Systemwide Library and Scholarly Information Advisory Committee
Resolution B: Continuous Strategic Planning for Universitywide
Library Collection Management
Resolved: To meet the complex challenge of strategic planning
for Universitywide library collection management, SLASIAC appoints the
Standing Committee on Universitywide Library Collection Management Planning
with the charge to oversee continuous strategic planning for collection
management and advise the Systemwide Committee as needed. The Standing
Committee will consist of the ten University Librarians, a member of University
Committee on Library (UCOL), and additional SLASIAC members at SLASIAC’s
discretion, and will be chaired by a University Librarian member of SLASIAC.
Collection management planning shall be a standing agenda item of the annual
joint meeting of University Librarians and UCOL.
Background: Owing to the pressures of enrollment growth and other
factors, the University has a compelling interest in managing existing
library facilities so as to accommodate continually-growing collections
of library material in all formats while relieving the pressure, wherever
possible, on its overtaxed capital program. At the same time, the emerging
environment of integrated print and digital collections demands re-examination
and reinterpretation of the traditional mission of the University of California
Libraries to archive, preserve, and provide access to materials in its
collections that are of enduring research value. The evolving redefinition
of the archival role has significant implications for the management of
the library collections developed to support the academic mission of the
University and for the planning of library facilities. However, uncertainty
about technologies, methods and costs of ensuring durable digital archives
means that a new understanding of these issues will not be achieved quickly.
When faced with the need to act decisively to initiate a long-term transition
in the face of great uncertainty, SLASIAC and its predecessor, the Library
Planning and Action Initiative Advisory Task Force (ATF), have been guided
by the philosophy of continuous planning informed by strategic action that
was expressed in the ATF’s final report as follows:
To achieve this transition, which will take place over
a decade or more, the University must, first and foremost, take immediate
and responsible action. We cannot wait until all uncertainties have been
resolved, and in many cases only direct experience with new technologies
and modes of service can inform our strategic direction. The commitment
to act must be accompanied by a willingness to plan, continuously and intensively,
to ensure that we apply the lessons of our actions to our future plans
within a framework of shared goals.
In this spirit, SLASIAC is evaluating for implementation an action initiative,
"Archiving of Print Copies of Journals Available in Both Print and Digital
Formats," that will supply the University with information and experience
needed for planning in the early stages of this transitional period. The
complementary process of continuous planning is particularly challenging
because:
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The stakes are high. New facilities are expensive, and decisions
made now about major capital investments for library collections and services
will have long-term effects.
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The uncertainties are great. While capital investments endure for
decades, the academic, administrative and budgetary factors that shape
University planning are in rapid flux. Ongoing changes in capital resources,
campus growth strategies, technologies and costs for digital archiving,
and modalities of research, teaching and learning call for a focused and
sustained effort to plan and adjust strategies over the extended transitional
period.
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Flexibility is essential. Matching rapidly-changing campus needs
and technological opportunities with existing library facility resources
and planned major capital investments at the campus and regional level
will require a flexible and adaptable planning strategy that can adjust
resource planning and utilization to needs on a continuing basis. Such
planning will in turn require an extraordinarily complete understanding
of current conditions, needs, strategies and operational capabilities of
the campuses and regional facilities.
Initiative: To meet this important and complex planning challenge,
SLASIAC will appoint a subgroup, the Standing Committee on Universitywide
Library Collection Management Planning, charged to oversee continuous strategic
planning for collection management and advise the Systemwide Committee.
The core membership of the new Standing Committee will consist of the ten
(eventually eleven) University Librarians. The University Librarians have
comprehensive understanding of both library needs and campus needs and
priorities as these affect library planning, as well as the authority and
responsibility to effect coordination of library operational policies and
procedures among the campuses. The Standing Committee will be chaired by
a University Librarian who is a member of SLASIAC, and other SLASIAC members
may be appointed to the Standing Committee at SLASIAC’s discretion. The
Standing Committee complements the existing Regional Library Boards, which
will continue in their existing role of oversight of operational planning
and coordination of storage operations and services for their respective
Regional Library Facilities. As the University Librarians serve as members
of the Regional Library Boards in their respective regions, overlapping
membership between the Standing Committee and the Regional Library Boards
will ensure effective communication and coordination among these groups.
There is also a need to obtain faculty input in developing strategic plans.
This need can be met through consultation with individual campus senate
Library Committees and through the annual joint meeting of University Librarians
and UCOL.
Approved by the Committee January 14, 2000.