Making It Work: Putting One University Library’s Strategic Plan in Context for the Life Sciences Libraries

Making It Work: Putting One University Library’s Strategic Plan

in Context for the Life Sciences Libraries

Greg Rowell, MSc, MIStHead Librarian, Woodward Library and Hospital Branch Libraries

University of British Columbia Library (UBCL) WMLA Conference, March 26th, 2010

• Some thoughts about strategic planning• Building a Strategic Plan for UBC Library

• Environmental scan• Internal & External factors

• UBC Library Strategic Plan • Key Strategic Initiatives• Critical Enablers

• The Way Forward for Us• The Way Forward for Many

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Making this Talk WorkMaking this Talk Work

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Putting it together….Putting it together….

Scaling mountainsScaling mountains

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• UBCL Strategic Planning Committee • Timeline• Engaging stakeholders• Wordsmithing

• How I came to hate the verb “foster”

• “This time we really mean it”

What really happenedWhat really happened

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• Critical point in evolution of academic libraries

• Transformative changes in virtually all areas

• By failing to respond – do we risk irrelevancy?

• Many internal and external forces at play • over ~5 years, what forces will have most impact on

libraries? • on UBC Library?• on UBC Life Sciences Libraries?

Environmental scanEnvironmental scan

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• Current and previous UBC Library reports– previous strategic plan, annual reports to Senate, External

Review, LibQual, • UBC Strategic Plan • Bibliography

- “Twenty-nine reports about the future of academic libraries”

– Rossall et al., 2008; Saw &Todd, 2007; Wesch, 2008– NHS Library Review– NLM’s Long Term Plan 2006- 2016– Lindberg and Humphries, 2005– And many more….

Guiding DocumentsGuiding Documents

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Some critical UBC Library metrics…

5.5 million volumes held at UBC Library… and growing….

~261,000 e-books, 65,000 serials, 327,000 e-resources

1421 Teaching & Orientation sessions to 32,000 students!

More than 6.3 million articles viewed

~ Three (3) million loans to students, faculty & community

Three (3) million + annual visits

~200,000 questions answered

5.6 million + visits to website http://www.library.ubc.ca

Institutional Repository (cIRcle)

Community engagement well supported locally (IKBLC)

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Environmental Scan: 6 Internal Factors

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UBC Library –A large, decentralized organization

Library’s IT infrastructure

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Sustainable collection funding models required

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Culture of entrepreneurship not strategically-pursued

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Career development & training programs are inconsistent

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Promote sustainable, healthy & respectful workplaces

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• Student Learning • Research Excellence • Community Engagement• Aboriginal Engagement• Alumni Engagement• Intercultural Understanding • International Engagement• Outstanding Work Environment• Sustainability

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Place and Promise: The UBC Plan

• Internal Factors• Strengths – metrics, community engagement• UBCL is a large, decentralized organization• IT infrastructure is insufficiently resourced• Sustainable collection(s) funding needed • Culture of entrepreneurship, marketing & rapid

innovation not strategically /consistently pursued

• UBCL development & training programs are inconsistent

• UBCL & University promote sustainable, healthy & respectful workplaces

• UBC Strategic Plan

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Environmental ScanEnvironmental Scan

Technology is changing constantly…

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(9) External(9) External forces forces

How millennial are you? Take the quiz! http://pewresearch.org/millennials/quiz/

Social Networking Users% of adults who use social networking sites

Mar Aug Dec Jan 05-102005* 2006* 2008* 2010** change

All 5 11 27 41 +36Millennial 7 51 71 75 +68Gen X 7 10 38 50 +43Boomer 5 4 13 30 +25Silent 2 * 2 6 +4

SOCIAL MEDIA adoption, policy and development: Exploring the SOCIAL MEDIA adoption, policy and development: Exploring the way forward for academic libraries. Hooker, 2009way forward for academic libraries. Hooker, 2009

Enriching students’ experiences

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“Students – our most important critics – are struggling to find meaning and significance in their education.” Wesch, 2008

(Enough) Social, interactive, personal, customizable & flexible spaces…

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http://www.bdcnetwork.com/article/440251-12_Major_Trends_in_Library_Design-full.php

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Digital content will grow Digital content will grow exponentiallyexponentially

The power of data

…citation rates for cancer clinical trials found that trialssharing data were cited ~70% more frequently …”

(Piwowar HA, Day RS, Fridsma DB. Sharing detailed research data is associated with increased citation rate. PLoS ONE 2(3)

cited in: Data Management Awareness Toolkit Prepared for the CARL Data Management Working Group by Kathleen Shearer, November, 2009.)

“Every day I wake up and ask “How can I flow data better, manage data better, analyse data better” says Rollin Ford

Data, data everywhere -- A special Economist report on managing information http://www.economist.com/surveys/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15557443&fsrc=rss

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Increased emphasis on research & interdisciplinarity

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The Future of Research and the Research Library

Developing research capacity in librariansResearch potential(ability of individuals)

Research networks,collaboration (groups of individuals/organizations)

Research capacity

(Utility-multidisciplinary)

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Rossall et. al., 2008Rossall et. al., 2008

Hope Leman - http://www.researchraven.com

Evidence-Based Scholarly Communication Conference

“…focused on how librarians who support translational medicine research can work to make that research more

widely accessible. This is especially relevant for this type of research, which strives to increase the pace at which new

discoveries go from “bench to bedside to community.”

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Marcus Banks, UCSF Library

Library 3.0: who has the skills?

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Saw & Todd, 2007

Radical transformation(s) in scholarly publishing & communication

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Increased mandate for community engagement

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Collaboration & communication are key

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knowledge

to enhance our capacity for innovation

Increased demand for resources & accountability

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• External Factors • Technology changing constantly • Trend toward enriching student experiences• Users expect spaces - both virtual & physical - to be social,

interactive, personal, customizable and flexible• Digital content will grow exponentially • Increased emphasis on research & interdisciplinarity • Radical transformation in scholarly publishing/ communication • Increased mandate for community engagement, locally,

nationally, and on a global scale• Collaboration & cooperation are key to success • Increased competition for resources & accountability demand

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Environmental ScanEnvironmental Scan

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UBC Library Strategic Plan

• Mission, Vision, Values• Pillars

• 5 Key Strategic Areas• Goals and potential actions

• Foundation• 4 Critical Enablers of Success

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UBC Library Strategic PlanUBC Library Strategic Plan

UBC Library advances research, learning and teaching excellence by connecting diverse

communities, within and beyond the University, to the world’s knowledge

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Our Mission …Our Mission …

Vision

We are a globally influential research library, inspiring knowledge creation, exploration and

discovery

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Values• The UBC Library values

• Service excellence• Intellectual freedom & pursuit of knowledge• Collaboration with campus & community partners• Stewardship of collections & institutional resources• Innovation, creativity & risk-taking• An open, inclusive & respectful work environment• Opportunities for leadership & individual growth

throughout organization

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Key Strategic Areas • Enhance Student Learning

• Exceptional learning and research environments

• Accelerate Research• Promote knowledge creation, dissemination & exchange

• Manage Collections in a Digital Context• Develop digital library, maintain print, enhance discovery

• Engage with Community• Local, national and international collaborations

• Create an Exceptional Work Environment• Encourage leadership, collegiality, diversity & individual

growth

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Critical Enablers

• Change & Engagement Strategy• commit to organizational change, engagement and innovation

• IT Infrastructure• build and resource our IT infrastructure

• Culture of Assessment• foster a culture of assessment

• Sustainable Budget & Capital Development• realign budgeting to support strategic priorities

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Change and Engagement

IT

Assessment

Capital / Budget

COLLECTIONS

/

DIGITAL

RESEARCH

STUDENT

LEARNING

COMMUNITY

WORK

ENVIRONMENT

Key Strategic Areas

Critical Enablers

• Reference and Instruction• Curriculum mapping• modes of delivery

• Collections • Digitization initiatives

• Research – support and our own• Engage with Community

• ICON, iPAL, BCLA, • Development projects – space

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The way forward for LSLs

The way forward for many

Canadian Virtual Health Library

Report of a National Review of NHS Health Library Services in England: From knowledge to health in the 21st Century - Hill, 2008

Charting a course for 21st Century: NLMs’ Long Range Plan 2006 - 2016

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• Evolving healthcare knowledge authority • Charismatic - bureaucratic – sapiential

• Four key purposes for the NHS Library, to support:• Clinical decision-making for patients/ clinicians• Commissioning decision & health policy making• Research• Lifelong learning by health professionals

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NHS Library Review

NLM’s Long Term Plan• Seamless, uninterrupted access to expanding collections

of biomedical data, knowledge & health information

• Trusted information services that promote health literacy and reduction of health disparities worldwide

• Integrated, biomedical clinical & public health information systems that promote scientific discovery and speed translation of research into practice

• A strong and diverse workforce for biomedical informatics research, systems development & innovative service delivery

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Medical libraries to 2015

Government-funded research more available

Rich interconnections between genetics data, aggregated clinical & public health data

High-quality health information in many languages

More librarians “in context” to decrease risk of inefficient/incomplete data

EMR – smart systems matches information to patient

Lindberg and Humphries, 2005Lindberg and Humphries, 2005

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Questions??

Greg RowellHead LibrarianWoodward Library & Hospital Branch LibrariesUBC Library2198 Health Sciences MallVancouver, BC, CanadaPhone: 604-822-4970Email: greg.rowell@ubc.ca