Washington State University Libraries MACRO LEVEL STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS

Washington State University Libraries
MACRO LEVEL STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS
(Approved by Library Council 2/28/01)

As a core organization fundamental to the academic and research mission of WSU, the Libraries maintain two distinctive information environments for faculty and students: traditional and electronic. In the traditional sense, the Architecture Library, the Brain Education Library, the Fischer Agricultural Sciences Library, the Animal Health Library, the Holland/New Library, and the Owen Science and Engineering Library provide study, teaching, and reading areas coincident with the collections and services. The digital library, accessible from all public access library workstations and any user's computer, "resides" on the network wherever users are located. Both environments are fundamental to support the learning, teaching, and research of Washington State University students and faculty. The following six statements of strategic direction will guide the WSU Libraries into the next biennium and beyond.

The WSU Libraries will be user-centered, emphasizing information literacy and seamless user access to information and knowledge. We will provide services and collections to users wherever they are located, in formats that best meet their needs. A continuing program of assessment will help to determine and meet those needs.

The WSU Libraries will continue to provide inviting spaces where users have face-to-face interaction with information professionals and can take advantage of inviting facilities for quiet study, group work, and public access to resources.

The WSU Libraries will continue to build on our success in the application of technology in providing services and collections. To accelerate our growth toward a digital environment, the WSU Libraries will collect and provide access in electronic formats rather than print formats to journals, books, and other information resources whenever feasible. The Libraries will continue to acquire traditional books, journals, and media when those are the most appropriate formats for the content they provide.

The WSU Libraries will stress prudent use of our resources budget. We will maximize user access to electronic resources and the efficiency of the Libraries' collection expenditures by continuing and increasing active participation in consortia and collaborative programs. Through increased participation in collaborative initiatives, the Libraries will aggressively pursue strategies to lower the cost of access to scholarly research information. Document delivery and interlibrary loan programs that are integrated into local library systems will provide access to materials beyond our own collections. We will leverage collection expenditures by preferentially subscribing to electronic resources that are or may be linked electronically to maximize seamless user access to information and knowledge.

The WSU Libraries will work with other partners and with WSU faculty to lead in the development and implementation of new forms of scholarly communication. Building on its collaboration with the Graduate School in the digital dissertations project, and its major imaging initiatives in Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections (MASC) the WSU Libraries will work with other research libraries, information providers, systems developers, and WSU faculty to provide networked public access to scholarly research data.

The WSU Libraries must insure sustainable access to information in all of its forms. As the repository of knowledge, research libraries play the key archival role in collecting, organizing, and retaining information for future scholarship whether that information is available in a digital or physical format.

The WSU Libraries realize that while we have made significant strides in these strategic directions, we remain a considerable distance from our goals. In order to achieve the strategic directions stated above, the WSU Libraries will:

Meet or exceed the median among WSU's peer institutions in the following Association of Research Libraries (ARL) measures: collection size; annual collection growth; current serial subscriptions; collection expenditures; serials expenditures; monograph expenditures; total expenditures; total professional plus support staff; and professional salaries.

Provide professional development and training opportunities for Libraries’ faculty and staff so that they may acquire appropriate skills for tomorrow’s library environment.

Increase success in acquiring outside sources of funding for innovative new services for users.

Approved by Library Council, 2/28/01

	The WSU Libraries will be user-centered, emphasizing information literacy and seamless user access to information and knowledge. We will provide services and collections to users wherever they are located, in formats that best meet their needs. A continuing program of assessment will help to determine and meet those needs.
	The WSU Libraries will continue to provide inviting spaces where users have face-to-face interaction with information professionals and can take advantage of inviting facilities for quiet study, group work, and public access to resources.
	The WSU Libraries will continue to build on our success in the application of technology in providing services and collections. To accelerate our growth toward a digital environment, the WSU Libraries will collect and provide access in electronic formats rather than print formats to journals, books, and other information resources whenever feasible. The Libraries will continue to acquire traditional books, journals, and media when those are the most appropriate formats for the content they provide.
	The WSU Libraries will stress prudent use of our resources budget. We will maximize user access to electronic resources and the efficiency of the Libraries' collection expenditures by continuing and increasing active participation in consortia and collaborative programs. Through increased participation in collaborative initiatives, the Libraries will aggressively pursue strategies to lower the cost of access to scholarly research information. Document delivery and interlibrary loan programs that are integrated into local library systems will provide access to materials beyond our own collections. We will leverage collection expenditures by preferentially subscribing to electronic resources that are or may be linked electronically to maximize seamless user access to information and knowledge.
	The WSU Libraries will work with other partners and with WSU faculty to lead in the development and implementation of new forms of scholarly communication. Building on its collaboration with the Graduate School in the digital dissertations project, and its major imaging initiatives in Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections (MASC) the WSU Libraries will work with other research libraries, information providers, systems developers, and WSU faculty to provide networked public access to scholarly research data.
	The WSU Libraries must insure sustainable access to information in all of its forms. As the repository of knowledge, research libraries play the key archival role in collecting, organizing, and retaining information for future scholarship whether that information is available in a digital or physical format.

	Meet or exceed the median among WSU's peer institutions in the following Association of Research Libraries (ARL) measures: collection size; annual collection growth; current serial subscriptions; collection expenditures; serials expenditures; monograph expenditures; total expenditures; total professional plus support staff; and professional salaries.
	Provide professional development and training opportunities for Libraries’ faculty and staff so that they may acquire appropriate skills for tomorrow’s library environment.
	Increase success in acquiring outside sources of funding for innovative new services for users.