The Library's Strategic Planning Process

The planning process, a comprehensive effort guided by the Dean of Library Services and a strategic planning consultant/librarian, began in 1998 with a library-wide retreat. A strategic planning team was established to complete the process. Four individual task forces were formed:

Mission, Vision and Values to articulate our role on campus

Extended Environment to examine the issues in academe

Internal Environment to examine issues that affect the library directly

Stakeholders to solicit feedback from our users

A fifth task force, Collection Management, was formed early in the planning process when the library’s collections were identified as a critical area of the library’s mission in need of immediate review.

The strategic plan has given us the opportunity to articulate our vision and refine and realign our mission and values accordingly. We found especially valuable the analysis of the library’s external and internal environments, the special review of our collections program, and the extensive stakeholder analysis.

Feedback on the plan was solicited through a variety of methodologies, including interviews with college deans and meetings with campus administrators, and surveys to all teaching faculty, a statistical sampling of students, all library faculty and support staff and other stakeholders. In addition, a special strategic planning advisory committee was formed, comprised of teaching faculty and undergraduate and graduate student representatives, to provide additional input.

The planning process concluded with a library-wide retreat to launch the plan and begin implementation of strategic initiatives. The library’s strategic plan provides a multi-year framework for directing goals and objectives and priorities to support the university’s teaching and learning mission.

Strategic Planning Initiatives and Planning Objectives

What emerged from the productive work accomplished by library staff was the identification of four areas of strategic importance to the library united by a major theme: reaching out. These four initiatives are essential to our vision and will serve as our road map to the future.

Lead in Collections

Collections are the backbone of the Library. During the past decade, due to a variety of economic issues, collections have suffered. This strategic are contains three objectives that acknowledge the critical importance of collections and place effective collections management at the center of services and programming.

Collaborate in Teaching and Learning

In today’s information age, it is imperative to produce graduates who are competent and literate users of information. This strategic area contains four objectives recognizing the Library’s increased role as a teaching and learning commons for the university, where students, faculty and staff can effectively and efficiently learn how to use information in its various formats.

Excel in Service

Service is the watchword of the Library. Within this area of focus are five objectives articulating and reaffirming this commitment to service and identifying ways in which services can be strengthened and enhanced to better address user needs. Assessing the information needs of users and developing the most productive and expedient methods of making that information available are essential for providing excellent services.

Foster Organizational Change

This group of five objectives provides a context to support and sustain the overall mission and strategic plan of the Library. These objectives strengthen our ability to act in an effective manner to address the changing roles of our campus and our curriculum.

Implementation and Assessment

Embedded within each planning objective are assessment plans to assist in the measurement of our successful implementation of our goals. The assessments include benchmarks, gathering feedback from users, and ongoing evaluation methodologies.

In addition, an implementation plan has been created to provide structure, guidelines and direction for the fulfillment of the strategic initiatives. Working together, both within the Library and across the campus, we can successfully accomplish our long-range goals and build a Library that is responsive to the changing needs of students and curriculum, and a true partner in the educational mission of the campus.

Reaching Out: Strategic Initiatives and Assessment

"Building the Library’s Future," the Robert E. Kennedy Library’s strategic plan, includes four major areas united by the overarching theme of reaching out. At virtually every juncture of the planning process, it became clear that the library needs to build its existing solid services by intensifying outreach to the campus community.

We want to make a difference in what our users know about information and how successfully they navigate the increasingly complex world of information resources. As we reach out, we will seek to make a significant difference in teaching and learning at Cal Poly. We will constantly measure the difference we make and adjust our programs and activities accordingly.

Outreach on behalf of the library’s collections and services to students, faculty, and staff is primary. In particular, the library will build information competence skills among its users and forge new partnerships using the collaborative teaching and learning methods that are the essence of the Cal Poly way.

Reaching out will be guided by a set of distinctive strategies and objectives that are the framework for our vision of the future. These strategies cover four broad areas: Lead in collections, Collaborate in Teaching and Learning, Excel in Service, and Foster Organizational Change.

Reaching out will express itself clearly in our collections. The library will reach out to our users on and off the campus by providing the best possible access to the information resources of the world. Library collections will continue to grow in importance in student-centered collaborative teaching endeavors. As we build collections, we will constantly use the real, present needs of our faculty and students as the benchmark. We will constantly have what our users need, or be able to locate it elsewhere for them, in a timely manner.

Reaching out will express itself clearly in our teaching methods. Modern academic libraries are increasingly integrated into the new collaborative teaching/learning process, and the Kennedy Library is no exception. As Cal Ploy’s commitment to dynamic student-centered grows, the opportunities for library faculty to work with colleagues among the teaching faculty increase as well. In addition, our users will view the library as a primary venue for learning information competence skills.

Reaching out will express itself clearly in our services. Satisfied patrons will return to us, even though they have other options, because the experience consistently superb service here. They will come to us because our physical facilities are inviting places where collaborative work among members of a diverse community is fostered. We will establish on-going training for all library faculty and support staff in the skills needed to provide superb service to library users on and off campus.

Reaching out means significant changes for us as an organization. We must reallocate our current resources to achieve the goals that are important to our users and to us. New sources of funding will also be necessary, calling for additional advancement efforts and developing new partnerships in the campus community. In addition, we will move to a new level of campus leadership" providing direction in library and information technology, participating actively in campus and CSU initiatives, and ensuring that our expertise helps advance the Cal Poly mission. This intensified approach calls upon library faculty and support staff members to establish new levels of involvement in the campus community.

Detailed information in support of standard 6

MAS-Instructional Material Development

Access to Resources

The Media Application Services group provides access to digitizing systems (flat art, slides, video, audio), editing systems for manipulating and combining various media, and file storage services for all faculty. A Media Lab is available from 6am—midnight every day, so faculty and approved students working on faculty projects may access the facility as needed.

RFP

A Request For Proposals process was developed to both guide the direction of instructional materials development, and to regulate the workload. It was also designed to provide all faculty equal opportunity to access technical expertise rather than focus on those who already have funding to support development.

Courseware Development

MAS provides programming, multimedia design, and web-based course material design for all faculty on a limited basis. The RFP process focuses more of this expertise on proposals for more substantial development efforts, such as interactive web sites, web-based simulations, and CD-ROM based multimedia for complete or substantial components of courses.

Web Course support

MAS provides access to, training and ongoing support for CourseInfo, a course management and delivery system for web-based courses

MDS-Delivery

Mediated Classrooms

MDS designs and supports electronic classrooms that can deliver instructional materials designed, developed or supported by MAS. A CAO-sponsored program of classroom upgrades has resulted in highly functional, centrally scheduled classrooms which are heavily used. The IACC provides input on the criteria to develop a priority list of candidate rooms for upcoming remodels.

A/v refresh

As a result of measuring the use records, repair records and purchase history of in-classroom and checkout equipment, MDS was able to obtain additional funding to establish a refresh schedule for aging, obsolete, broken, and unused hardware. As a result, faculty are reporting fewer problems, and fewer staff are able to respond to those problems more rapidly than in the past.

DL support

MDS has responsibility for maintenance and operation of the synchronous distance learning technologies. A coordinated effort between MAS and MDS provides support for both developing and delivering instructional materials via synchronous audio/video to students enrolled in the Aeronautical Engineering MS program at Vandenburg Air Force Base.

Video Services (editing, streaming, broadband distribution)

MDS provides satellite downlinking services, broadband distribution of video feeds to classrooms, video editing (analog and digital non-linear), and support video streams from an SGI video server.

WSG

Organization web Sites-Cost recovery

The Web Services Group provides web site design, development, maintenance and hosting services for campus organizations and units (not individual web sites or course web sites). These services are offered on a cost-recovery basis so that units unable or uninterested in staffing or hosting their own web site may still have a presence on the web that is of a professional, production quality.

Cal Poly Web Site maintenance

The WSG maintains and coordinates the campus web site, coordinating with offices all over campus to keep content current and accurate.

Faculty Development and Training

IMS is involved in providing faculty development and training opportunities in several ways.

FIDO

The Provost has supported the Faculty Instructional Development Organization to encourage discussion of teaching, faculty access to a course offered specifically to CP faculty by a renowned faculty member, distinguished visitors, subsidized travel to professional conferences on teaching and learning, the development of instructional materials, and regular seminars related to faculty professional development on campus.

New Faculty Support

The Provost also supported the establishment of an annual luncheon of new faculty where a variety of academic administrators (the chair of each new faculty member's department, Provost, CIO, and various Vice Provosts and Directors of academic support groups) are able to network and develop a sense of community with respect to instructional development and excellence. An end of year social for the same group has been supported as well.

New Faculty Orientation

New faculty are offered an orientation to the campus, the wide variety of support services available, and access to key support providers during their first week on campus.

Faculty Computer Literacy Workshops

The Provost has supported via an honorarium summer workshops for faculty to spend several days focusing on issues, best practices, tools and techniques related to incorporating information technologies into their courses. Such workshops have been very successful.

Instructional Development Study Group

The Provost convened a special study group to examine the various efforts that support the teaching/learning process at Cal Poly and to develop recommendations for integrating, enhancing, curtailing, or improving them, with a special emphasis on technology-enhanced instruction. In combination with the recommendations and results of the regional accreditation review process currently underway, the campus will likely take steps in the near future to develop an implementation plan that will strengthen the commitment of the campus to supporting the use of information technologies in the teaching/learning process.

Computer Literacy Workshops for Faculty

Faculty should have continuous exposure to best practices in applying technologies in the curriculum, opportunities to discuss issues and impacts related to integrating new technologies, and exposure to possibilities offered by emerging technologies.

The CAO and CIO share responsibility for encouraging faculty to explore reasons for and ways of using information technologies in their teaching efforts. Mechanisms for doing so include:

Computer Literacy Workshops for Faculty

Faculty should have continuous exposure to best practices in applying technologies in the curriculum, opportunities to discuss issues and impacts related to integrating new technologies, and exposure to possibilities offered by emerging technologies.

CBT

By making computer based training modules on common applications and computing and communications technology available for faculty, there is a opportunity to help faculty become more accomplished in using the tools, while making them aware of new models which they can develop for their own courses.

Integration of Library, ITS, College Training efforts

Faculty will always need and demand discipline-specific hardware, software, technical support, and training opportunities, but it is not necessary or efficient to have redundant support and training systems where replication is high and consistency is low. A role of the CIO and the CAL is to find the right balance between centralized, one size fits all systems and discipline-specific support and training.

Provide Platform for innovation

Technology

The CIO is responsible for insuring that Internet access is extended to every possible location where faculty or students may effectively use it to extend their knowledge of all kinds. In addition, workstations, software and technical support are required to make it possible for the cautious majority as well as early adopters to incorporate information technologies into their teaching strategies and departmental curriculum plans.

Central Servers and Services

Cal Poly provides a central Unix service that offers email, file space, and web site space for every student, staff and faculty member. In addition, a variety of central servers provide access to applications and databases. Cal Poly subscribes to business, social science, GIS and engineering specialty centers at CSU campus sites, thereby providing the Cal Poly community of learners with access to discipline specific data, tools and applications.

ITS maintains and operates several student access computing laboratories with Internet connected computers. These labs support hands-on classes as well as self-instruction access to students. Special purpose labs include a CAD/Graphics lab, a new Java Projects Lab, and an Advanced Workstation Lab that supports engineering and GIS applications.

Faculty workstation Program

Three years ago, the campus committed to providing a modern workstation, complete with network connection, software, and support for each faculty member. This provision of the platform necessary for the integration of information technologies into the curriculum has been successful in bringing many more faculty than just the early adopters to the point where they expect and require students to use technology, and where they themselves make use of the technology in the classroom. Now, 800 faculty have modern workstations with network connections.

Site Licenses

The campus began implementing a more explicit process for determining software requirements through a combination of focus group meetings, surveys, and discussion with advisory groups. As a result, there has been a more focused approach to obtaining and supporting site-licensed software than in the past.

Media Lab

A media development lab was established in 1994, expanded in 1998, and continues to grow. This facility offers faculty access to hardware, software and expertise not readily available or affordable at the individual department level. A combination of digitization services, multimedia and web development support, and training on effective uses of instructional technologies has played a significant role in the expansion of the number of courses and faculty integrating technology in their offerings.

RFP process for CW development

A process in which requests for proposals to have assistance in developing courseware applications was instituted in 1998. This RFP process is made known to all faculty, and encourages requests from anyone with good ideas for improving instruction through technology. Several promising applications have been developed and are being used by students in several classes.

Course Management System

To scale up to accommodate the increasing demands for courseware development and deployment, ITS has implemented a course management system that will enable many faculty to make all or parts of their courses available to students on the web. Within 3 months of installing the system, 55 courses are in various states of development and use via this system.

Stimulation of Web Site Course

The CIO stimulated the offering of a two-quarter course sequence in which faculty provided students with instruction on web site development. The course was offered with the goal of redesigning the campus web site resulted in a set of recommendations and working prototypes for the campus, some of which have been adopted and incorporated.