Library Mission and Goals - FY2014

Mission   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.

Vision   Inspiring ideas for personal transformation and global impact.

Values   In our daily work, we adhere to the principles of fairness and equality, and we believe that each user of the Library is unique and important. We aspire to provide the best possible patron experience while maintaining a comfortable, welcoming and secure place for study, research, work, reflection and interaction. We anticipate and contribute to scholarly inquiry and embrace our role as collectors and custodians of the intellectual record.  - Dartmouth College Library Values, April 2011 (PDF)

Goals and Objectives (FY14)

Assessment: Continue to strengthen the culture of continuous improvement through ongoing assessment of Library activities and programs.

1. Initiatives for FY14 integrated in objectives below.

Infrastructure: Provide physical and digital infrastructures that advance research and education.

1. In FY14, participate in planning for a new facility that is intended to house the Biomedical Libraries and academic departments, replacing Dana and Gilman.
2. In FY14, build a long-term repository system that will integrate local digital collections into the Library's information environment. In FY15, evaluate the effectiveness of the resulting infrastructure against national best practices.
3. In FY14, collaborate with Computing to plan and design research information management services for Dartmouth.
4. In FY14, develop and implement a set of data management services in collaboration with Computing and others.
5. Make a smooth and complete transition of the old Records Management System [RMS] to the new RMS; Identify and begin implementation of 4-6 pilot projects for digital records management.
6. Review the ‘2nd’ Next Generation Library Technologies Task Force Report, and respond to recommendations.

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

1. In FY14, review efforts already underway in various Library departments to redirect current staff skills, roles, and responsibilities to address new and emerging Library needs. Examine how these transitions have been planned and carried out as potential models for change across the Library.

Information: Develop information resources and services that support research, education, and healthcare at Dartmouth.

1. In FY14, implement the BorrowDirect engineering/physical sciences e-book project as a pilot for shared online book resources.
2. In FY14, decommission the Storage Library. Build out the second phase of the DLD, review materials to be retained, and move these to the new space.
3. In FY14, implement a new Collection Management Policy that addresses life cycle management of the Library's information resources.
4. Complete the content reorganization of the Library website top levels (by fall 2013). Review selected subsections of main Library website with appropriate content managers and plan for improved organization and presentation of content in preparation for upcoming website platform migration (by spring 2014).
5. Develop a strategy and timeline for website platform migration (either to Drupal or to OU v10) (by fall 2013.

Publishing: Build collaborations to support faculty, graduate, and undergraduate student scholarly publishing.

1. In FY14, launch Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene and develop the technology platforms on which it runs, working closely with BioOne to continue its development and ensure its success.
2. In FY13-14, collaborate with E&O, DCAL and faculty to investigate ways to integrate scholarly communications information into student education programs regarding research, publishing, and scholarship. Build these on the graduate and undergraduate level, with a focus on authorship and copy rights, by developing programs and curriculum materials.

Learning: Teach members of the Dartmouth community to be effective users and producers of information to meet their current academic needs and prepare them for a lifetime of learning and of responsible leadership.

1. Define strategic intervention points in Students' academic careers and develop targeted initiatives in collaboration with faculty and staff.
2. Explore interactive educational technologies that library staff can use to enhance teaching, learning and research in light of emerging pedagogies. As pilot projects, develop, apply and promote interactive modules that can be available at point of need and embedded in courses or other learning environments. Make recommendations for library-wide implementation that include best practices, best uses, training needs, tools and technologies.

Institutional collaboration: Provide leadership and support for College initiatives and priorities.

1. In FY14, collaborate with campus partners to create an implementation plan for a Dartmouth-wide open access policy, should a policy be passed by the Dartmouth schools.

Marketing: Market the Library’s information resources and services to all the Library’s communities.

1. Update the marketing plan and use it to prioritize continuing and new activities.