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Strategic Priorities

Our organization has set the following strategic priorities in pursuit of our mission and to become an increasingly welcoming, inclusive part of the campus community:

JMU Libraries Strategic Priorities 2021-2025

  1. We will pursue organizational excellence: providing high-quality library and educational technology services and resources to our campus community, living fully our Libraries values, and working to realize our statement of aspirational culture.
    • Implement the recommendations of the Dean’s Action Committee on Organizational Culture to continue cultivating an organizational ethic of care and better live our aspirational culture
    • Continue project to build an organizational structure that reflects our values, actively engages our users, and leverages our position as a core component of the campus intellectual infrastructure
    • Streamline virtual and physical pathways to our services and resources to increase the visibility of our services and prioritize a user-centered approach
    • Continue to investigate and plan for the implications of JMU’s move to national status
    • Continue to focus Libraries’ collection development work on the user experience, trends in scholarly communications, and evolving patron needs
  2. We will prioritize equity, inclusion, diversity, and access in all aspects of our work, and undertake self-examination and concrete action to become an actively anti-racist and anti-discriminatory organization.
    • Define and disseminate equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) terms and concepts in a manner that can be applied to our operational and strategic work
    • Prioritize EDI in programming, collections, and scholarly communication
    • Establish and implement effective practices for recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce
  3. We will document and integrate lessons learned from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic to promote organizational resilience.
    • Prepare for the future by cultivating greater organizational resilience
    • Advance scenario-based planning in the library
    • Solidify our campus partnerships and internal collaborations with special attention to the findings of the Pandemic-Related Learning and Innovation Taskforce
  4. In partnership with the Furious Flower Poetry Center and supported by external funding, we will conclude our Flowerings planning grant activities and begin implementing a new, community-centered model for integrated Libraries support of a living, interdisciplinary and archival center for scholarship and the arts.
    • Conclude and disseminate findings from the Flowerings planning grant
    • Complete process to secure and apply major funding for identified Flowerings needs related to personnel and infrastructure
    • Create and implement an organizational structure and staffing model for a new approach to digital scholarship and distinctive collections
    • Explore, invest in, and implement needed digital infrastructure and workflows to support delivery and preservation of Furious Flower audiovisual materials
    • Engage with instructional partners to enhance grant outcomes and support teaching, learning, and scholarship using Furious Flower/Libraries collections
  5. We will plan for Carrier Library Renovation and Expansion, creating a safe and welcoming building for all members of our community.
    • Craft, forward, and use a vision and set of guiding principles for the building, centered in other strategic Libraries priorities
    • Create preliminary design, working drawings, and interiors to implement the vision
    • Work with campus partners to ensure funding for Carrier Library Renovation and Expansion and related needs remain an institutional and legislative priority
    • Create and implement plans for a successful period of interim service provision during the 2023-2026 Carrier renovation
  6. We will review progress on our Academic Program Review (APR) implementation plan, evaluate and implement remaining recommendations, and prepare for our next APR.
    • Review our APR implementation plan and interim report considering what has been accomplished and our current environment
    • Implement any recommendations not yet complete if they are still appropriate and if not, document relevant changes
    • Reinstitute LibQual as a standard assessment mechanism alongside our regular Tech Satisfaction Survey
    • Undertake a Self-Study in support of our Spring 2025 APR

Last refreshed, Summer 2024. Next major planning cycle begins in Summer 2025.