Mission and Strategic Planning

The University Library will aspire to play a more prominent role in the life of the many communities to which it belongs.

We will nurture strong relationships with our campus partners, local libraries, social and cultural organizations to help advance Hamilton’s future as a thriving place to live and work.

We will place special focus on exploring partnerships with Indigenous groups as part of our commitment to reconciliation.

We will ensure that all community initiatives are framed around the University’s commitment to reciprocity, trust and respect.

The University Library will foster deep and ongoing connections to the city of Hamilton, its people, and the world. Working together through these relationships, we will build a healthier, more prosperous, inclusive, and digitally fluent community. We will ensure that all community initiatives are framed around the University’s values of reciprocity, trust and respect.

We will nurture strong relationships with campus partners, local and global libraries, social networks, and cultural organizations to shape Hamilton’s present and future as a healthy place to live and work.  Recognizing our commitment to reconciliation, we will place special emphasis on developing partnerships with Indigenous communities. 

We recognize that the quality and engagement of our workforce is critical to our overall success and are committed to full support of the University’s Employment Equity Framework.

We are committed to attracting and retaining exemplary and diverse colleagues by acknowledging their value and fostering a positive workplace environment, ensuring that all individuals are treated equitably and fairly.

We will engage with staff to better understand their needs, and will invest in their ongoing learning and professional development, helping them grow and succeed at all stages of their careers.

The University Library will support and honour the diversity of its workforce and community by cultivating a welcoming, equitable, inclusive and accessible environment. In the spirit of the Okanagan Charter, we will implement these principles with respect and care for the interconnected mental, physical, and social health of employees, all of which are key to the well-being of our library and the communities of which it is part.

The University Library will work with its employees to understand their needs, invest in their ongoing learning and professional development, and help them grow and succeed at all stages of their careers.We will recognize and celebrate staff achievements and accomplishments.

We recognize that the quality and engagement of our workforce is critical to our overall success and are committed to full support of the University’s Employment Equity Framework.

Through our expert staff, the University Library strives to deliver the highest quality collections, services and facilities.

We will actively search out and apply for more grants and seek partnerships to allow us to extend our offerings.

We will also work to create new opportunities of interest to current and future donors.

We will pursue new strategies for assessing the quality and effectiveness of our collections, services, and facilities in support of the University’s research agenda.

The University Library will build a livable future by adopting and promoting sustainability as a guiding principle in all aspects of library operations.

Aware that ecological crisis and climate change are defining issues for our times, we will consider the environmental impact of our decisions about collections, buildings, technologies, programming and practices in the context of their full life cycles and impacts on the health of ecosystems and human beings.

We will increase awareness of environmental and ecological issues among library users and employees while developing and providing resources and tools to support sustainable practices within and beyond the library.

The University Library will assume a leadership role in developing, supporting, and increasing adoption of solutions that enable scholarship and improve the efficiency, impact, and visibility of research at McMaster.

We will promote and support open access publishing models that make it easier for McMaster researchers to satisfy funder mandates and share their publications openly with global audiences.

Independently and through partnerships, we will provide new tools and services that enable long-term data stewardship, and help researchers manage their data efficiently.

We will engage researchers with new modes of digital scholarship and provide them with the requisite expertise and resources to integrate them into their research processes.

We will integrate and enhance access to information about McMaster’s researchers, their works and expertise, to raise the University’s research profile—both internally and globally.

The University Library will, in collaboration with campus partners, enable and empower scholarship at McMaster by improving the efficiency, influence, and visibility of the University’s research. We are committed to increasing transparency, enabling reproducibility, and improving funding outcomes for McMaster researchers, and to addressing the evolving needs of our research community in a spirit of collaboration and innovation through the development, support, and adoption of new research solutions.

We will advocate for and facilitate the adoption of open models for scholarship and publishing that expand the reach and impact of McMaster research around the world and will further engage researchers in new approaches to digital scholarship and impact analysis. We will provide access to knowledge, resources, and critical insights which integrate these concepts and frameworks into research processes across and beyond campus.

Building on McMaster’s Research Data Management Strategy and the library’s expertise in the long-term preservation and stewardship of data and scholarly outputs, we will develop the capacity of McMaster researchers and scholars to project their ideas and findings forward through time and outward across the world.

The University Library will reimagine our physical spaces to better meet the needs of 21st century learners, scholars, library workers, and community members and to create more sustainable spaces. Using methodologies like Design Thinking and Universal Design, we will gather feedback from our users and create solutions that meet their needs. We will work with campus partners to explore and propose welcoming, barrier-free and mental-health positive spaces for our diverse communities. This new vision will include purpose-built learning spaces, robust studio spaces for content creation, innovative teaching spaces, comfortable and well-designed employee work areas, and imaginative new public programming and exhibit spaces.

In this vision, we also commit to developing enhanced spaces for safely housing, preserving, showcasing, and connecting users to the University Library's extraordinary collections of rare and unique materials. Our vision will also encompass plans for housing and providing access to McMaster’s own historical records as part of an official University Archive.

The University Library will commit more resources to enhancing access to and promoting its many unique and remarkable collections of archives, maps, rare books, and born digital materials.

We will work with various campus and external communities to ensure that we acquire and manage our collections of diverse, culturally sensitive materials in a respectful manner.

We will continue to expand our digitization program to enhance access and use for researchers at McMaster and around the world.

We will explore options for preserving and showcasing the University’s rich documentary heritage.

The University Library will help all McMaster students develop the critical thinking and research skills required for student success and lifelong learning. We will continue to explore and develop new partnerships, opportunities and strategies for teaching and engaging our students in-person and online. We will ensure our learning programs are meeting the needs of current and future generation learners.

We will deepen our partnerships with the MacPherson Institute, the Vice-Provost, Teaching and Learning, faculty, staff and researchers, and other campus partners, to support teaching and curriculum development. We will build upon the success of the Mills Learning Commons, the Lyons New Media Centre, the Thode Makerspace and the Lewis and Ruth Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship as part of our efforts to cultivate exceptional learning environments for collaboration and innovation. We will enhance the technology in Registrar-controlled classrooms across campus to better meet the needs of both students and instructors.

The University Library commits to subjecting its core practices and processes to regular assessment and re-evaluation with the objective of continuous improvement, efficiency and financial sustainability. In this culture of ongoing review, we make a conscious effort to streamline processes, eliminate duplication of activities within our own organization and across the McMaster community, and invest resources where the impact is greatest.

We will work with campus partners to ensure that operational policies are well-aligned and optimized, with a view to consistent user experiences and financial sustainability. We will ensure that Library technology is standardized, scalable, and built on a foundation of recognized best practice. We will further develop our data gathering and analysis practices to ensure that we are making the best use of resources in keeping with the University’s data governance protocols.

We recognise these principles as key to our good stewardship of the financial assets entrusted to us by the University and by our donors.

The University Library will help all McMaster students develop the critical thinking and research skills required for lifelong learning.

We will explore and implement new partnerships, education opportunities and engaging strategies for teaching research skills in person, via the learning management system and through other online tools.

We will build upon the success of the Mills Learning Commons, the Lyons New Media Centre and the Thode Makerspace to create more effective learning environments to support creation and innovation.

We will regularly evaluate our learning programs to ensure that they are meeting the needs of the current and future generation of learners.

We will work with the MacPherson Institute, faculty, and other campus partners, to support teaching and curriculum development.

We will partner with the DeGroote School of Business to build innovative new learning spaces in the re-imagined Innis Library.

The University Library will commit more resources to acquiring, enhancing access to, and mobilizing archives, maps, rare books, and unique born digital materials with a particular focus on emphasizing and celebrating cultural, linguistic, socioeconomic, and interpersonal plurality. We will complement these efforts by building and strengthening physical and digital resources which speak to diverse identities and experiences. We will work with colleagues in the Health Sciences Library to ensure that our efforts build upon existing strengths.

Recognizing that these collections have an important role to play in developing critical perspectives on contemporary issues, we will champion student and community engagement with these materials both on and off campus.

We will continue to expand access to and use of these unique materials for researchers at McMaster and around the world.

We will apply new approaches to better understand our users, their needs, and their experiences using the Library—both physically and virtually.

We will reexamine our public service models and the physical spaces from which they are delivered with an aim towards continuous improvement.

We will refine our digital approaches to help users find what they want, when they want it, wherever they are.

We will apply methodologies, like Design Thinking and Universal Design, to gather feedback from our users and create solutions that meet their needs.

The University Library will, in partnership with the Health Sciences Library, endeavor to make campus libraries more diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible to all members of the McMaster community. The libraries will make library services and spaces more welcoming and inclusive for all individuals, with a particular focus on the needs of Equity Deserving Groups (EDGs).

We will review our collection policies and practices to ensure we are building and describing our collections mindfully, respectfully, and with cultural and linguistic sensitivity. We will cultivate community relationships and present ourselves in an inclusive manner to the campus and the community through our communications.

We will strive to recruit more workforce members from Equity Deserving Groups, recognizing in doing so that commitments to workforce diversity do not end with recruitment. We will aim to create a more inclusive culture within the libraries to help workforce members from Equity Deserving Groups feel welcomed, respected and supported.

We will make significant improvements in classroom learning.

We will convert Registrar-controlled classrooms to digital technology in a financially sustainable and equitable manner.

We will leverage technology to break down barriers to learning by installing and supporting state-of-the-art lecture capture and student engagement systems.

We will invest in technologies and approaches that transform the learning experience in large courses—both in and beyond the classroom.

In the spirit of Indigenous Reconciliation, the University Library will work with Indigenous communities, both within and beyond the Hamilton area, to identify and act on strategies preferred by Indigenous communities for enhancing access to our collections, spaces and services. In doing so, we will create a more inclusive library that honours indigenous peoples, perspectives and ways of knowing. We will aspire to building and maintaining strong, reciprocal relationships based on respect and cultural humility. We will align our work to McMaster Indigenous Research Institute’s Indigenous Strategic Directions (2021), which lays out strategic goals for research, education, student experience, and leadership and governance.