Library Strategic Planning

Mission

The Chester Fritz Library (CFL) at UND enhances and facilitates teaching, learning, creativity, intellectual inquiry, innovation, and research excellence.

Vision

CFL will be an inclusive academic hub, supporting the research and teaching of the Premier Flagship University in the Northern Plains. CFL librarians and staff will be trusted partners and guides in information discovery, emerging technologies, and the creation, assessment, and stewardship of knowledge.

Vision Implementation

We enact our vision by

• providing trustworthy resources, tools, and services to all;
• connecting people with information;
• evaluating, curating, and preserving information;
• offering inspirational physical and virtual spaces for discovery; and
• partnering with faculty, researchers, and the global information community to create and disseminate new knowledge and to contribute to the creation of scalable, barrier-free, and distributed information infrastructures.

Values

Our identity is multifaceted. We are a research library, UND community member and key partner in OneUND, information organization, knowledge partner and creator, steward of scholarship, and member of the global scholarly community. As such, our values ground and guide our strategic decisions and our approach to our work. We value

Connectedness, Collaboration, & Community

We strive to support and promote an integrated, barrier-free information ecosystem. We value collaboration with scholars, learners, libraries, and all those who facilitate learning across the global scholarly community. We also support our local community, and particularly value our strengths in local, regional, and UND history.

Goals

• We will assess and improve our virtual services, including our Library Services Platform, website, and integration with UND’s website and services.
• We will expand and promote multiple uses of the UND Scholarly Commons and related/similar services.
• We will support and promote scholarly open resources and services. We will promote engaged, informed communities, with shared knowledge and information infrastructures that move toward interoperability.
• We will proactively facilitate increased collaboration, communication, and partnerships on and off campus.
• We will increase our engagement with the Grand Forks region and beyond.

Integrity

We model integrity and openness in our policies, services, and actions. We support longstanding values of our profession such as intellectual freedom and the right to privacy.

Goals

• We will develop and highlight policies related to information ethics, and explicitly develop and promote events with similar/related themes.
• We will develop enhanced resources to assist students in understanding issues of information ethics, such as plagiarism and academic integrity.

Innovation, Creativity, & Lifelong Learning

We value the spirit of innovation, and promote risk taking in pursuit of improvements to services, resources, collections, and information infrastructure. We value the creative process, intellectual curiosity, and the willingness to ask questions. We support learning within and beyond UND, whether in support of research, teaching, assessment, or personal development.

Goals

• We will reward experimentation, strengthen discovery skills, and encourage the development of dynamic solutions to persistent problems. We will welcome risk-taking, whether an initiative is successful or not, as all offer learning opportunities. We will network with colleagues to enhance our ability to innovate.
• We will promote implementation of the Research Skill Development (RSD) Framework, in collaboration with UND faculty and departments, to promote student learning and enhance the explicit use of research skills in the curriculum.
• We will work with UND departments and committees, as well as external partners, to enhance access to services and resources for on-campus and distance students, faculty, and research partners beyond UND.
• We will support the use of High Impact Practices and continuous assessment and improvement.
• We will devote specific resources to support library staff professional development, and will encourage knowledge sharing and cross-training.

Stewardship

We value preservation and permanent, barrier-free access to information.

Goals

• We will support scholarly publishing and communication, and the preservation of UND research and collections.
• We will increase our efforts to preserve and make accessible/discoverable the heritage and history of UND, Grand Forks, and the Red River Valley, as well as related materials.

Respect, Diversity, & Inclusivity

We provide, assess, and adapt services, spaces, collections, events, and resources to best meet current and evolving needs of all users. We strive to model and promote a welcoming, inclusive environment, and to promote diversity in collections, services, events, and staffing.

Goals

• We will increase ease of access and wayfinding across our physical and virtual spaces.
• We will improve our physical space and its usability, and enhance services available within this space.
• We will improve the usability of our website and digital resources, and use best practices from User Experience (UX) to assess our success in these areas, including accessibility for users with disabilities and distance learners.
• We will work with the Office of Disability Services to evaluate our services, spaces, and resources.
• We will work closely with UND Human Resources & Payroll Services, UND Diversity & Inclusion, and other offices and groups to expand our work to recruit and retain staff with a range of backgrounds.
• We will work to improve our understanding of ways to make our environment welcoming and supportive for all, through options such as training, guest speakers, events, displays, and more.

Planning Process

Following OneUND, the University of North Dakota's comprehensive strategic planning process for 2017-2022, the UND Libraries have embarked on a multi-stage, comprehensive strategic planning process:

• November 2017: The Libraries (excluding the Health Sciences and Law Libraries, which report to their own Deans as per accreditation requirements) create an alignment plan, detailing how we support OneUND.
• December 2017 - January 2018: Staff from across multiple libraries meet to perform SWOT analyses. Stakeholders are consulted.
• February 2018: Stakeholders are consulted further. Staff meet in all-staff retreats.
• Summer 2018: A comprehensive UND Libraries Strategic Plan is drafted and vetted.
• September 2018: Strategic Plan officially launched!

A Vision for the Future of Research Libraries

The core mission of research libraries is comprised of the interrelated goals of collecting and curating reliable information, ensuring information is discoverable and accessible, and preserving information for the future. Additionally, research libraries facilitate connections among scholars, and advance global knowledge. The means by which libraries accomplish these goals have changed dramatically over time and will continue to evolve. We are at a revolutionary moment, where libraries and librarians are redefining their roles to become true leaders and partners with academics across the global scholarly ecosphere.

The landscapes of academe, research, technology, and information organization are shifting dramatically. With them, the vision of what constitutes a research library is altering. Emerging changes demand a bold, unique vision for libraries – one that goes beyond walls and campuses, surpasses barriers of physical space, and supports research and learning in new and evolving forms.

Research libraries will continue to provide innovative, inspiring physical spaces for collaboration, study, and service provision, including access to specialized technologies. Within these spaces, students will prepare themselves for success within and beyond academe, and faculty will engage in cutting-edge research. However, an increasingly large percentage of the library's work will be on virtual, digital platforms. In partnership with faculty and students, the library itself will develop such new platforms – for information discovery and access, for knowledge creation and management, and for sharing of scholarship. Research libraries will take leading roles in deploying new technologies for the benefit of students, faculty, patients in academic health centers, and ever-expanding global scholarly communities. Research libraries will facilitate the expansion of these scholarly communities, helping faculty connect with colleagues around the world, in new and expanding fields. Research libraries will enhance interdisciplinary research, expand scholarly communication, and develop and provide new platforms for information sharing and scholarly publishing. Finally, research libraries will take a lead role in long-term stewardship of scholarly resources, in all formats, from traditional materials to data files to archived web sites and online ephemera that could otherwise disappear.