Strategic Design Initiatives

Scholarly Information Life Cycle

From creation to curation: partnering in knowledge discovery, production, and dissemination.

Focus area	Description	Status
Scholarly Communication Support Team	Hire a broad-based, multilateral team of at least five individuals to act as instructors, advocates, advisors, developers, and facilitators for the full suite of scholarly communication needs in contemporary academic libraries: copyright education and compliance; digital publishing, repositories, and scholarship, including digital humanities; open access publishing and compliance; open educational resources; data creation, advanced analytics, sharing, and compliance; issues related to predatory publishing; and many others.	Being explored
Redesigning Collections and Acquisitions	Restructure acquisitions budget, including discovery/delivery, to offer comprehensive support for the SILC and, in particular, align budgeting with emerging forces in research, in the shape of new programs and new faculty hires.	In progress
Redesigning Collections and Acquisitions	Strategize physical and digital collections on institutional level to discover and implement most effective and efficient relationship between the collections of HathiTrust, the Libraries, and the Annex.	In progress

Educational Experience

Enriching teaching and learning endeavors across campus by providing relevant collections, research expertise, and welcoming spaces.

Focus area	Description	Status
Data Collection & Assessment	Utilize SharePoint to collect data for ongoing assessment purposes. Collect faculty and staff-curated data in order to inform Libraries’ stakeholders of relevant statistics that impact collections, services and activities.	In progress
Physical Spaces	Reduce the footprint of the print collection in the reference area of Lockwood Library. This collection is not heavily used and the space could be re-purposed into more relevant user space or as an area to highlight impactful collections.
Collections Management	Assess, plan and implement efficient physical collections management. Collaborate with relevant stakeholders to develop a large-scale plan to utilize the Libraries’ digital assets; work with consortial partners to make intelligent decisions regarding which library materials are suitable candidates for addition to the Annex and which materials are candidates for withdrawal.
Conferences & Workshops	Build upon the success of the graduate student conference and the early career faculty workshops co-sponsored by the Libraries as pilot programs in 2017. Formalize both programs as annual events, giving students and faculty new opportunities to enhance their research skills and engage in professional career development.	In progress

Technology & Digital Infrastructure

Creating and supporting technologies to meet research, teaching, and learning needs.

Focus area	Description	Status
Institutional Digital Repositories* Overlaps with Scholarly Information Lifecycle priorities	Lead digital collections initiatives that support large-scale open repositories and archives to increase accessibility, visibility, and impact of UB scholars’ work and our unique cultural collections. Increase access, scale, and scope of our distinct digital collections. Communicate various ways to use and share digital collections for creation of new scholarship.	In progress
Digital Preservation	Develop a robust programmatic approach to manage, deliver, and ease accessibility of our digital collections. Establish practices for acquiring, preserving, and making accessible born-digital collections.	In progress
UB History	Redesign the University Archives website to communicate UB’s documented history and promote the Archives as a resource for teaching, research, and service at the university.	Completed
Discovery and Delivery	Identify functionality and workflows in current library services platform to improve operations and enhance user experience and discoverability of our resources. Migrate to a SUNY-wide next-generation library management system to expand how SUNY libraries work together. This management system will connect users to more resources in a thoughtful and user-focused way.	In progress

Strategic Partnerships

Building partnerships across and beyond UB to strengthen the cultural vitality of WNY and improve the economic well-being, social equality, and health of all New Yorkers.

Focus area	Description	Status
Institutes/Research Centers	Develop relationships between the Libraries and UB Institutes and Research Centers the purpose of fostering collaborative opportunities for research, digital scholarship and project development.	In progress, Upcoming Special Event: UB Libraries partnering with IEEE and Blackstone LaunchPad to host an Innovation Panel in Fall 2019
Sustainability	Coordinate with UB Sustainability Team to research and implement long-term sustainability initiatives in the Libraries.	In progress, Upcoming Special Event-April 26th, 2019 Arbor Day- tree planting ceremony and poetry reading.
Digital Collections	Increase engagement with the Buffalo and Western New York communities by identifying, developing and promoting digital collections that are relevant to community members throughout the region.	In progress, (Completed Special Program: Spring 2019 – Libraries partnered with the Office of Inclusive Excellence and the Honors College on Civil Rights Exhibition)
Clean Campaign	Collaborate with students and UB campus partners to raise awareness of the proper disposal of recyclable materials and trash in the Libraries. Develop and implement a campus-wide “Keep Our Libraries Clean” campaign to help ensure attractive, welcoming and safe physical spaces within the Libraries.	Phase 1 –Completed, Phase II – In Progress, target date of completion: Fall 2019
Code of Conduct	Review, update and implement the Libraries’ Code of Conduct policies through the UB Policy Process. These policies articulate the expectation that library users respect the rights of others, preserve the integrity of Libraries’ resources, and support a scholarly environment suitable for research, teaching and learning.	Library Policies
Community Events	Participate in Community events to raise interest and awareness of UB Libraries’ resources and special collections.	Ongoing (Participation in select community events Like UB on the Green, summer 2018)

Employee Empowerment

Sharing information, authority, and resources so that all employees can take the initiative to solve problems and be accountable for actions and outcomes.

Focus area	Description	Status
Communication	Encourage and improve communication at all levels and in all directions of the Libraries and university wide. Utilize new and current technologies such as SharePoint, Outlook Calendar, UB Box, listservs, and Google docs to improve communication and keep employees well informed.	In progress
Communication	Improve communication about the work of the committees, teams and working groups to Library staff. Assess current committee, working group and team structures to determine effectiveness, necessity and relevancy. Review charges and map communication flows of each team structure to confirm goals and membership.	In progress
Communication	Facilitate ongoing conversations about implementation process of the Strategic Design initiatives. Provide faculty and staff a central location on SharePoint for information and updates on all 5 Strategic Design themes.	Complete