Focus on the Future: Strategic Plan for the Emerson College Library 2003-2006
Contents:
Vision
The Library's resources and services enrich the quality of education at Emerson by enabling learners to select, evaluate and use information to enhance their creativity and knowledge.
Mission
The mission of the Emerson College Library is to support the curricular, research and institutional needs of Emerson's students, faculty and administration. The Library provides information resources and technologies as well as a well-qualified and service-oriented staff to assist in their use. Through its instruction program, which teaches students how to become effective users of information and knowledge, the Library promotes rigorous academic inquiry and lifelong learning.
Core Values
In meeting the goals and objectives of our Strategic Plan, library and media staff members are committed to the following values:
- Service that meets and exceeds user expectations.
- Equitable and open access to information.
- Development of an information literate community of students and faculty.
- Free expression of diverse ideas and perspectives.
- Cooperation, collaboration and sharing of resources.
- Support of scholarly communication and research.
- Integration of appropriate technology in the teaching and learning process.
- Fair use of intellectual and creative property.
- Preservation of the college archives and special collections.
Goals and Objectives
Goal One: Support Teaching and Learning.
Objective 1: Instruct and support faculty, students, and staff in using information and multimedia resources.
Enhance library instruction by incorporating innovative teaching techniques and by applying assessment results to the further development of the program.
Provide onsite or online training that promotes user independence and self-sufficiency.
Develop creative reference services -- in person, online, phone, remote, local, chat -- to meet needs.
Objective 2: Assure that faculty and students view the Library's web site as the premier entry point for information in communication and the performing arts.
Initiate exciting new searching options through the new integrated library system.
Add databases germane to communication and the performing arts whenever fiscally possible.
Make the web site easier to use by applying new design elements and by increasing customization.
Use metadata to link from the catalog directly to online sources to aid users in finding information.
Objective 3: Support instructional, creative and professional success of the faculty.
Devise innovative ways to reach faculty through the liaison program or other means.
Work with faculty to support College-wide initiatives, such as The City in Transition.
Assume greater role in communicating copyright policy.
Objective 4: Lead in the innovative use of technology in mediated spaces.
Incorporate new technology into classrooms and MSC production areas.
Make digital production equipment available to students across the curriculum.
Instruct faculty, students and staff in the use of appropriate instructional media.
Goal Two: Improve Quality Of The Academic Experience For Students.
Objective 1: Adhere to a students-first policy.
Facilitate use of wireless technology in the Library and MSC.
Create a more seamless IT/Library environment by implementing the LION Card for library printing and copying and other joint projects.
Communicate Library/MSC policies more effectively.
Objective 2: Maximize use of available space.
Work with campus constituents to plan for additional library and study space.
Use remote storage to optimize shelving space available in Library
Install compact shelving to store nonprint collection in MSC.
Objective 3: Make more library resources available to users anywhere and at anytime.
Support and expand e-reserves via Web CT and the new integrated library system.
Initiate electronic delivery of selected library resources to the user's desktop.
Promote increased use of Library from Kasteel Well and LA campuses.
Goal Three: Improve Organizational Effectiveness.
Objective 1: Build a web of human relationships with departments and organizations outside the Library/Media Services Center.
Partner with others on campus in communicating College-wide plagiarism guidelines and other policies.
Build creative Library/MSC marketing initiatives and public relations across campus.
Work with residence hall staff and student services coordinators to reach new groups of students.
Work with the facilities planning team to design new mediated classrooms.
Objective 2: Lead the campus in providing excellent customer service.
Improve skills and customer service orientation of work-study students and part-time employees.
Improve the way we evaluate service by using concepts from SERVQUAL and other models.
Objective 3: Increase communication within the Library.
Evaluate and improve the staff intranet.
Conduct meetings among Library/MSC staff from different departments several times per year to discuss issues of mutual concern.
Objective 4: Identify long-range staffing needs and develop staff to meet these needs.
Review job descriptions, qualifications and skills for library/media services positions based on current and changing needs.
Select, train and develop staff to meet these needs.
Goal Four: Increase Emerson's Visibility And Enhance Its Reputation.
Objective 1: Expand exhibit program on campus.
Schedule and book traveling exhibits in the PPC gallery.
Collaborate with other Boston cultural organizations to create exhibits.
Digitize selected archival materials and make them available on the web.
Objective 2: Reach out to new audiences both within and outside the College.
Offer outstanding exhibits by local artists in the Library.
Host Faculty Authors and other selected cultural events.
Expand collaboration with the Boston Arts Academy and other local educational institutions.
Work with Office of Institutional Advancement to identify potential grant sources.
Planning Assumptions for Strategic Plan: 2003-2006
The assumptions below represent the library staff's best thinking about developments in the external environment that the Library and Media Services Center (MSC) must respond to over the next three years.
Technology
- The curriculum at EC will require a high level of computer and media skills on the part of its students.
- Online teaching and learning will be an increasingly important part of the academic program at EC.
- Emerson students will be more sophisticated in using computers and the Internet.
- More serials and reference materials will be available in electronic format.
- Important College records will be in electronic format only.
- Copyright issues will be more challenging and complex in the electronic environment.
- Non-production courses will require more multimedia presentations and projects.
Users
- EC faculty members will need to increase their publishing output and national reputations.
- Faculty demand for Mediated Classrooms will increase dramatically.
- Users will expect media and computer technology to be better, faster and easier to use (seamless, with end-user tools, and no need for intermediary help).
- Users will expect Library and MSC staff to be able to support new and emerging technologies.
- Users may be frustrated by Library/MSC policies and by the searching protocols of various databases.
- Users will demand instant information in a wide variety of subjects wherever they are.
- As information proliferates in many different formats, users will find it more difficult than ever to locate the best resources to meet their needs.
- The curriculum at Emerson will continue to require that students develop ability to use and evaluate information effectively.
Funding
- Funding will remain static while expectations increase.
- The publishing output of university presses will continue to decline and database costs will continue to rise.
- Licensing of electronic resources will continue to take up an increasing portion of the Library's budget.
- The academic market will be more competitive, and Emerson will need to spend money to maintain its competitive edge.
- Replacement technology will continue to be more expensive than the equipment it replaces (e.g. LCD projectors replacing overhead projectors).
- The Library will be very short of study space until the College funds an expansion project.
Implications for the Library/MSC
- The Library/MSC will be judged on the value they add to the teaching/learning process.
- Library/MSC staff roles in the College are changing and expanding (exhibits, plagiarism, copyright, Power Point production, teaching, mediated classroom responsibility, digitization, etc)
- Library/MSC outreach to other departments on campus will be increasingly important.
- The Library and MSC's reputation for excellent service will enhance the College's reputation.
- The wise allocation and development of staff will be essential to maintaining the Library/MSC's standard for excellent service.
- The Library's web site will continue to be the key access point to library and media services.
