Queen’s University Library Strategic Plan 2022-2025

Queen’s University Library’s network of experts and its physical and digital resources, collections, and spaces, provide in-depth support for the research, teaching, and learning activities undertaken across all disciplines. The library’s long-standing presence at the center of campus life fosters academic success, promotes research excellence, and cultivates human connections with diverse forms of information and knowledge. 

The library’s activities and strategies are informed and shaped by:  

  • The needs and expectations of the Library’s stakeholders, including users, library staff, and funders  
  • Queen’s University’s For the Future strategic goals related to research impact, student learning, research and teaching integration, global engagement, Queen’s in the community, and organizational culture  
  • Indigenization, equity, diversity, inclusion, anti-racism, and accessibility, (I-EDIAA), including as these priorities are expressed in important reports and commitments such as the Principal’s Implementation Committee on Racism, Diversity, and Inclusion (PCRDI); Yakwanastahentéha Aankenjigemi Extending the Rafters; and the Scarborough Charter  
  • The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and their advancement through the University Global Coalition  
  • Best and leading practices and leading global trends in academic librarianship and participation in provincial, national, and international partnerships and collaborations, including the Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL), the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN), the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL), and the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) 

Strategic Priorities

  1. Advancing Research

    The library advances Queen’s University’s mission to increase the intensity and volume of exemplary, groundbreaking, and interdisciplinary research. 

    1. We will develop and execute an action plan with respect to sustainable and accessible scholarly publishing across the breadth of disciplinary practices. In 2023, we will build broader stakeholder engagement in, and publish a position paper on, Queen’s University’s approach to supporting open scholarly publishing. We will develop a related action plan in 2024 and begin regularly reporting on progress back to the community. 
    2. We will develop a strategy to define and operationalize the library’s role in research data support at Queen’s. In 2023, we will consult with stakeholders and define the scope of data support, management, and service from the library perspective and in the context of university-wide, provincial, and national directions and resources. With the creation of a data service strategy complete in 2024, we will begin formally delivering on the strategy in 2025.  
    3. We will launch a project and campaign to build a new, state-of-the art home for Archives and Special Collections. 

  2. Innovation in Learning

    The library will help Queen’s University advance effective pedagogies, leveraging new technologies, and reconceiving education programs. 

    1. We will establish a working group to identify platforms, create processes, and determine annual priorities for the creation of learning objects on topics of broad interest to students (e.g., copyright, research data, primary/secondary sources, citation management) in 2023. We will launch at least one mass-scaled, virtual learning object in each of 2024, and 2025 and ensure their inclusion in the University’s orientation, learning, and/or micro credential offerings as appropriate.  
    2. We will build and execute an action plan with respect to open educational resources (OER), including ensuring that more open access (OA) resources are accessible through library discovery platforms. We will engage with OER stakeholders and create an action plan to address resulting recommendations in 2023 and launch the action plan in 2024, communicating a formal report back to the community by 2025. 

  3. Teaching & Research Synergies

    The library advances the Queen’s University mission to enhance the interdependence of research and teaching.

    1. Recognizing that the library’s web presence is foundational to connecting users to interconnected research and teaching resources, we will strengthen and update the library’s website. We will simultaneously develop a consultation plan in 2023 to engage users’ perspectives throughout the design process in 2024 and post-launch refinement period in 2025.  
    2. We will leverage the library’s profile, resources, and spaces (virtual and physical) to build or expand at least three partnerships to create opportunities for students to present and disseminate their work in a public forum or medium and to be part of the community of researchers. Consulting with undergraduate and graduate students and faculty in 2023 will prepare us to implement at least two related opportunities (e.g., spaces, events, digital assets, or showcases) in each of 2024 and 2025. 

  4. Global Perspective

    The library strengthens the presence of Queen’s University globally by orienting teaching and collections towards a pluralistic and culturally relevant global society.

    1. We will make a greater diversity of resources at Queen’s freely available online and easily discoverable through digitization, controlled digital lending, and/or born-digital collection stewardship. Based on an evidence-based process to identify community needs, we will identify three priority collections in 2023 and have 100% of those identified collections discoverable and available by 2025.  
    2. We will assess the collection for the presence of and gaps in global perspectives and I-EDIAA. In 2023, we will identify two areas of representational focus and the priority collections on which a diversity audit will be performed in 2024. We will create and release an action plan to ensure sustained commitment to inclusive collections in 2025. 

  5. A Welcoming Library

    The library connects Queen’s University to the community.

    1. We will consult with the Queen’s community to identify needs and related solutions that leverage the library as welcoming and accessible social infrastructure available to the Kingston community. Consultation will take place in 2023 with the goal of expanding or refining existing solutions or developing at least two new solutions in each of the 2023-24 and 2024-25 academic years.  
    2. We will develop relationships with local high schools to demystify the academic experience and build better pathways to university from Kingston’s diverse communities. We will design a program in 2023 with input from at least one on-campus partner and one off-campus partner and welcome our first cohort of students per term by 2024.  
    3. We will implement physical changes in all libraries and the archives that will make the spaces more accessible. In 2023, we will complete an audit of accessibility opportunities in partnership with an external expert and create a corresponding action plan to be written and executed in 2024 and 2025. 

  6. Living Our Values

    Ensure that in the library workplace we live our values.

    1. We will map the library’s values onto the university’s values to guide our actions and behaviors in our workplace. We will define and implement this process in 2023 and widely communicate these values within our organization. In 2024 and 2025, we will review internal guidelines and procedures with an eye to ensuring that our values are embedded in our organizational culture and daily interactions, including at least one program annually to engage all staff.  
    2. To support all employees in their success and engagement in the workplace, we will perform an audit of professional learning needs and resource allocations currently available in 2023. In 2024 and 2025, we will source and roll out new or updated professional learning resources to address gaps or opportunities identified in that audit.  
    3. We will review the library’s project management processes, leveraging inhouse expertise with an eye to improving communication pathways, simplifying processes, advancing initiatives with more agility, and creating more inclusive opportunities for participation. An environmental scan of project management approaches by peer organizations will be completed in 2023 towards design and implementation of a new model in 2024, with initial evaluation of outcomes in 2025.  

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