Academic Library Makeover - Part 2

Volunteers were solicited for participation on the Mission and Vision team. This group spent some time this fall semester synthesizing and refining the work that was started in the one day retreat in August. At each revision the drafts were reviewed by not only the Dean and the Provost but also our retreat leader. (Our end product can be found at: http://library.ualr.edu/whatsnew/missionvision.htm.)

Once a consistent message was crafted, the Dean took us on our next level of organization building - Goals and Objectives. The nine vision points were consolidated into six major themes - Assessment, Collections & Access, Collaboration & Outreach, Excellence through Staff Development, Physical Environment, and Fundraising. Six work groups were established with volunteer participation to develop one goal and three to five objectives to be attained in the next one to three years.

Each work group met and strived to stay focused on the goal and objective level of the assignment. It was obvious how passionate some participants were for their theme as they seemed to jump right into troubleshooting/task mode. Some groups, including ours, had to continually remember that we were not at the "tasks or strategies" level. In the end, each group was successful and submitted their completed pieces of the plan.

The Mission and Vision team was reconstituted as the Goals and Objectives team (GOT) to pull a cohesive document together. This document was then again submitted to the Dean, Provost, and retreat leader. Our Provost offered several suggestions which were easily incorporated and one that took some detailed effort. This one observation was to the whole document being too inward focused. The GOT chair was charged with further refining the document with special attention for connecting the Library's Strategic Plan directly to the University's Strategic Plan.

At the chair's request, I was involved in this process. We sat with the document and made two major enhancements - links to the University Strategic Plan at both the theme and goal levels AND adjusting goals to directly address students, faculty, and staff where possible. With these adjustments in place, the Dean approved the GOT's presentation of the plan to the Dean's Council meeting in December 2006. (Feel free to email for copies of resulting document or presentation.)

Our next steps are to form new task forces to develop strategies, prioritize those tasks, and begin our work with a new purpose.

Academic Library Makeover - Part 1

In the summer of 2006, the Ottenheimer Library at UALR welcomed a new dean to their midst. Prior to her arrival, the head of the library was a Director position and had a person with a long-standing connection to the university. This new leader brought a world of fresh thought and direction to an already thriving community.

Strategic plans across campus were due July 1st and new deans were provided extended deadlines until the end of the year. Within in the first month, the dean organized a retreat of all library employees, leaving only a skeleton crew behind. An outside facilitator was retained to lead the group through a quick basic understanding of the strategic planning process. An agenda of Mission, Vision, and Strategic Directions were fare for the day.

Participation from all areas of the library allowed for lively inquiry into the direction of the library. Several strategic directions were enumerated within the allotted time period, providing the springboard for the "real work" about to begin.
Upon returning to daily routines, the Dean called for full staff participation on their choice of several "task groups" - Mission/Vision, Working with other libraries, Staff Development and Training, Building Redesign, Interdepartmental Communications, Fund raising, Community Outreach, Marketing, Assessment, Change Management, Collection Building, Offsite Storage, and Technology Advances in Education. The first group that was called to action was the Mission/Vision group.