2021-2025 Strategic Plan for the University of Minnesota Libraries

Powering curiosity, discovery, and connection.

The University of Minnesota Libraries expands access to information, strengthens research and teaching, and enriches communities throughout Minnesota, the region, and the world.

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At the University of Minnesota Libraries

We respect each person
by striving to create spaces, services, and collections that make individuals feel welcome, included, and represented, reflecting our commitment to diversity and anti-racism work. We support wellbeing and embody a shared culture of respect.

We lead with expertise
by striving to bring excellence and transparency to our work and share our knowledge to advance learning, exploration, and the common good.

We are accountable
by striving for equity and sustainability across the work of the Libraries to allow each of us to be responsible stewards of our resources and active participants in our community and in our world.

We support the journey
by striving to provide accessible, open, and shared resources, and maintain integrity and trust in our collaborations to enable evidence-based innovation, individual growth, and organizational transformation.

Together we make the difference.

By living our values, we are positioned to achieve our vision of powering curiosity, discovery, and connection.

Strategic priority: student success

Foster student success and life-long learning in partnership with our academic and community partners.

Support student financial equity
Support student equity through access to affordable course materials, resources, and technologies.

Support the whole student
Support academic success, career readiness, and student well-being through programming, resources, services, spaces, and student employment.

Cultivate student innovation and creativity
Cultivate student innovation and creativity through technology-rich spaces and services that enhance experiential learning.

Strengthen student information literacy
Strengthen student knowledge and skills to effectively and critically discover information, understand knowledge production, and ethically use information and scholarly content to further learning and research.

Strategic priority: research and discovery

Serve as a touchpoint at every part of the research lifecycle from discovery to impact to assessment and reuse.

Facilitate the research lifecycle
Facilitate the research lifecycle across disciplines through custom services and expertise.

Enhance public engagement, transparency, and connection
Showcase University research, engage in public scholarship, and connect researchers, instructors, and students through specialized research and tools.

Lead open scholarship and open science
Lead the University toward open scholarship and open science as the standard practice.

Engage with the research enterprise
Establish the Libraries as a significant partner in moving the University’s research enterprise forward.

Strategic priority: collections

Meet the scholarly information needs of our campus, state, and worldwide communities through our networked, world-class collections and deep staff expertise.

Invest in collections partnerships
Expand discoverability and long term access to research materials through partnerships and strategic investments.

Expand special and distinctive collections
Expand the breadth of, preservation, and access to our special and distinctive collections.

Champion open access
Champion the production and infrastructure of open access as a core collection value of the Libraries.

Prioritize fiscal responsibility
Practice fiscal responsibility through continued prioritization and investment in evidence-based acquisitions.

Strategic priority: inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility

Create a powerful learning community and welcoming spaces where all can achieve their personal and professional goals.

Create welcoming spaces
Build and sustain user-centered library spaces and services that are welcoming and accessible.

Enhance representation in collections
Enhance representation of historically marginalized groups in collections to highlight diverse voices, perspectives, and absent narratives.

Boost student outreach
Address the opportunity gap through targeted outreach to underrepresented students.

Cultivate community partnerships
Cultivate mutually beneficial community partnerships with underserved local communities.

Strategic priority: organizational effectiveness

Build and sustain a supportive, inclusive, and diverse workplace; develop and deploy employee expertise, reward operational excellence, and empower innovation and change.

Prioritize environmental sustainability
Align internal Libraries practices with the system-wide Climate Action Plan for 2030.

Foster an inclusive and diverse workplace
Foster a more inclusive and diverse workplace through equity in our recruitment, hiring, training, and staff development practices and by integrating IDEA priorities into everyone’s everyday work.

Foster operational excellence
Foster Libraries organizational effectiveness and employee empowerment through internal collaboration, a flexible work culture, culture of assessment, and evidence-based decision-making.

Increase awareness and engagement
Create and implement a communications, engagement, and outreach plan to raise awareness and use of library resources, services, and programs on campus and in the community.