
communication, and use of knowledge by providing materials, information, and
services that support the University's mission;
Second: To serve as a research resource for Colorado residents
through support for individual, business, cultural, educational, governmental
and other information needs;
Third: To share resources with the national and international higher
education community.
Vision Statement
We envision the University of Colorado Libraries as an intellectual commons
that preserves the best of the past and makes the future possible. Led by innovators
in information and information technology, our intellectual commons is both
a central physical and virtual space and a set of shared values: instruction,
research and discovery, intellectual freedom, and the open exchange of ideas
that is essential to a democratic society. We are committed to making the Libraries
a source of pride to ourselves, the University of Colorado, and all the communities
we serve.
These communities stand at the center of our vision, plans, and endeavors.
Their diversity is mirrored in our commitment to diverse services, collections
and staff. To meet their needs, our services and collections, built in collaboration
with University faculty, staff and students, are made easily accessible through
both established best practices and cutting edge technology.
We take pride in our work and continually strive to achieve professional excellence.
We provide the vital skills of information literacy that form the foundation
for lifelong learning. This vision reflects our commitment to the value, integrity,
and diversity of knowledge.
A. Scholarly Communication
Trend: An expanding variety of traditional and electronic
communication methods and formats are challenging academic libraries to find
new ways to support scholarship and to preserve the scholarly record.
Scholars have new methods for gathering data, new methodologies for creating
knowledge, and new ways of collaborating across geographic and temporal boundaries.
Commercial publishers have assumed roles previously held by academic associations
and institutions, thereby contributing to spiraling costs. As a result, libraries
are increasingly unable to purchase all of the materials needed to support
research and learning. To meet the needs of users, libraries supplement materials
in their own collections with electronic and physical access to other libraries'
holdings through document delivery, interlibrary loan, and other resource sharing
strategies. Libraries are also exploring publishing alternatives that enable
them to take full advantage of their purchasing power and to acquire quality
research materials.
The ease and speed of electronic publication and distribution is changing
the gatekeeping function of the printed scholarly journal. Library
collections are becoming more homogeneous because of publishers' bundling
of electronic resources. The nineteenth century model for protecting intellectual
property is insufficient to balance the needs of the creator and the user,
and some publishers are using license agreements to restrict fair use rights.
Until such time as reliable schemes for preservation of electronic materials
are developed, libraries must preserve the scholarly record in
various formats, including print and electronic.
A. Supporting Scholarly Communication
Direction (A1): Collect,
preserve, and provide access to materials in print and other physical and
electronic formats to support the research, teaching, and service mission
of the University.
* Keystone Initiative: Establish a comprehensive collection
development policy in partnership with the faculty and user communities.
Strategy: Assess the degree to which the collection
meets the needs of the academic disciplines.
Strategy: Assess the degree to which the Libraries'
materials budget allocation addresses the relative needs of academic
units.
Strategy: Develop a strategy with the campus administration
to provide start-up grants designated for the purchase of library
materials for new teaching and research faculty.
Initiative: Provide online access for all University Libraries
information resources, with a focus on those that are of strategic
value.
Strategy: Complete the "inventory" of the cataloged
collections housed in Norlin.
Strategy: Survey uncataloged collections and develop
a prioritized plan for providing catalog access for them considering
not only internal options, but also such mechanisms as outsourcing,
and purchase of pre-existing bibliographic data for microform sets.
Initiative: Plan for the protection of facilities, collections,
and people to enable effective responses to routine "threats" as well
as to emergencies and disasters.
Strategy: Update the Libraries' disaster plan.
Strategy: Develop a comprehensive Libraries' preservation
policy, including consideration of the difference between preservation
and conservation.
Strategy: Establish an appropriate national role
for the Libraries in the conservation of its materials.
Direction (A2): Make maximum use of the Libraries'
abilities to acquire and provide access to scholarly resources in all
appropriate formats through judicious evaluation and skillful collaboration
with other research institutions.
Initiative: Maintain a leadership role in national
cooperative projects such as SPARC and BioONE to provide affordable alternative
venues for scholarly publication.
Strategy: Educate the campus about these national
cooperative initiatives and their relationship to the future of scholarly
communication.
Strategy: Educate the campus about the costs of commercially-published
scholarly journals and less-expensive alternative publications.
Strategy: Working with campus administration and other
campus units, encourage faculty members to submit articles to alternative
publications in their respective fields.
Initiative: Expand desktop access to online resources
and integrate more full-text information directly into the electronic
record.
Strategy: Acquire and provide catalog and full-text
access to resources such as, and including, Science Direct.
Strategy: Explore and implement the next generation
of electronic reserves.
Strategy: Explore provision of audio clips and
streaming video through the Libraries' catalog or web pages.
Initiative: Increase library users' access to worldwide resources
and enhance campus scholarly communication by engaging in consortial
activities.
Strategy: Survey current consortial relationships
to determine their effectiveness and potential for leveraging purchasing
power.
Strategy: Select appropriate consortial involvements
that maximize the Libraries' ability to acquire and access scholarly
resources.
Strategy: Contribute to the world-wide availability of
high-quality bibliographic information through participation and
leadership in cooperative programs such as Program for Cooperative
Cataloging, Name Authority Cooperative, and Enhance.
Initiative: Digitize selected rare and unique materials from
the Libraries' collections to make them available through the Libraries'
web pages.
Strategy: In association with the * Keystone Initiative
in Direction (A1), identify collections whose digitization would provide
greatest benefit to scholars.
Strategy: Develop Libraries' policies and processes
governing digitization efforts.
Strategy: Assess staffing and funding needs for
digital initiatives.
Strategy: Provide encouragement and administrative
support for faculty to develop and submit grant proposals for
digitization projects.
Direction (A3): Champion the fair use of
library materials regardless of format in support of teaching and research.
Initiative: Develop policies and procedures for
use of Libraries' materials that sustain fair use of information.
Strategy: Collaborate with Law School and University
Counsel on policy development.
Strategy: Educate the university community about library
applications of copyright law.
Strategy: Educate Libraries' personnel concerning
copyright issues.
B. Library Users
Trend: User demands and expectations are changing the nature
of academic libraries and the work of library personnel. The proliferation
of electronic resources and rapid, often unforeseeable changes in technology
require increased fluidity and flexibility in library organization, facilities,
and personnel. Boundaries between academic disciplines are dissolving; academic
libraries must adapt their physical and electronic environments to reflect
the evolution of scholarship.
Academic libraries must provide services for an increasingly
diverse user population. Academic libraries must continually
recruit, retain, and retrain personnel to meet the ever-changing
needs of users as the mission of libraries evolves from one of
collection management to one of knowledge management. Because
a significant number of librarians will soon retire and too few
are entering the profession, maintenance of a quality workforce
is imperative.
B. Serving Library Users
Direction (B1): Move the library user to the center
of library planning and service delivery.
* Keystone Initiative: Identify, study, and describe
the key categories of users and document their special needs in order to
drive service planning.
Strategy: Seek continuous user feedback to
inform the creation and improvement of library services.
Strategy: Gather user statistics through a variety of data-collection
methods, and apply the results in order to improve services.
Initiative: Create strategic service and support partnerships
with other campus units, especially Information Technology Services
(ITS), to raise the standard of support the Libraries offers to its
users.
Strategy: Investigate the feasibility of creating
a 24-hour cyber-café in Norlin.
Strategy: Plan both a platform and a clearinghouse
for digital media services campus wide.
Strategy: Explore the development with ITS
of a one-stop help desk that is both physical and virtual.
Initiative: Position the Libraries to support the emerging
requirements of distance and continuing education students and faculty.
Direction (B2): Plan facilities
that are flexible, that reflect an understanding of user needs, and that
are technology rich.
* Keystone Initiative: Plan and execute renovation of
Norlin Library to create attractive, comfortable, flexible spaces that
comply with provisions of the Americans With Disabilities Act, and that
both serve library personnel and attract individual users and collaborative
groups engaged in learning and research.
Strategy: Complete feasibility study required
to request planning funds for Norlin renovation from Colorado Commission
on Higher Education (CCHE).
Strategy: Revise master space plan for the Libraries,
in order to guide the planning process for the renovation of
Norlin. Include the possible co-location of other complementary
campus units in this revision.
Strategy: Involve campus faculty, students, and appropriate
departments in the renovation planning process.
Strategy: Bring the Libraries to a high level of electronic
accessibility through wireless access or other emerging information
technologies.
Strategy: Plan for maximum comfort and convenience in all
Libraries' spaces; for example, reduce noise pollution, regulate
temperature accurately, provide adequate signage, increase seating
capacity, improve access for disabled patrons.
Strategy: Include team technology rooms and smart seminar
library instruction rooms in any renovation or new construction.
Initiative: Extend the improvements provided in the renovated
Norlin to all Libraries' spaces.
Strategy: Complete the Business Library renovation.
Initiative: Work with faculty and other university units to
facilitate the retrieval of materials housed off-campus so that location
is not a barrier to use.
Strategy: Include on Libraries' webpage an
explanation of the rationale of off-site storage and a description
of how materials may be requested and how quickly they will be retrieved.
Direction (B3): Recruit, train, and effectively
utilize library personnel in a flexible manner that acknowledges both
the changing nature of our work and the demands of our users.
* Keystone Initiative: Provide professional development
for all levels of library personnel that is specifically aligned with the
Libraries' strategic directions and that directly enables staff to meet
the changing demands of the library workplace.
Strategy: Clarify job sharing and cross-training
policies and encourage their use.
Strategy: Offer a variety of professional development
opportunities in-house, including both regularly scheduled offerings,
and one-time or exceptional offerings as appropriate.
Strategy: Provide appropriate access and support for Libraries'
personnel to take advantage of professional development opportunities
offered by the campus or external bodies.
Initiative: Promote the Libraries' and University diversity
plans as key components for serving the diverse needs of our users.
Strategy: Strengthen the Libraries' participation
in University minority recruitment programs.
Strategy: Encourage the University to provide additional
funds for minority outreach programs.
Initiative: Develop recruitment, succession, and retention
strategies.
Strategy: Review staffing needs and develop detailed
short and long-term prioritized recruitment plans for faculty and staff.
Strategy: Apply job satisfaction and retention research
to Libraries' personnel processes.
Strategy: Poll current personnel regarding job satisfaction
and retention concerns.
Strategy: Investigate creation of a professional internship
program for new librarians.
Strategy: Develop a mentoring program for faculty.
Strategy: Assure that positions are appropriately described
and classified.
Strategy: Assure that positions reflect Libraries and University
needs and that they are designed in such a way that their responsibilities
can be accomplished.
Strategy: Apply information concerning the demographics
of the library profession to the creation, description, and allocation
of all faculty positions.
C. Learning and Libraries
Trend: Academic libraries are evolving to meet the changing
learning, teaching, research, and service needs of the university and the
broader community.
Academic libraries are active partners in the teaching and research missions
of universities, serving as centers for the learning environment of universities
and their surrounding communities. Academic libraries integrate information
technology, learning services, and academic support into a single teaching
and learning facility that meets the needs of all styles of learning.
Libraries' unique strengths in the organization of knowledge are being
applied to the scholarly output of their institutions. They provide clearinghouses,
consulting services, and organization for information resources created
by the campus community.
C. Supporting Learning and the Libraries
Direction (C1): Integrate information
technology and library services into a suite of knowledge services that meets
the needs of all styles of learning.
Initiative: Create new means of providing resources
that support teaching and research.
Strategy: Investigate fee-based physical document
delivery on campus.
Strategy: Survey information resources created by
the University of Colorado at Boulder in order to ascertain the
extent of valuable campus-created information resources that
are not currently accessible to information seekers, as a first
step in determining the feasibility of providing access to them.
Strategy: Work with information creators to develop
interim policies for archiving materials.
Direction (C2): Recognize the increasingly
interdisciplinary nature of learning and scholarship by expanding the
Libraries beyond a physical space into a twenty-first century intellectual
commons that provides seamless access to a selection of pertinent physical
and electronic resources.
* Keystone Initiative: Organize access to all University
Libraries' information resources through a seamless portal that matches
the ways in which people learn.
Strategy: Explore interactive online reference service.
Strategy: Reflect the way users approach the library by
merging fragmented user services into strategic points of service.
Strategy: Investigate reallocation of personnel to enhance
the Libraries ability to provide new user-centered services.
Strategy: Create and implement online instruction about
how to use Chinook and how to identify and access library resources.
Initiative: Continuously evaluate and revise the Libraries'
web presence to reflect the way users prefer to navigate through the
universe of knowledge.
Strategy: Identify best practices used on the web
pages of other academic libraries and information agencies.
Strategy: Apply current user interface research to web
page design and navigational options.
Strategy: Use information technology to provide point-of-need
reference service and instruction on demand.
Direction (C3): Collaborate
actively with academic departments and ITS to support information literacy
across the curriculum and be a key partner in a campus-wide initiative
to define CU Boulder information literacy goals.
Initiative: Incorporate information literacy into course-integrated
library instruction of all types.
Strategy: Approach key departments to identify practical
early steps that the Libraries can take to support the integration
of information literacy into core courses.
Direction (C4): Provide vigorous
campus leadership for the organization of the scholarly output and historical
record of the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Initiative: Create a central registry that organizes
locally created resources for general access and appropriate archiving.
Strategy: Identify software alternatives and partnerships
that could support the development of the registry.
D. Library, Campus, and Community
Trend: Academic libraries must communicate, develop, and
enhance positions, roles, and needs both within their own institutions and
the broader community.
Universities require strong libraries to support and maintain a vibrant
scholarly community and fulfill their educational missions. Factors such
as dwindling budgets, isolation from university decision-making processes,
and broad-based changes in the information landscape threaten to marginalize
libraries. Libraries' early adoption of information technology and the
rapid growth of the Internet have led to the perception that libraries
are no longer essential or relevant to the academic enterprise.
Libraries must proactively and effectively communicate their position,
role, added value, and needs. They must engage in public relations activities
as well as internal and external fundraising. These strategies will increase
awareness of libraries as a major resource for the university and the community.
D. Connecting the Libraries with Campus and Community
Direction (D1): Position the Libraries in the eyes
of its various constituencies as the state's flagship scholarly research
support center.
* Keystone Initiative: Communicate to the campus the Libraries'
commitment to providing perpetual access to information in all formats.
Strategy: In association with all of the strategic
directions herein, develop a corresponding comprehensive communications
plan that employs best knowledge regarding such plans, and the full
range of electronic and other mechanisms for this purpose.
Initiative: Develop campus advocacy groups that further
the Libraries' interests at the administrative policy level.
Strategy: Examine the structure, membership, and charge
of the Boulder Faculty Assembly (BFA) Libraries Committee to ensure
that it can function as an effective advocacy and advisory group to
the Libraries.
Strategy: Encourage the creation of a Provost's committee
on the Libraries to enhance cooperation between the teaching faculty
and the Libraries.
Strategy: Develop a variety of electronic and other mechanisms
for communicating with the faculty and the Libraries' other user
communities.
Initiative: Communicate the value of the Libraries'
resources to the state and region.
Strategy: Make effective use of existing advocacy
groups such as the Library Development Advisory Board, and Friends
of the Libraries to publicize existing outreach initiatives.
Strategy: Implement a Libraries' communication campaign
for the campus.
Direction (D2): Make the most effective use of the campus'
budget planning process in order to compete for general funds.
Strategy: Refocus the tone of the Libraries' budget
presentation to highlight the work of the faculty and staff in support
of campus priorities.
Strategy: Develop a multi-year business plan which serves
as a companion document to the Strategic Plan.
Direction (D3): Identify and secure additional
sources of funding for the Libraries.
Initiative: Investigate additional alternative
funding within the campus infrastructure.
Strategy: Survey peer institutions to discover potential
sources of library budgetary support outside of a standard campus allocation.
Strategy: Create a list of potential opportunities for
cost recovery operations and examine each possibility to determine
cost effectiveness and political feasibility. Such mechanisms might
include pay for printing, a student library fee, and public patron
fees.
Strategy: Work with other campus units to discuss desirability
and feasibility of customized fee-based document delivery to campus
faculty and administrators
Strategy: Develop a plan with the campus administration
to provide start-up grants (to new teaching and research faculty)
that include funds dedicated to the purchase of library materials.
(see also * Keystone Initiative under Scholarly Communication,
Direction A1)
Strategy: Encourage and provide support for Libraries'
faculty seeking University and campus grants and work with appropriate
officials to assure that grant programs and requirements are not
written in such a way as to unnecessarily exclude libraries projects.
Initiative: Investigate additional alternative funding sources
from outside the campus.
Strategy: Encourage and provide support for Libraries'
faculty seeking external grant funding.
Strategy: Investigate the possibility of having the Libraries
declared a state resource for which State financial support might
be received.
Strategy: Consider expansion of fee-based information services
to non-campus users.
Initiative: Intensify and diversify the Libraries' development
activities.
Strategy: Work with the CU Foundation and the Library
Development Advisory Board (LDAB) to revise the Libraries' Capital
Campaign goals to reflect the current focus on major gifts for capital
projects.
Strategy: Recruit a Development Officer for the Libraries
with major-gifts experience.
Strategy: Develop a case-statement for the Libraries' campaign
that reflects collaborative agreements with the Deans of the schools/colleges
and their respective development officers.
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