UCI Libraries Update, Volume 25, Number 3, Spring 2007

Strategic Planning in the Libraries

CI’s recently released strategic plan--“Focus on Excellence: A Strategy for Academic Development, 2005-2015”-- outlines how the campus will expand over the next decade. The plan highlights the vital role of the Libraries in campus growth, as well as the need to strengthen the Libraries by expanding our staff, physical space, and collections. Various activities underway and planned will facilitate these goals and substantially increase the library resources available for faculty and students.

First, we are focusing significant energy on recruiting expert staff to meet campus needs. This year’s recruitment activity will result in record levels of librarian and professional staffing. Over the coming years, we will continue to expand staffing to enhance the depth and level of expertise available, keep up with demand for services, and provide for the needs of new academic programs.

Second, the Libraries are working hard to enhance the capacity of our physical space. Visits to library buildings have increased by nearly 40% over the last five years, and Langson Library is once again quickly running out of room for collection growth. Enrollment increases and new academic programs will place additional strains on our facilities. We are pursuing a three-phase approach to respond to this challenge. The first phase focuses on renovating current space to maximize its efficiency and usefulness. The second will involve expansion and renovation of the Libraries’ space in the Gateway Study Center to house additional staff, collections, and study space. The final phase will be the construction of new library space on campus.

Finally, the strategic plan calls for strengthening our collections, in particular our online resources. Currently, the Libraries provide access to 400,000 electronic books, 45,000 electronic journal subscriptions, and 247 reference and indexing databases. We will continue to improve the convenience of access to our information resources through the acquisition of additional digital materials, and will also expand the depth and breadth of our physical collections to meet the needs of new and existing academic programs.

These activities support UCI’s strategic plan and will strengthen the Libraries’ ability to serve a distinguished research university as it grows to serve 32,000 students.

For more information, please contact Kevin Ruminson, Director of Planning, Assessment, and Research (ruminson@uci.edu or x44440).

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