Strategic Plan 2018-2021
Introduction
The Division of Libraries Strategic Plan for 2018-2021 builds both on the foundation of excellent operations and services we routinely deliver throughout the organization and on the accomplishments and organizational capacities gained through our 2013-2018 Strategic Plan. In 2017, we surveyed and celebrated our many individual, departmental, and Division-wide accomplishments, and also assessed to what extent the outcomes we had originally envisioned for our five-year plan had been fulfilled. That assessment was the beginning of a yearlong planning process, including investigations of internal and external trends and views, widespread discussions throughout the Division, and thoughtful analysis and synthesis of what we learned. The Plan embraces—and relies on—our essential ongoing work and newly gained strengths, and necessarily focuses on the new areas where we need to continue to develop and grow in sync with our NYU community and our wider environment. Those new areas are described by five broad goals and their hoped for outcomes.
The Plan deeply reflects our values in how we engage with our community of students, faculty, staff and other researchers, and in how we shape our Division’s organizational culture. As an organization devoted to teaching, learning, research, and intellectual curiosity, we nurture the inquiring scholar in everyone and ensure that research resources are well used in the present and preserved for the future. This plan will help us adapt the Division to changing needs and new environments, and will guide us as we make choices and establish priorities—as individuals, as departments, and Division-wide—for accomplishing our mission over the next three years.
Our Mission
New York University Libraries is a global organization that advances teaching, learning, research, and scholarly inquiry in an environment dedicated to the open exchange of information by:
- Building, preserving, interpreting, and providing access to rich and diverse collections;
- Fostering the effective use and critical evaluation of information;
- Delivering creative and responsive services for diverse user communities.
Our primary responsibility lies with the students and faculty of New York University. The Libraries also welcomes and engages in scholarly, cultural, and artistic interactions with broader communities in our role as stewards of cultural heritage for current and future scholars.