The entire Strategic Plan of the Libraries (in PDF format) is available to the Emory community, with its goals and strategic initiatives. Below is the guiding vision for the Emory Libraries and the Executive Summary for the Strategic Plan.
By the year 2012, Emory students and faculty and external communities will recognize the Emory Library as a model research library that fosters courageous inquiry through the integration of distinctive digital, print, and multi-media resources.
Through the implementation of its strategic plan, the Emory University Libraries (the Library) will be recognized as a model research library that fosters courageous inquiry through the integration of print, digital, and multi-media resources. During the next five years, the Library will strengthen further its distinctive work in two areas: digital information technology and special collections. At the same time, leaders in specific areas throughout the Emory library system will work collaboratively with both internal and external partners to increase access to these exceptional tools, systems, and resources; support new modes of teaching, learning, research, and scholarly communication; and preserve, store, and manage traditional and digital materials for future generations. By fulfilling these objectives, the Library will play a central role in both the creation and dissemination of knowledge and serve as an intellectual bridge between communities at Emory and between Emory and the external world.
The Library will implement its strategic plan for the benefit of four distinct user communities: the Emory community, including students, faculty, staff, and the entire library system at Emory; Atlanta and the regional community; the academy and international scholarly community; and research libraries. This implementation will occur in an environment that will, in its embrace of digital technology, present both threats and opportunities. Students and faculty in this and future generations will expect to use technology and information systems to transparently reach the integrated resources they require for learning, research, and teaching. Unfortunately, the technical infrastructure that is most easily accessible, chiefly public web search engines, is insufficient for true scholarly research. Moreover, many important print materials are essential to the content and process of learning but unavailable in electronic formats. To build a true next generation library, the Library must find a balance between building traditional collections and exploring frontiers in the transformed, digital library. Because of its leadership in both areas, the Library is well positioned to work at the intersection of the print and digital worlds and to build an infrastructure that truly supports new forms of pedagogy and new systems for the creation and dissemination of knowledge. Through the execution of its plan, the Library expects to answer difficult questions about scholarship in a digital age and shape the environment in which future generations will teach and learn.
To fulfill its vision, build on areas of great strength, and assume a leadership position among university libraries, the Library seeks to pursue the following goals and strategic initiatives:
Innovative and robust digital information services and resources will establish Emory as a leader in the development and deployment of digital information resources and services, and among the top tier digital libraries in the country by 2012.
To achieve this goal, the Library plans to establish an Informatics Research Center; create an Institute for Digital Scholarship, which will encompass a Digital Press and a Certificate Program in Digital Scholarship and New Media; and raise an endowment to support these efforts.
The digital production and management of information is central to the redefinition of university libraries. Through digitization and the development of new tools and systems for information management, libraries are poised to play a pivotal role in the production of knowledge, replace university presses as 21st century disseminators of knowledge, and contribute to the internationalization of scholarship by building and integrating access to global resources. Emory seeks to advance this evolution through digital initiatives that increase connections between people and build on the Library’s role as a meeting ground for scholars.
Renowned special collections and world-class facilities differentiate Emory from peer institutions and establish Emory as one of the top five destinations in the country for research and teaching in modern literature, African American history and culture, theological studies, and other emerging areas of institutional priority.
To achieve this goal, the Library will build a state-of-the-art signature facility for the Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library (MARBL) that increases access to and visibility of renowned special collections; establish an endowment that maintains our commitment to research collections and provides the flexibility necessary to acquire key, strategic collections when they become available; and leverage these investments by exploring new models of interacting with primary research materials.
Special collections at Emory, housed in MARBL, Pitts Theology Library, and elsewhere, contribute to Emory’s intellectual distinction and ranking among research universities. Emory is currently well positioned to receive first offers to acquire coveted collections. New facilities for special collections, as well as financial resources to respond to such offers, will ensure our special collections continue to serve students, faculty, the greater community and Emory’s reputation as a destination university.
With a customer-centered approach, the Library will build distinctive research environments that integrate both print and digital resources and enable connections among users, communities, resources, and tools.
To achieve this goal, the Emory library system will work collaboratively with Academic and Administrative Information Technology, the Institute for Digital Scholarship, academic units, MARBL, and preservation to 1) establish a Library Branch that will serve as both flexible physical storage and a facility for the creation of e-Collections, the storage of volumes that have been digitized, and the digitization of special collections and other materials through a Digital Curation Center; 2) build robust digital services, including an e-Learning Center and “next generation systems” that support all Emory libraries; and 3) redesign spaces to reflect the learning styles and the research activities of students and faculty; and work with the science and business libraries to design services and, within ten years, facilities that meet the needs of users in the sciences and business.
With the user at the center, the Library will build collaborative learning and research environments that meet the needs of this and future generations of students and faculty in the humanities, social sciences, sciences, health care, and the professional schools. Librarians and information professionals will manage initiatives across libraries at Emory to build transparent and ubiquitous access within and beyond Emory to knowledge, resources, services, and “next generation” systems.
The Library’s aggressive strategic plan, which will require roughly $100 million to implement, reflects the vision and priorities of Emory University. First, the plan leverages areas of particular strength within the library, namely advanced digital library technologies and renowned special collections, in much the same way the University’s strategic themes reflect areas of distinctive achievement and potential at Emory. Second, the plan proposes to mobilize leadership throughout the libraries to build a customer-centered organization and to increase access to resources for scholars both within and beyond Emory, just as the strategic initiatives look beyond our community. Third, the plan connects to the strategic themes by strengthening faculty distinction, preparing engaged scholars, reaching out to the external community, and increasing access to resources for scholarship in interdisciplinary fields.
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