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Library Mission and Goals - FY 2010

Mission Statement

The Dartmouth College Library fosters intellectual growth and advances the mission of Dartmouth College and affiliated communities by supporting excellence and innovation in education and research, managing and delivering information, and partnering to develop and disseminate new scholarship.

Fiscal Environment and Library Planning

While it is challenging to plan during a time of fiscal uncertainty, it is imperative that the Library continue to articulate goals and objectives that are guideposts towards our desired future. As always, these must balance existing campus needs and prepare for future scholarly and education programs. The following goals and objectives attempt to do just that.

While the current fiscal climate may moderate the speed with which we move forward, the Library will continue towards important new directions we have identified. We realize it may be necessary to redeploy resources across the system in order to meet these strategic imperatives. It will call upon all of us to be willing to embrace risk-taking and employ creative problem solving to meet these goals. We also realize this suite of goals may need to be adjusted, depending on the extent of the coming budget reductions.

While it is the responsibility of the Library Administrative Group (LAG) and the Library Management Group (LMG) to develop and, if necessary, adjust our ambitions for the coming year, we rely upon the intelligence and good judgment of all library staff to contribute to discussions of how we can best achieve the important directions articulated in these Missions and Goals for FY10.

Goal 1.  Develop a culture of continuous improvement through ongoing assessment of Library activities and programs.

1a. Charge an LMG working group to review the Provost's Library External Review within six months and assess its recommendations in light of the current fiscal situation. The working group will develop for LMG approval a written timeline and strategies to prioritize implementation of the review's remaining recommendations.

1b. In order to train staff to effectively assess Library activities and programs, in FY10 the Library Assessment Committee and the User Assessment Group will identify College training opportunities or develop in-house training as appropriate. Training opportunities for four assessment tools will be offered during FY10, and staff from each department and committee should be assigned to attend them and share knowledge gained with colleagues. To improve and reinforce skills gained, the Library Assessment Committee should investigate ongoing opportunities for staff development and recommend any needed programs or mechanisms to LMG by the end of FY10.

 

1c. In order to begin to identify resource needs and impacts of new initiatives, as well as opportunities to modify or eliminate existing activities, during FY10 staff in each department and committee will hold focused discussions to match appropriate assessment tools with its identified priorities with guidance from the Assessment Committee.

1d. In FY10 and FY11, each department and committee will assess at least one aspect of its programs and activities to measure impact on users as defined by the Library's goals, and in light of the assessment results, determine whether the activity/program should continue as is, be refined, or be discontinued.

Goal 2.  Provide optimal physical and digital environments that advance research and education.

2a. By June 2009, an off-campus storage site (or sites) will be identified to house those collections supporting limited access, in turn creating necessary shelf space on campus. Criteria will be defined to identify transferrable collections. By the end of FY10, a minimum of 3,500 cubic feet from the collections will be processed and transferred to the off-site location.

 

2b. In order to expand alumni access to digital information, continue to review licenses to identify resources that can be added to the Digital Library for Alumni.

2c. In order to streamline access for all users, request implementation of Shibboleth authentication across all our vendors.

2d. In response to the campus change in authentication methods for local tools, implement WebAuth in all library-controlled staff tools by 2011.

2e. Develop an implementation plan, secure funding, and develop a timeline by the end of FY10 to address the security concerns raised in the Rauner Security Audit.

 

2f. Work with Safety and Security to conduct a security audit of Baker-Berry during FY10. Review the results of that audit and develop by the end of FY11 an implementation plan to address security concerns.

2g. Define standards for various equipment work environments and by the end of FY10 develop a replacement cycle, budget plan, and staff support model for all public and staff desktop equipment and systems in order to support staff efficiency. The strategy should recommend routine and prioritized replacements that can be responsive to the changing fiscal environment.

 

2h. In order to fully implement the Library departmental emergency/business continuity plans developed in FY09, during FY10 evaluate, plan, and implement needed collections response, staff health and life safety training. Build in annual emergency/continuity plan updates and staff training.

2i. By the end of FY10, evaluate the current Records Management and Special Collections data systems against available software solutions and make recommendations that ensure access to and protection of College records and Special Collections holdings. Look for opportunities to support off-site storage data systems needs.

 

2j. By July 2009, appoint a project manager (from existing staff) to oversee the timely transfer and de-accessioning of materials from the collection

 

2k.  During the summer of 2009, implement RapidILL to provide fast, cost effective article requesting and delivery through the DartDoc interface.

2l. By December 2009, finish implementation of the new Borrow Direct software; in early 2010 release the new Borrow Direct interface as part of the Library's new suite of resource sharing services.

 

Goal 3: Recruit, develop and retain exceptional staff committed to our service culture and philosophy.

 

3a. In order to further develop Library system-wide student employee training, a team of student supervisors and student employees will assess the effectiveness of the core competencies training in Blackboard and will prepare a report and recommendations to USG by December 2009.

3b. Complete an initial staff needs analysis for the StaffWeb by April 2009. Design a structure for the StaffWeb and transition staff-only materials to the site by September 2009.

 

3c. In order to improve efficiency and productivity, a targeted plan of project management education and implementation will be developed and put in action in FY10. The plan will be informed by Library Management Group assessment during FY09 of the College's "Project Management" class. The trained staff members will apply the techniques they learned to specific library projects selected by LMG, and they will describe the use of project management techniques to staff through presentations by the end of FY10.

 

3d. In order to improve efficiency and productivity of group collaborations, a small team will identify software tools to support cross-departmental collaborations by utilizing on-campus computing support by September 2009. The resulting technology solution will be recommended to LMG for library-wide adoption and will be available to all project teams by January 2010.

 

3e. In order to engage our users in development projects, and assist project teams with rapid prototyping, the Web Steering Group will create a publicly viewable web page for library-related "works-in-progress" by September 2009. The Library Management Group will encourage library staff to post prototypes of new services or program initiatives, invite comments and feedback from visitors to the site, and integrate feedback into continuing prototype design.

 

Goal 4. Develop information resources and services that support research and education at Dartmouth, and ensure that these are readily accessible and known to all the Library's communities.

 

4a. In order to maintain physical collections that support education and scholarship, bibliographers will review titles for deaccessioning based on defined criteria and consultation with faculty. Proposals will be developed by September 30, 2009, and work to process materials and update records will be ongoing 

 

4b. During FY10-11, create a robust and adaptable digital production process for local collections that includes selection and production policies and a prioritization process to maximize the impact on education and scholarship. Simultaneously, create a collaborative and cooperative staffing structure to support the process and build digital collections. In FY12, evaluate the impact and use of the resulting digital collections.

4c. In FY10, create a plan for a long-term repository architecture that will integrate local digital collections to the Library's information environment. In FY11, articulate policies and build the system. In FY12, evaluate the effectiveness of the resulting infrastructure against national best practices.

4d. In FY10, identify the redundancies in our discovery tools and provide more integrated access to all available information.  Involve staff and users throughout this process to simplify discovery.

4e. In FY10/11, prototype and test tools and services that make our information resources and services more accessible to users with a range of physical disabilities. Partner with Dartmouth's Director of Student Accessibility Services to design an evaluation program for our efforts.

4f. In FY10, plan, test, and implement instant messaging (IM) and text messaging for reference and research needs.

4g. In FY10-11, deliver library services to internet-enabled handheld devices such as the iPod Touch, including podcasts to orient users to different parts of the library, and an interactive floor plan to help users locate specific stacks.

4h. Develop and articulate a flexible structure for information resource cost-sharing to be rolled out by December 2009.

4i. Identify opportunities for inter-institutional collaborative collection development and shared services. In FY10, initiate collaborative collection development for selected areas of music literature with BorrowDirect partners and identify regional partners for selected areas of art history and foreign language literatures.

Goal 5. Build collaborations to support faculty, graduate, and undergraduate student scholarly publishing [FY10-FY13]

5a. During FY10-13, collaborate with other campus entities to raise campus awareness and understanding of open knowledge and rights issues by offering up to three programs annually on one or more of these topics, so that faculty and students understand their publishing options. Survey participants after each event to determine whether they have gained any actionable knowledge and to assess their interest in further programming.

5b. In FY10, offer workshops for liaisons to assist them in integrating scholarly communication issues into their conversations with faculty and students in their disciplinary areas. Further utilize the LibGuides platform and the Scholarly Communications Program Planning Group wiki to provide further information in this area.

5c. In FY10, develop a basic structure for the digital publishing program to meet current needs and demands, within budget and staff constraints.

 

Goal 6. Educate and empower the Dartmouth community to be lifelong learners and effective users of information.

6a. To enable students to do high-level research by the end of their academic careers, during FY10-11 collaborate with faculty and programs (e.g., the Institute for Writing and Rhetoric) to develop a curricular program that targets skill development to particular points in students' academic careers. Plan for pilot programs and College-wide adoption.

6b. Deploy liaisons to ensure that student research skill development is an integral part of the planning of new programs or major changes in existing programs. For FY10 target the Institute for Writing and Rhetoric and the Digital Humanities Program.

Goal 7.  Provide leadership and support for College initiatives and priorities.

7a. Continue to work during FY10 with Dartmouth's senior leadership, including the President, the Provost, and Vice President for Development, to reach a successful conclusion to the Library's goals in the Campaign for the Dartmouth Experience.

 

7b. As part of the Library's ongoing development efforts, prepare three specific proposals for potential individual donors and explore proposal development for corporate and foundation grants.

7c. Build on the example of quarterly meetings with Peter Kiewit Computing Services and organize during FY10 regular meetings with other campus computing entities, including Tuck, Thayer and DMS computing, to facilitate information sharing and encourage potential collaborations. Evaluate after one year.

 

7d. Create a task force with other campus computing entities to explore implementation of a simplified off-campus access solution (proxy server).

 

7e. In FY10 complete a successful recruitment for the new Director of Digital Information Strategy (a four-year, grant-funded position) for the Dartmouth Digital Information (D2I) program. Complete strategic vision document for the overall project (D2I Steering Group and Director).