RANDALL LIBRARY STRATEGIC PLAN 2017-2022

Finalized September 29, 2017

The Randall Library Strategic Plan 2017-2022 is intentionally both a strategic and a tactical plan. It serves as a broadly based plan aimed at creating our desired future, and a systematic determination and scheduling by Library faculty and staff of key action areas, goals, and objectives in support of the University’s strategic plan. The Plan reflects the thoughts, feelings, ideas, and wants of the Library faculty and staff and molds them in alignment with the University’s Strategic Plan. This Plan is intended to function as a working document. This status ensures that the Plan is flexible and practical and yet serves as a guide to either operations’, resources’, or services’ enhancement, or to the implementation of new operations, resources, or services while evaluating the effectiveness of these initiatives and making adjustments when necessary.

Mission

William Madison Randall Library supports the mission of the University by providing information resources and learner-centered services and by cultivating a rich physical and virtual environment dedicated to the open exchange of ideas and an information-literate community.

Vision

Inspiring, nurturing, and satisfying intellectual and cultural curiosity

Core Values

Learning, Service, Access, Integrity, Diversity

KEY ACTION AREAS

Icon showing seven key action areas of the Randall Library strategic plan Randall Library is committed to seven Key Action Areas as guiding principles for investment of energies and resources in the next five years.

SUPPORTING THE ACADEMY

Directly supporting teaching, learning, research, scholarship, service, student engagement, creative inquiry, critical thinking, thoughtful expression, responsible citizenship, and innovation at UNCW and globally, the Library is an integral component of UNCW’s academic core. The place where disciplines intersect and minds meet, the Library advances knowledge at UNCW and beyond in many ways including enabling discovery, increasing access, providing active learning spaces, and connecting to a vast scholarly network. The Library supports academic programs (including those online or at a distance) and student and faculty success through high quality information literacy instruction and diverse collections and works to ensure future academic programs are adequately supported.

LEARNING SPACES

Learning spaces includes both the physical and virtual spaces where today’s library users access information, access and utilize technology, and work collaboratively or individually with information. The provision of modern, innovative, flexible, technologically advanced and welcoming spaces, both onsite and virtually, is key to meeting our users’ needs and to attracting and retaining students, faculty, and staff. UNCW goals and outcomes are best served by spaces that are responsive to users’ needs and that contribute to active learning. The Library provides spaces to both facilitate and showcase applied learning.

CONNECTIONS AND CONTRIBUTIONS

Library faculty and staff empower today’s students by connecting them to a seamless digital landscape of information that forms a cornerstone of their academic and post-graduation success. Library resources, including specialized collections, are selected and acquired to support and contribute to teaching and research. The design, development and continual enhancement of a suite of services which are focused on search and discovery of library collections and advanced research are built to optimize the user’s experience. The effective marketing and promotion of library collections, services, and programming is a key factor in connecting all users (students, faculty, staff, and community users) to the right resources at the right time.

STRATEGIC ALLIANCES, PARTNERSHIPS, AND COLLABORATION

The goal of student success drives many opportunities for collaboration both on campus, locally, regionally, nationally, and globally. Successful collaboration among campus learning partners informs the development of both services and spaces. Library staff and faculty work together across disciplines and traditional university boundaries to align library collections and services with the educational goals and directions of the University. The goal of responsible stewardship similarly drives many opportunities for collaboration. Collaboration between North and South Carolina libraries ensures equitable access to a core selection of digital content and services and saves the system and the University millions of dollars.

INFORMATION LITERACY AND CRITICAL THINKING

We affirm that the ability to explore issues, ideas, artifacts, and data and to effectively utilize information resources is essential in a global information society, and equally essential to academic success. Instructional services at Randall Library give faculty, staff, and students the opportunity to learn about using library resources and gain important information literacy and critical thinking skills. Examples include the skills to formulate a research question or statement, evaluate evidence or data, and consider context and assumptions of information. This suite of services is intended to be integrated into the curriculum. Delivery methods are based, in part, on the exploration and continued adaptation or implementation of new media and new technologies and instructional design principles.

POSITIVE ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

While there is no one best way of organizing workforce culture, we recognize that there is a growing need to effectively engage the Library workforce, increase workforce diversity, and to create a welcoming and inclusive organizational environment. We focus on dynamics, interactions and processes that lead to developing human strength, producing resilience and restoration, fostering vitality, and cultivating extraordinary individuals. We believe that attracting and retaining excellent faculty and staff and enabling human excellence in our organization will unlock potential, reveal possibilities, and facilitate a more positive course of human and organizational welfare.

STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT AND MEASURING OUR IMPACT

Timely and strategic assessment is fundamental to improving and enhancing library operations, services, collections, spaces, and technologies. The establishment of a systematic program of continuous assessment based on professional standards and the University’s mission and strategic aspirations will ensure data-driven decision making, adequate stewardship of library resources, and responsiveness to the needs of our users. Documenting and communicating the critical value and impact of the Library to the UNCW community and beyond is the final outcome of a strategic assessment plan. Measuring the state and university’s return on investment in the Library and “Telling Our Story” are two crucial components of this Key Action Area.

Goals and Objectives

The Goals and Objectives represent strategic areas of focus for the next five years. The goals align with and support the Key Action Areas and articulate the outcomes the Library would like to achieve. They answer the questions “How are we going to get there?” and “What will success look like?” The achievement of each goal will move the Library toward realization of its envisioned future.

Objectives provide direction on how the Library will accomplish its articulated goals. Objectives reflect departmental or divisional strategies or implementation steps to attain the identified goals. Unlike goals, objectives are specific, measurable, and have a defined completion date. They are more specific and outline the “who, what, when, where, and how” of reaching the goals. The objectives provided represent a “first pass” only at these strategies or implementation steps. It is expected that departments and divisions will contribute additional objectives to complete the Strategic Plan.

Key Action Area 1: Supporting the Academy

Goals:

The Library will directly support teaching, learning, research, scholarship, service, student engagement, creative inquiry, critical thinking, thoughtful expression, responsible citizenship, and innovation at UNCW and globally.
The Library will advance knowledge at UNCW and beyond in many ways including enabling discovery, increasing access, providing active learning spaces, and connecting to a vast scholarly network.
The Library will support academic programs (including those online or at a distance) and student and faculty success through high quality information literacy instruction and diverse collections and work to ensure future academic programs are equally supported.

Objectives:

Develop functional knowledge of current copyright issues and create online guides to assist faculty, staff, and students to answer copyright related questions.
Coordinate discussion amongst campus stakeholders and facilitate solutions for data curation and management.
Cultivate the library’s collections to ensure their current and future usefulness while balancing the collection’s physical footprint to address users’ space needs.
Determine if additional or alternative library services and/or spaces are needed to support faculty, staff, and student research.
Create a more standardized training program and subsequent evaluation process for library faculty and staff providing research services at public service points.
Determine if additional library services and/or spaces are needed to support collaboration between faculty, staff, students and community members.
Add additional liaison librarian positions to better address the needs of existing academic programs and to support new and expanding programs.
Create awareness of liaison librarian services, both internally in Randall Library and externally to UNCW faculty, staff, and students.
Determine if there is a need and identify a process for sponsoring UNCW faculty to publish in Open Access publications.
Identify the campus committees, task forces, work groups, etc. on which library representation would be beneficial and ensure the appropriate Library representative is added.

Key Action Area 2: Learning Spaces

Goals:

The Library will provide learning spaces that include both the physical and virtual spaces where today’s library users access information, access and utilize technology, and work collaboratively or individually with information.
The Library will provide modern, innovative, flexible, technologically advanced and welcoming spaces, both onsite and virtually, in order to meet our users’ needs and to attract and retain students, faculty, and staff.
The Library will provide sp
aces that are responsive to users’ needs and that contribute to active learning. The Library will provide spaces to both facilitate and showcase applied learning.

Objectives:

Continue conceptualizing and advocating for “the library of the future.”
Create publically accessible documentation that highlights enhancements and renovations to the Library, noting how user needs have been addressed with Enrollment Growth Funding and other funds.
Renovate and re-allocate public space when possible to support students.
Create a space for users that can also be reserved for information literacy instruction.
Enhance Library classrooms with video capture technology.
Plan for and create Digital Makerspace, including investment in 3D printing, virtual reality, and media creation.
Identify key Randall Library faculty and staff who will be charged with creating a holistic vision for the first and second floors. Assess first floor and second floor layout and usage to improve student satisfaction and recommend student approved furnishings and technologies that maximize space while providing flexibility to users. When in-house expertise is inadequate, utilize appropriate field experts and consultants to ensure comfort and functionality, for the purposes of sustainability, safety, space efficiency, and ergonomic design.
Increase the number of group study rooms.
Add bike and treadmill exercise desks to provide diverse study space for student well-being.
Create an innovative, comfortable, and inviting research consultation space to enhance Library Faculty and student partnerships.
Identify ways to utilize outside space to expand useable space.
Advocate for and work with campus stakeholders to replace the outdated fire alarm system.
Advocate for and work with campus stakeholders to build new restrooms that meet Code and repurpose existing restroom space.
Assess the need for an additional public elevator for access to the second floor.
Assess, and if needed, adjust staffing plan for improved collections maintenance which includes ongoing cleaning and shelf reading.
Create a comprehensive plan to replace existing library signage with fewer, more effective and attractive signs. Ensure that templates for signs are easily accessible and authority to create or replace signage is clearly defined.
Identify need(s) for additional or different spaces for community engagement, programming, and exhibits.
Identify library related opportunities to engage students and faculty in applied learning.
Identify opportunities for showcasing applied learning, scholarship, and library collections.

Key Action Area 3: Connections and Contributions

Goals:

The Library will connect students, faculty, and staff to a seamless digital landscape of information that forms a cornerstone of their academic and post-graduation success.
The Library will select and acquire resources, including specialized collections, to support and contribute to teaching and research.
The Library will optimize the user experience through the design, development, and continual enhancement of a suite of services that focuses on search and discovery of library collections that educate and advance research.
The Library will effectively market and promote library collections, services, and programming in order to connect all users (students, faculty, staff, and community users) to the right resources at the right time.

Objectives:

Ensure collections are relevant, useful, promoted, discoverable, and easily accessible through comprehensive assessment, selection, deselection, and appropriate storage. The purchase of digital files and backfiles to replace portions of collections (e.g. Bound Journals, Government Documents, etc.) should be a priority in order to reduce collections’ physical footprint and to improve accessibility.
Work with campus stakeholders to identify an ideal storage solution for select bound journals, microforms, special collections, art, and other materials that ensures minimal delay in access to these materials.
Plan and execute a long-term deselection project for government documents that will make the collection more viable and create space for users.
Identify portions of the collection, such as those available in digital format, otherwise duplicated but that cannot be deselected (e.g., Honors Papers, Theses and Dissertations, certain Special Collections items, certain Archives’ items) that can be moved to storage.
Develop Digitization Workroom and programs to accelerate in-house digitization of materials.
Identify role and process for University Archives in preserving and indexing images taken by UNCW students, faculty, and staff.
If deemed necessary through usability assessment, update the library website including the library homepage and subpages to facilitate easier access to information and resources while meeting all standards for accessibility.
Assess online subject guides and redesign as needed with a focus on a consistent look and feel with flexibility to customize. Create new, additional subject guides as needed and remove those that are no longer needed.
Create online guides and/or tutorials to educate users about new and emerging platforms for collection access (i.e. how to access streaming video, ebooks, etc.).
Expand library integration into Blackboard Learn or other learning management system.
Enhance the visability, accessibility, and scope of Special Collections and University Archives.
Identify academic library best practices for access to resources and services for special user groups and develop policies accordingly.
Develop a comprehensive and strategic marketing plan for all collections, resources, services, and spaces. Assess the impact of marketing strategies on facility, collections, and services use and satisfaction. Increase efforts to reach the right audience with the right message with the right media.

Key Action Area 4: Strategic Alliances, Partnerships, and Collaboration

Goals:

The Library will collaborate with campus learning partners to inform the development of both services and spaces.
Library staff and faculty will work together across disciplines and traditional university boundaries to align library collections and services with the educational goals and directions of the University.
The Library will participate in collaborations in and between North and South Carolina libraries to ensure equitable access to a core selection of digital content and services and to save the system and the University millions of dollars (e.g. NCLIVE).

Objectives:

Assess current partnerships on campus, in the region, and state-wide and expand where needed to provide greater resource sharing for users.
Document and showcase collaborations with individual faculty (e.g. co-authoring publications, and other activities, e.g. digital storytelling projects, studying the impact of early college programs, strengthening the ties between the library and the community).
Advocate to co-locate strategic partners so students and faculty may cultivate a thriving expansion of networks, presence and involvement in the university and the community. Advocate for relocating partners that do not directly meet the library’s mission.
Identify campus offices that could benefit from liaison librarian services and assign a liaison librarian to identify opportunities for outreach and programming (e.g. LGBTQIA Resource Office, Women’s Studies and Resource Center, etc.).
Identify collaborative programming with academic departments in addition to those in Art and Art History, Creative Writing, and English.
Identify opportunities for new collaborations with relevant local libraries, organizations, museums, and/or agencies (including but not limited to the Cameron Museum of Art, the Cape Fear Museum, the New Hanover County Public Libraries, etc.).
Identify and plan for a position to assist in outreach and programming to deepen the impact of cultural events and exhibits, provide more opportunities for applied learning for students, elevate the use of the Library’s collections, services, and spaces, and more widely promote Library resources and services to members of the Wilmington community and beyond.

Key Action Area 5: Information Literacy and Critical Thinking

Goals:

The Library will provide instruction that promotes the ability to explore issues, ideas, artifacts, and data and to effectively utilize information resources.
The Library will provide faculty, staff, and students the opportunity to learn about using library resources and gain important information literacy and critical thinking skills within the University Studies Curriculum and beyond.
Delivery methods will be based, in part, on the exploration and continued adaptation or implementation of new media and new technologies and instructional design principles.

Objectives:

Develop an information literacy portal for faculty, staff, and students as a means to increase the virtual reach of information literacy instruction. Develop a curricular map to ensure information literacy instruction is appropriately integrated into University Studies and seek opportunities to further embed into courses when appropriate.
Liaison librarians will articulate student learning outcomes for course-related instruction sessions and plan and implement a means of assessment for the instruction.
Evaluate the workflow for production of tutorials and other technology-based instruction and implement revised workflows that will allow for faster creation and revision of online tutorials.
Integrate non-course related information literacy instruction into various campus training programs (e.g. Dare2Learn).
More accurately capture and assess the questions that users ask at both the Circulation Desk and Research Help Desk to determine need for separate or combined point of service space, revised service desk hours, better signage, or to create alternative methods of research assistance and instruction (both face to face and online).
Develop and offer an “information literacy boot camp” for graduating seniors who plan on attending a graduate program.
Evaluate LIB 103 (Introduction to Library Research and Technology) to determine the optimum number of seats and sections with a focus on library faculty workload and student success.
Create a residence hall outreach program to provide research assistance and information literacy instruction to students.
Create more interactive content and programming for First Year Seminar (e.g. Escape Room).
Identify opportunities for information literacy instruction to transfer students who are not enrolled in UNI 201 (Transfer Student Seminar).
Review and revise both the UNI 101 (First Year Seminar) and ENG 101, 103, 201 (English Composition) information literacy instruction components (including online tutorials) to ensure appropriate and effective placement of information literacy instruction and ensure student learning outcomes are met.
Incorporate teaching techniques not currently used in information literacy instruction in order to improve student learning and engagement (e.g. flipped classroom techniques, gamification, etc.)
Identify opportunities for information literacy instruction to online and distance education students who need it and provide Blackboard modules on information literacy, links to relevant subject guides, or synchronous instruction through WebEx or other technologies.
Create opportunities to learn about students’ information seeking and evaluating behaviors (e.g. pizza lunch, focus groups, surveys, etc.) to determine best instructional design for information literacy instruction.
Identify best use of the Association of College and Research Libraries Information Literacy Framework.
Work with campus colleagues (e.g. University Learning Services, Technology Assistance Center, etc.) to create a “frequently asked questions and struggles” to assist in educating new faculty about incoming UNCW students information literacy and critical thinking skills.
Develop, improve and promote archival literacy instruction by engaging students in an active learning and teaching environment.
Create an information literacy peer tutor program.
Create an award for student scholarship that utilizes library resources.

Key Action Area 6: Positive Organizational Culture

Goals:

The Library will engage the Library workforce, increase workforce diversity, and create a welcoming and inclusive organizational environment.
The Library will focus on dynamics, interactions, and processes that will lead to developing human strength, producing resilience and restoration, fostering vitality, and cultivating extraordinary individuals.
The Library will attract and retain excellent faculty and staff as enabling human excellence in our organization will unlock potential, reveal possibilities, and facilitate a more positive course of human and organizational welfare which ultimately supports UNCW’s Strategic Plan.

Objectives:

Develop and sustain the human resources required to ensure the centrality, vitality, and relevance of the Library, its operations, resources, and services.
Provide a quality work environment for staff through respect and support.
Reconceptualize and reconstitute Randall Library’s Diversity Committee to provide awareness, training, and programming internally and externally.
Create opportunities for library faculty and staff to learn about new technologies, learn new skills, and develop management techniques that will lead to improved service, job satisfaction, and staff cohesion.
Increase opportunities to support and celebrate innovative work that advances the Library’s Strategic Plan.
Create an organizational structure in Randall Library that encourages professional growth and increased responsibilities.
Assess and adjust positions that serve as dual appointments as needed for balanced workloads, efficiencies, and satisfaction.
Launch “Team Randall” to provide team building opportunities in Randall Library (e.g. lunches, game nights, etc.).
Create a formal mentoring program for interested faculty and staff.
Create scholarship mentoring program for faculty.
Create process for faculty and staff to discuss their experiences after their first year in order to improve onboarding and learn from new perspectives.\
Develop and implement regular survey(s) to identify issues in morale and have formal process to address these issues in a timely manner.
Renovate and refresh existing office spaces to accommodate growing staff and shifting organizational needs.
Create new or renovate existing break room to accommodate faculty and staff growth.
Identify substantial, flexible storage space for ease of retrieval and more efficient use of time.
Utilize existing opportunities (i.e. “Wednesday meetings”) or identify additional opportunities for information sharing about department processes, initiatives, projects, changes, etc.
Hold annual full-staff retreats and ensure that all staff can participate.
Ensure timely reports from professional and talent development opportunities are shared widely.
Create cross training opportunities across departments/divisions.
Create documentation of work processes and procedures where none exist and update documentation as needed. Ensure all documentation is accessible through the library’s SharePoint site.
Ensure and encourage effective means for providing information and feedback “up” to library administration.
Expedite searches for vacated positions and provide timely updates as searches progress. Evaluate current interview processes and schedules to ensure components address both needs of the candidates as well as faculty and staff.
Identify list of qualities needed and wanted in a future University Librarian and advocate for maximum involvement for library faculty and staff in the search for a new University Librarian.
Create formal, consistent procedures and processes for internships and practicums.
Create regular opportunities for partners to meet library faculty and staff.
Create formal internal records management plan to ensure paper and digital files are organized and easily accessible.
Review, revise, and update emergency management policies and documentation.

Key Action Area 7: Strategic Assessment and Measuring Our Impact

Goals:

The Library will establish a systematic program of continuous assessment based on professional standards and the University’s mission and strategic aspirations to ensure data-driven decision making, adequate stewardship of library resources, and responsiveness to the needs of our users.
The Library will document and communicate the critical value and impact of the Library to the UNCW community and beyond as the final outcome of the strategic assessment plan.
The Library will measure the state and university’s return on investment in the Library and “Tell Our Story.”

Objectives:

Evaluate standardized, national survey instruments (LibQUAL+, LibQUAL+Lite, the MISO Survey, etc.) to determine appropriateness and usefulness of these tools for the Library.
Design and perform operations assessment for Technical and Collection Management Services to identify areas for improved efficiencies.
Design and perform collection management assessment, to include collection development policy assessment, holdings assessment, collection analysis, and supporting roles and responsibilities’ assessment (Liaison Librarians, Faculty Reps, etc.); follow up with recommendations for collection management model redesign if/as warranted.
Design and perform a pilot inventory project for targeted collection areas (DVDs, bound journals, P call numbers); follow up with recommendations for inventory of entire collection (not done in over 10 years).
Continue assessing the need for and storage of the Museum of World Cultures.
Use concepts of “customer journey mapping” to identify users’ satisfaction with services, spaces, and collections and make changes accordingly. Include “spot” assessments to gather data and information about user behavior and satisfaction to inform service planning.
Gather, analyze, evaluate, and report on Library website usage using tools such as Google analytics.
Implement non-peer observation system for information literacy instruction.
Develop universal “elevator speech” that allows each library faculty and staff member to advocate for the library’s needs and to describe its value to various stakeholders.
Increase user awareness of the value and impact of academic libraries and the critical role of Library Faculty and Library staff, including regular reporting of usage data in a manner that is compelling to our stakeholders.
Focus on transparency in posting new library statistics and related information regarding budget and collections.
Create infographics that highlight and advertise library services, collections, and spaces.
Identify and prioritize current and emerging social media tools as vehicles for communicating with users. Articulate a plan and policy for the library’s presence in these virtual spaces.
Align Special Collections and University Archives measures of public services with Standardized Statistical Measures and Metrics for Public Services in Archival Repositories and Special Collections Libraries.