Strategic Plan 2012 - 2017

View the April Issue of In Circulation, the Libraries' monthly e-newsletter.

Earlier issues of this newsletter have highlighted various strategic directions within the Libraries’ evolving Strategic Plan—building learning environments, deepening connections with scholarship, and modeling a library organization. I have left the most enduring and perhaps obvious one for last—that the Libraries ensures access to ideas and authoritative information sources, regardless of time or geography, for Drexel’s diverse community to learn, contribute to scholarship, and serve society.

Libraries staff is undertaking innovative initiatives to address this important responsibility. We continue to license access to electronic information resources, critical to research and teaching, and are challenged in doing so by the growing population at Drexel, as well as the expansion of the University’s scholarly communications and research scope. We are also working to simplify the discovery of multiple unique collections across Drexel and beyond, and collaboratively with others, to ensure that the creative expressions at Drexel are available to others for future use in teaching and research.

Four key directions will shape the future of Drexel University Libraries as a vibrant learning enterprise advancing the University’s investment in academic excellence, improvement of the student experience, creative research, growing enrollment and enhanced global impact.

“I am pleased to share the Libraries’ Strategic Plan and am grateful to its many contributors,” said Danuta A. Nitecki, dean of Libraries.

Over 60 individuals energetically engaged in the planning process at a July 2011 Future Search Conference, which explored how the Libraries can advance the University's transformation. Since then, many individuals have helped to shape and articulate the plan to identify the four directions, tagged as; access, environments, connections and organization

Thinking about the future is an exciting exercise and a challenge when placed against the backdrop of leading change in an organization to shape its future for positive impact. In the Libraries, we have looked at where we are and contemplated the many changes in scholarly publishing, information technologies, social communications, use of space, learning behavior, and the University’s ambitious emphasis on its research, experiential learning opportunities, global outreach, and civic engagement.

But, as the well-known author of Megatrends, John Naisbitt, notes, “strategic planning is worthless—unless there is first a strategic vision.”

One of the strategic directions the Libraries is pursuing is to build and nurture communities.  We do so by exploring topics of shared interest among Drexel students, faculty, staff, as well as alumni, colleagues and friends beyond campus.  In this issue, you will read about recent efforts to bring together alumni and students interested in Drexel’s football program, triggered by an exhibit from the Archives, as well as seeking ways to encourage the preservation and celebration of the University’s memories and legacy of its athletic program.   In another venue, we were delighted to host an opportunity for students to explore the use of typography to express the purpose of the Library Learning Terrace and to share their creations with others who will view the selected designs that will be used to embellish the aesthetics of this learning environment.

Drexel University Libraries is transforming into a learning enterprise. As this transformation continues, new strategic directions have emerged to set priorities for the Libraries’ future.