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Strategy Map, Major Initiatives for 2020-2023

Based on our mission, vision, and values, these are the Libraries' major goals, strategies, and initiatives for 2020-2023.

User-centered Innovation

User-centered Innovation

Partnerships

Organizational Capacity

Organizational Capacity

Goal Areas	Strategies
Goal 1. User-centered Innovation Enable and catalyze our University community’s success by applying innovative, user-centered approaches in our programs, services, and spaces.	Strengthen the Libraries’ alignment with institutional plans and priorities. (1.1)	Design and deliver user-centered, innovative programs to help students meet their academic goals. (1.2)	Enhance the Libraries’ virtual and physical environment, emphasizing ease of discovery and use, and inspirational, interdisciplinary experiences. (1.3)	Promote and preserve the University’s research and scholarly output, and meet faculty members’ data needs for research, scholarship, and creativity. (1.4)
Major Initiatives: User-Centered Innovation >> Enable and catalyze our University community’s success by applying innovative, user-centered approaches in our programs, services, and interfaces. Strategy 1.1: Strengthen the Libraries’ alignment with institutional plans and priorities. Initiatives: Identify, collect, and integrate performance data to inform decisions and align the Libraries with the university’s performance indicators. Redefine our collections with data and models to better inform collections funding and bring our practices in line with UMD’s academic curriculum and priorities. Charge a new, interdisciplinary group, working title: Scholars Brain Trust, to explore and create structures to address Big Challenges such as scholarly communications, anti-racism work, and digital scholarship trends. Contribute to the University’s pandemic-related crisis and recovery efforts to ensure short- and long-term success of UMD. Strategy 1.2: Design and deliver user-centered, innovative programs to help students meet their academic goals. Initiative: Co-lead a collaborative Open Educational Resources and Affordability Initiative to address college affordability and access to knowledge as an ethical issue. Strategy 1.3: Enhance the Libraries’ virtual environments, emphasizing ease of discovery and use. Initiatives: Enhance and redesign Libraries’ user-centered public website and interfaces. Carry out first phase of the Big Ten Academic Alliance Libraries’ Discovery to Delivery initiatives. Strategy 1.4: Enhance promotion of the University’s research and scholarly output, and meet faculty members’ data needs for research, scholarship, and creativity. Initiatives: Convene and carry out charge of UMD PACT (Publishing, Access, and Contract Terms) Working Group to advocate for new models of content access and scholarly publishing. Create a new Distributed Data Services Model aligned with UMD’s Academy of Data Science and Social Sciences Data Center. Become the institutional home of the SocAXiv Repository.
Goal 2. Social justice Deepen the impact of our values-based work in the Libraries, partnering with others to promote democracy, social justice, and equitable participation in our society.	Improve accessibility in all aspects of our work. (2.1)	Lead and participate in campus initiatives to promote social justice, emphasizing the inclusion of minoritized people and histories in our programs and collections. (2.2)		Advance the principles of democracy and equitable participation in society through library engagement and outreach. (2.3)
Major Initiatives: Social Justice >> Deepen the impact of our values-based work in the Libraries, partnering with others to promote democracy, social justice, and equitable participation in our society. Strategy 2.1: Improve accessibility in all aspects of our work. Initiative: Make our collections, data, and exhibits more open and accessible through digitization and other tools. Strategy 2.2: Lead and participate in campus initiatives to promote social justice, emphasizing the inclusion of minoritized people and histories in our programs and collections. Initiatives: Document and preserve the student experience, including student life, social justice activism, and stories of the COVID-19 pandemic. Partner with ARHU’s Center for Literary and Comparative Students to deliver Anti-Racism series of events and actions. Carry out COVID-19-related community engagement projects that will mitigate disproportionate negative impact of the crisis on some students, faculty, and members of the surrounding community. Follow through on commitment to anti-racism and social justice work, ensuring we are considering BIPOC constituents in all that we do using anti-racism and inclusive research and applied solutions in our work and operations. Strategy 2.3: Advance the principles of democracy and equitable participation in society through library engagement and outreach. Initiatives: Reclaim our purpose and values as sources of knowledge, service, and hope through promotion of values-based work to the community. Support and broaden the work of the Libraries’ Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) Committee.
Goal 3. Partnerships Strengthen the Libraries’ positive influence, reach, and reputation through new and existing strategic partnerships.	Leverage strategic partnerships to maximize resources for users and expand global impact. (3.1)	Participate in large-scale, digital collections initiatives for the public good. (3.2)		Support innovative research through the collaborative provision of unique digital content and services. (3.3)
Major Initiatives: Partnerships >> Strengthen the Libraries’ positive influence, reach, and reputation through new and existing strategic partnerships. Strategy 3.1: Leverage strategic partnerships to maximize resources for users and expand global impact. Initiatives: Participate fully in the Big Ten Academic Alliance BIG Collection Initiative related to consortial licensing and large-scale acquisitions. Lead Project 1856, the University’s participation in Universities Studying Slavery -- and an international consortium of over 60 universities sharing best practices in addressing their institution’s past. Expand use of the Center for Research Libraries collections for research and learning. Collaborate with the iSchool’s Trace Research and Development Center to pilot test use of tools to improve technological accessibility. Provide leadership in USMAI as the consortium plans and implements a systems migration to a Next-Generation Discovery Platform, Integrated Libraries Systems (ILS), and Resource Sharing System. Strategy 3.2: Participate in large-scale, digital collections initiatives for the public good. Initiatives: Join the Google Books library project to expand searchable, full-text content. Contribute content to the HathiTrust Research Center. Strategy 3.3: Support innovative research through the collaborative provision of unique digital content and services. Initiatives: Strengthen collections-based relationship with AFL-CIO, LABF, NPR, and international partners. Partner with the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA), Merrill College of Journalism, iSchool to launch the WHCA Pool Reports Archive. Create a new Digital Collections Collaboratory Program with the iSchool and and the Digital Curation Innovation Center.
Goal 4. Organizational Capacity Ensure the Libraries’ continued organizational capacity, resources and sustainability so that strategic goals can be reached.	Recruit and retain talented colleagues and prepare library staff and faculty to meet users’ advanced and emerging academic needs. (4.1)	Strengthen the Libraries’ operational effectiveness. (4.2)	Enhance digital systems and integration to gain advanced functionality for users. (4.3)	Improve the Libraries’ overall fiscal health, operational infrastructure, and facilities. (4.4)
Major Initiatives: Organizational Capacity >> Ensure the Libraries’ continued organizational capacity, resources and sustainability so that strategic goals can be reached. Strategy 4.1: Advance talented staff and prepare library staff and faculty to meet users' advanced and emerging needs. Initiative: During COVID-19 hiring freeze and beyond, focus on improving professional development and retention strategies to fill gaps in staffing and experience levels. Strategy 4.2: Strengthen the Libraries’ operational effectiveness. Initiatives: Run a library-wide planned abandonment exercise to decommission programs and services that are no longer as relevant for users to increase capacity for new initiatives across the Libraries. Investigate automation and semi-automation tools to more effectively run operations and allocate staff time. Improve organizational policies and processes to incorporate anti-racist and inclusive principles into our practice of librarianship and library operations. Strategy 4.3: Enhance digital systems and integration to gain advanced functionality for users. Initiatives: Modernize and scale up to cloud-based infrastructure for digital collections. Develop and implement Avalon, an open-source streaming media system. Strategy 4.4: Improve the Libraries' overall fiscal health, operational infrastructure, and facilities. Initiatives: Streamline Libraries faculty processes as much as possible. Develop and operationalize a new comprehensive communications plan. Strengthen development and fundraising efforts, emphasizing building of endowments and fostering donor relations.