- 2009 Initiatives
- 2008 Initiatives
- 2007 Initiatives
- 2007 Initiatives - Updates - Oct. 29, 2007
- Vision 2010 Status Update Report - Nov. 25, 2007
- Introduction
- Mission
- Vision
- Values
- Strategic Directions
- Position the Libraries at the Intellectual Crossroads of the University Community
- Create a Workplace of Choice
- Enhance User Services
- Build, Maintain, and Support Diverse Resources
- Framework for Vision 2010
Introduction
The University of Washington, one of the nation’s great public universities, is committed to educating future global citizens and leaders, creating a vibrant intellectual community, and linking academic excellence to cutting edge research through scholarly exploration and intellectual rigor. The Libraries is deeply woven into this fabric of learning and discovery.
The UW Libraries ranks among the top North American academic research libraries by any measure. The Libraries’ collections and services, physical and virtual, provide outstanding support for internationally recognized research in more than 80 doctoral programs while also addressing the learning needs of more than 30,000 undergraduate students across three campuses. Students and faculty rank the Libraries as the most important source of information for their work, and graduating seniors consistently give the Libraries the highest satisfaction rating of any academic service or program. The Libraries was commended in the University's 2003 accreditation review for its rich collections, well-qualified staff, and "exceptional service to students, staff development, and a commitment to planning and assessment of service.” In 2004, the Libraries was awarded the prestigious Excellence in Libraries Award from the Association of College and Research Libraries.
The past five years have seen tremendous changes in the information environment in which students, faculty and staff live and work. The rise of easy-to-use general search engines providing access to a vast array of content has changed people’s daily information seeking behavior and expectations. This new information environment calls for a diversified approach to resource use and discovery which can meet the needs of both new and experienced researchers. Wonderful opportunities now exist to create digital content from the Libraries’ own collections and make widely available what had once been primarily “hidden treasures.” Library facilities are being reframed as more flexible learning spaces—collaborative, individual study, instruction, and café environments—to meet a variety of user needs. The expansion of the Sand Point remote shelving facility will create additional opportunities to reconfigure our campus spaces and services.
The Libraries has made significant progress toward its goal of becoming a more user-centered, “any time and any place” library. UW faculty, students, and staff enjoy access to a robust and growing digital library which directly supports their work. Campus partnerships significantly improved the level of computing services available to students. The Orbis Cascade Alliance enabled UW users and others to access the cataloged resources of libraries in Washington and Oregon, providing opportunities for projects such as joint subscriptions to electronic resources and coordinated collection development. QuestionPoint 24/7 Reference Cooperative provided users with around-the-clock information and reference service. The Undergraduate Research Award was established enabling librarians, faculty and students to work together to highlight information literacy as critical to student learning.
As we take pride in our many successes, we recognize that the Libraries faces many challenges. To realize the promise of the 21st century academic research library, it is essential that we continue to focus on our users and align our programs to better meet their needs. We must maintain the excellent level of the essential library services our users expect while keeping sight of our core values and those qualities which define us as a library. The Libraries shall continue to be a leader in scholarly communication issues as well as other information policy matters, such as intellectual freedom and privacy.
Strategic organizational changes and restructuring in the Libraries have laid the foundation for Vision 2010. Key positions focusing on diversity, assessment, and organization development were created, and special responsibilities were assigned in the areas of undergraduate services, international programs, copyright and scholarly communication to address issues of particular importance to the University. We must actively create the means to achieve our priorities through additional funding while also reallocating resources, consolidating, and economizing where we can. We cannot achieve our vision unless we attract, develop and retain a highly knowledgeable, diverse staff with appropriate compensation, rewards and training.
It is both an extraordinary responsibility and privilege to meet the challenges of supporting the teaching, learning, research, dreams and aspirations of so many. To do so, the Libraries will use Vision 2010 to focus efforts in four interrelated strategic directions:
- Position the Libraries at the Intellectual Crossroads of the University Community
- Create a Workplace of Choice
- Enhance User Services
- Build, Maintain, and Support Diverse Resources
Mission
The University of Washington Libraries enriches the quality of life and advances intellectual discovery by connecting people with knowledge.
Vision
The University of Washington Libraries is an international leader in imagining, creating, and realizing the promise of the 21st century academic research library. As the intellectual and physical commons of our great University, we advance discovery and encourage the growth of knowledge. We anticipate and meet the information needs of our diverse communities, at any time and in any place. We prepare students for success in life as information smart global citizens.
Values
As the Libraries transforms itself to achieve our vision, we will retain a commitment to our core values.
Service: We value quality, user-centered service, anticipating and meeting the information needs of the University’s communities. We value the Libraries’ role in making a difference in education and working for the public good.
Scholarship: We value the Libraries' vital role in life-long learning, in the free exchange of ideas, and in creating knowledge. We value collegiality and collaboration within the University Libraries and beyond.
Respect: We respect the individual skills, abilities and diversity of our patrons and staff. We value staff excellence, accountability and creativity.
Resources: We value building, organizing, preserving, and providing research level resources for the University’s communities.
Library as Place: We value the Libraries as an intellectual commons, where the academic life of the University is enriched. We value the Libraries as a dynamic facility to provide efficient access to our collections and as a comfortable and welcoming workspace.
Strategic Directions
Position the Libraries at the intellectual crossroads of the University community
The Libraries is woven into the fabric of learning and discovery at the University of Washington, and contributes to the University's engagement with the local and global community. The Libraries will build on its strengths as a trusted, service-driven, interdisciplinary, and shared resource by engaging in the intellectual life of the university and, in turn, engaging the university community in the evolution of the Libraries. The Libraries will drive forward university involvement in information policy matters such as open access publishing, intellectual freedom, privacy, and access to information.
Meeting the needs of a world-class research and teaching institution requires that the Libraries attracts, develops, and retains its most important asset—a highly knowledgeable and capable staff. To accomplish this, the Libraries will create a workplace that provides competitive compensation, fosters diversity, operates transparently, provides the resources and infrastructure necessary for staff to perform at their best, and which inspires and rewards risk-taking, innovation and self-renewal.
Understanding and addressing user needs are central to the work of the Libraries. We support a diverse community with a variety of learning and research styles in an information environment that is highly complex and constantly changing. We use our knowledge of best practices, emerging trends and technologies to design and provide services and infrastructures in a timely and responsive manner. We strive to be an “Anytime, Anyplace” library. We aim to enable users to function self-sufficiently on their own terms while also providing personalized expert guidance as needed. We are as nimble as possible in meeting new and emerging public service needs.
Build, maintain and support diverse resources
Access to resources is central to learning and discovery. The Libraries will pursue its evolution into a digital library, providing seamless and stable access to digital resources and making its own unique resources available to scholars worldwide for research and learning. At the same time, the Libraries recognizes that it is responsible for building and preserving both analog and digital collections – not just for the current generation of scholars, but also for generations of scholars to come.