Top Five Issues facing the Library

Later this spring we have a consulting firm -- R2 -- coming to take a look at our Technical Services and advise us on what kind of operation we need to support the Library over the next decade. I have been impressed with the kind of questions they are asking to prepare for their visit. One question they asked us was to identify the 3-5 top issues facing the library. Here is what the librarians agreed we should send them.

• In the context of an ongoing process of curriculum review and revision, finding the appropriate role(s) for librarians and the library in developing the information literacy competencies of Rollins students.
• Providing information resources in a hybrid world of print and digital resources so that we adequately respect, maintain, and develop print resources, while recognizing that an increasing proportion of use will be of our digital resources and our resources will be just a fraction of the information resources accessed by our users.
• Balancing our services to users so that our digital services (for instance instruction and reference) are as well developed online as they are in person.
• Raising the level of competency and effectiveness of our personnel in this hybrid world and making sure we are focused on what really adds the most value to the educational mission of the College.
• Enhancing our users' experiences of the library (in this building and online) so that we become a destination on campus and a preferred "third space" in the lives of our users.

Careful readers of this blog (if such people exist!) will note the similarity between those five and our strategic plan. You can see more of the plan on our planning wiki. More on that in a later post.