Creighton Libraries Connections

University Libraries Launches Strategic Plan

University Libraries Launches Strategic Plan

The University Libraries is excited to announce our Strategic Plan 2022-2024, which establishes priorities for the upcoming three years and serves as a roadmap to achieving our vision. That vision is of a unified library enterprise comprised of talented professionals which delivers services and collections responsive to the rapidly changing environment of higher education. The plan was built by a process, led by a task force of Libraries’ staff, which collected input from focus groups and interviews with university administrators, faculty, students, and staff. Input collected informed the final strategic plan, which is comprised of fifteen goals under the following four focus areas:

I. Build talent to deliver next generation library services

The Libraries will develop highly skilled information professionals who remain up to speed with the continuously changing landscape of scholarly information, research, and publishing. Resources are made available for workshops, conferences, and other continuing education opportunities and Libraries’ staff have developed annual training plans. As an action to support our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, everyone on our team will complete at least one continuing education activity focused on DE&I topics.

II. Actively engage with the campus community

The Libraries will further embed services and resources across campus and will establish new partnerships with departments, colleges, schools, and institutions within the community. These partnerships include programming events surrounding information topics and collaboration on externally funded projects. To better engage the campus community, our team will develop and implement a marketing plan to improve visibility of services and resources.

III. Transform services to support the changing landscape within higher education

The Libraries will stay responsive to the changing needs within higher education through ongoing assessment and evaluation in order to align our services and resources. Some of these needs are already known, and the Libraries will meet them by increasing support for research data management, strengthening the library liaison program, launching annual workshops on critical information topics, and bringing the perspectives of underrepresented authors and researchers into the collection.

IV. Establish the University Libraries as one enterprise

One of the biggest challenges facing the Libraries is the completion of a merger of the Health Sciences Library and Reinert Alumni Memorial Library. The union of our libraries is not just an administrative merger but a physical merger of collections and spaces. Activities involved in this project include centralizing policies and procedures, launching a new website, evaluating print collections, reclassifying materials, and assessing spaces in preparation for a physical move. While a new library space has been proposed, a timeline for completion of this space has not yet been determined. Until that time, both libraries will be physically combined within Reinert Alumni Memorial Library and an off-site storage facility may be employed to house some of our collections.

A public document outlining the strategic plan in more detail will be released with the launch of the new website later this winter. Until this document is released, a full list of the goals within the strategic plan can be found on our website. Progress updates will be shared through the Library Advisory Committee, updates on our website, and communication through our newsletter. Our team welcomes feedback and suggestions on how we can better serve our library users and aid them in meeting their goals.