LSU Libraries Strategic Plan 2012 - 2020
Mission
Serving the flagship institution of the state, the LSU Libraries provides foundational support for the academic core of Louisiana State University. Library staff organize, preserve, and share resources to meet the information needs of the university community, providing access to resources essential to teaching, research, and service. Our buildings provide both the physical space and the intellectual environment for students, faculty, and staff to meet, engage, learn, and create new knowledge. Library staff go beyond the role of information gate-keepers, teaching important information literacy and research skills and proactively preserving our region’s history and culture. Reaching beyond the university community, we extend information services to the state and make our unique holdings available to the world.
Vision
As economic forces and technological innovation bring major change to higher education, the LSU Libraries will transform itself so that it can continue to provide essential resources, both physical and intellectual, to support the students, faculty, and staff of the university in their pursuit of excellence. We will use our specialized expertise in information management to maximize access to needed information. We will extend our teaching role to provide students with information literacy skills they need to achieve the highest levels of intellectual and personal development. We will provide leadership in organizing, preserving and providing access to scholarship, research, and creative works produced at the university. We will collaborate with teaching and research faculty, with business and industry, and with other libraries and organizations in order to share resources and better serve our constituents. We will capitalize on the unique history and environment of Louisiana and LSU to enhance the LSU Libraries’ reputation as one of the top research libraries in the country.
Values
We value and will work to promote:
- an organizational culture of flexibility, fairness, collegiality, communication, and respect;
- a service-oriented culture that makes the needs of LSU’s students, faculty, and staff its highest priority;
- information literacy and other skills needed for lifelong learning;
- strong and diverse information resources and collections that support the University’s mission;
- preservation of the unique history and culture of Louisiana and the lower Mississippi Valley;
- excellence in librarianship, including carrying out active research on academic library issues to add to the body of professional knowledge;
- academic freedom and respect for a breadth of scholarly perspectives and approaches;
- diversity among our faculty and staff in order to better serve our diverse constituencies;
- collaboration with students, faculty, staff and outside partners that will enhance library resources and services;
- ongoing planning, evaluation, and change to maintain improvement and respond to the changing needs of the university;
- engagement with the university community, the public, and the profession of librarianship to promote positive change.
Goals
Discovery: Increase the visibility, use, quantity, and quality of library resources and services in support of teaching, research, and creative activities.
Strategies:
- Conduct a comprehensive assessment of faculty and graduate student research production and create appropriate data management plans, including preservation and access strategies, for that material.
- Seek new technologies and technological partnerships, both within and outside the university, to enhance the discoverability of the Libraries’ resources.
- Develop and enhance activities that promote knowledge of the Libraries’ resources to current students and faculty.
- Develop a more comprehensive approach to public relations, increasing publicity about the value of the Libraries to the general public.
- Develop a comprehensive approach to make available electronically the Libraries’ rare and unique resources.
- Augment financial resources devoted to information technologies through grants, partnerships, and cultivation of donors.
- Develop resources, including grants, donations, and the development of consortial relationships to build collections and increase access to them.
Performance indicators:
- The existence of a workable institutional repository or repositories providing increased accessibility to and publicity about faculty and student research.
- Greater access to information resources regardless of ownership, location, or format indicated by increased aggregate circulation and/or use of library materials and resources.
- Increased number of students and faculty participating in library instruction of all types.
- Increased publicity about the Libraries’ resources.
- Increased resources to assist in digitization of the Libraries’ rare and unique holdings.
- Increased funding for technologies to improve access.
- New and expanded financial resources and consortial relationships providing increased access to collections.
Learning: Support undergraduate and graduate learning through library instruction, teaching information literacy, and through direct provision of resources needed for learning and scholarship.
Strategies:
- Increase and diversify library instruction efforts.
- Build collaborative relationships with faculty to better integrate teaching of information literacy – critical thinking, problem solving, communication skills – into the fabric of student learning.
- Collaborate with student support services to assist in recruitment and retention of students.
- Collaborate with academic departments to assist in recruitment of graduate students and faculty.
- Develop and implement plans to provide safe, healthful, and accessible library facilities for learning and working, as well as an appropriate environment for the Libraries’ collections.
Performance indicators:
- Increased teaching of information literacy to students at all levels using a variety of delivery methods.
- Increased number of courses in which library faculty are involved with the teaching of information literacy skills.
- Increased involvement of Libraries staff in recruitment and retention of students.
- Increased participation of Libraries staff in recruitment, retention, and outreach activities serving graduate students and faculty.
- Improved library facilities to enhance usability for patrons and a new storage facility to protect collections and maximize patrons’ use of space in existing library buildings.
Diversity: Foster diversity among our faculty and staff. In addition, we will foster diversity in the information resources we collect and to which we provide access, as well as in the services we provide, the better to serve our varied constituencies.
Strategies:
- Recruit, hire, and retain diverse, service-oriented faculty and staff, by fostering a collegial and communicative culture that is welcoming, supportive, and inclusive.
- Develop “niche” services, including courses and presentations that will meet the diverse needs of students and faculty with a variety of skill sets.
- Augment outreach to communities in Louisiana who are underrepresented in our collections in order to foster increased collection development and preservation of unique resources.
Performance Indicators:
- Increased number of library faculty and staff from groups that are currently underrepresented.
- Increased services designed specifically to reach diverse constituencies, including but not limited to underrepresented groups, non-traditional students, and people with disabilities.
- Increased resources documenting the history and culture of groups currently underrepresented in our holdings, especially emphasizing African-American resources.
Engagement: Foster engagement of Libraries’ faculty and staff to promote excellence and continuous improvement within our own organizational structure, achievement as researchers/scholars, and service to the profession and community.
Strategies:
- Conduct an annual review and update of the Libraries’ strategic plan and its progress in reaching performance indicators.
- Periodically examine the library’s organizational structure and adapt to emerging needs.
- Mentor and empower faculty and staff to encourage innovation, creativity, and commitment to excellence in library service.
- Promote personal and professional development to position faculty and staff effectively in order to serve the University’s future needs.
- Expand efforts to recognize faculty and staff for their accomplishments and achievements.
- Augment support for faculty and staff development by applying for grants and cultivating donors and other partners.
Performance indicators:
- Existence of an up-to-date strategic plan that enumerates the Libraries’ current goals, performance indicators, and strategies.
- Evidence (e.g. annual reports, program reviews) of an evolving, flexible organization that matches its resources to the University’s needs.
- Existence of a mentoring program and adoption of the Google 80/20 model to encourage innovation.
- Increased staff participation in personal and professional development activities.
- Increased public recognition of faculty and staff achievements and increased.
- Increased financial support for faculty and staff development.
