UC San Diego Library Launches 2022-2027 Strategic Plan

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After an extensive consultation process that engaged more than 100 stakeholders across all levels of the university and generated over 2,500 comments and ideas, the UC San Diego Library has released its new five year Strategic Plan. Aligned with the goals of UC San Diego’s Strategic Plan, the Strategic Plan for Inclusive Excellence, and the vision, strategy and initiatives of Academic Affairs – specifically that of Collective Impact – the plan positions the Library to work in direct service to the academic mission of the university.

Building on the Library’s past successes and the ongoing contributions of Library employees that directly support the academic, research and public-service mission of the university, four core pillars were established. Each speak to the essential areas of concentration and will guide the Library’s work over the next five years:

• Pillar 1: Democratize knowledge
• Pillar 2: Enable innovation and inquiry
• Pillar 3: Advance diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility and social justice
• Pillar 4: Focus on responsible stewardship

The Strategic Plan also provided an opportunity to renew the Library's mission and vision statements:

Mission: The UC San Diego Library stewards knowledge and empowers users to analyze and interpret information in order to advance transformational research, teaching, learning, and creative endeavors.

Vision: As a trusted leader in the democratization of knowledge, we make information accessible in order to inspire innovation, foster critical inquiry, and advocate for social justice.

“The information and feedback gathered from our various stakeholders – including students, faculty, researchers and campus and community partners – was invaluable in developing a plan to meet the evolving needs of our users,” said Audrey Geisel University Librarian Erik T. Mitchell. “With this collective input, we now have a roadmap for the Library’s goals and investments over the next five years. The Strategic Plan will guide our annual planning efforts and ongoing assessments to include and focus on progress made in alignment with the plan. Most importantly, the plan will help ensure that the Library provides foundational support for scholarship and research and seek to enable high-impact learning and research experiences for students and faculty.”

As the Library launches the implementation of its Strategic Plan, Library employees, guided by a process led by the Library’s Senior Leadership Team in collaboration with the Library’s Leadership Council, will help identify and prioritize the specific initiatives that will help the Library pursue its strategies. Additionally, cross-programmatic Library committees and the Librarians Association of the University of California-San Diego’s (LAUC-SD) Executive Committee will be invited to submit initiatives.

“Given the value of collective impact (CI) approaches, the Library will prioritize CI-based partnerships across campus and within the Library when that approach helps achieve greater impact through coordination and collaboration,” said Heather Hernandez Chief Administrative Officer, Library Operations and co-chair of the Library’s Strategic Planning Committee. “At the highest level, the Library seeks to demonstrate progress on our Strategic Plan through support of university impact measures — student success, research impact, belongingness and organizational effectiveness.”

On an annual basis, the Library will review progress towards strategies and initiatives and design Library-wide and Program goals that will focus investments for the coming year. Adjustments of strategies and initiatives will be made as part of the evaluation process to enable ongoing progress towards its vision. Progress updates will be shared through on the Library’s website, in its signature publication “Explore” and through its monthly e-newsletter.

Recognizing that accomplishing this plan will require the adjusted use of existing resources and the securing of new resources, the Library will ensure its budget process, philanthropic goals and investment decisions are aligned with its strategic priorities.

"Although we are just getting started with implementation, I am excited to see the impact that has come from the planning process itself and the progress we are already making,” added Mitchell. “The feedback channels we have established to collect information from graduate and undergraduate students, as well as faculty and university staff, will be essential to measuring our progress and impact.

We invite you to explore the new plan at lib.ucsd.edu/strategicplan.