2 Planning Process and Findings
Information Gathering
Believing in the importance of an evidence-based process, OLS spent the Fall 2021 semester gathering information. We conducted structured interviews with nearly all 25 CUNY chief librarians, broadly surveyed members of the 16 OLS committees, representing hundreds of librarians, that partner with OLS to develop policies and best practices, and ran focus groups of several committees whose wide-ranging mission and charge would most benefit– notably the Scholarly Communication Committee, the Digital Initiatives Committee, and Library Information Literacy Advisory Committee (LILAC). Additionally, the University Dean of Libraries interviewed select provosts and central office stakeholders in IT, the Office of Research, and the Office of Academic Affairs to engage campus and CUNY Central leaders in the process. [See Appendix A for the complete list of interviewees and survey respondents.]
Themes
Three strong dialectical themes emerged from our information gathering efforts, and these themes shape the goals of our strategic plan. They require finding the right balance between:
- A vision in service of campuses needs versus one that’s library-focused.
- A culture that’s innovative versus a culture that is focused on traditional library functions
- Systems and resources that are centralized and locally controlled
Balancing a vision that’s in service to campuses and a vision focused on academic libraries
In the interviews with chief librarians, the value of strong relationships with campus leadership and integration in campus governance was very clear; chiefs who were integrated into leadership structures on campus found avenues for library advocacy and were able to express plans and strategies that were aligned with their campuses.
Provosts we interviewed were looking for leadership partners who understand the constantly evolving nature of work to address student and faculty needs within a public university system. Libraries need to be relevant, and to do this they need to align their priorities with campus needs, which vary in substantive ways, often by sector. Provosts at community colleges, for example, expressed interest in creating a “culture of caring” that serves high-needs communities, and engaging local communities; while senior college provosts spoke more of integrating library teaching efforts with college curricula; and provosts at more research-focused institutions discussed cutting-edge issues like open data, data equity, and artificial intelligence (AI). Provosts expressed differing visions for their ideal library but overall, they had one thing in common: they all used the word “hub” to describe their ideal library, meaning a physical and virtual space for collaborations and connections. Notably, all the provosts spoke of “clearing the stacks” and reimagining library buildings and physical spaces as an eventuality.
Chief librarians and members of library committees, on the other hand, sp