Strategic Plan 2020-23
Strategic Plan
Reimagine our digital and physical spaces to provide users with intuitive and seamless access to information and resources.
Enhance teaching and learning by ensuring that classroom technology is pedagogically sound and accessible to all learners.
Foster deep and ongoing collaborations in the greater Hamilton area to help build a healthier, more prosperous, digitally fluent and inclusive community.
Recruit, cultivate and retain a diverse, highly-skilled workforce, supported by enriched professional development and a welcoming, equitable and inclusive environment.
Secure the additional financial resources required to meet McMaster’s needs as Canada’s most research- intensive university.
Enable new and emerging models for advancing knowledge and accelerating the University’s research mission.
Celebrate, enhance, support and share our unique and diverse print and digital collections.
Develop innovative and effective learning programs, physical and virtual environments, services and tools to support student success.
Vision and Mission
McMaster University Library (Mills, Innis, Thode)
Vision
McMaster University Library aspires to be a catalyst of intellectual activity for the University and its community.
Mission
McMaster University Library supports the University's research and teaching mission by advancing knowledge and discovery, inspiring creativity and building community.
We deliver innovative services, welcoming spaces and exemplary collections to accelerate research, enhance learning and improve the user experience.
Mission and Vision Links
Strategic Initiatives - 2022/23
Strategic Initiatives
Intended for faculty, graduate students and researchers, the aim of this strategic initiative is to promote user engagement with new AI-augmented tools to facilitate research. This project allows the library to explore and potentially introduce one of these novel tools built around artificial intelligence and machine learning to complement traditional methods of information discovery and academic inquiry. Team members will explore, test and assess the tool, create a LibGuide and/or tutorial, and run workshops. The outcome of the initiative will be assessed by examining usage and gathering user feedback. The tool to be investigated in this pilot is scite (https://scite.ai/)
AI Augmented Research Discovery and Assistance Tool - Jan 2023 Update.pdf
This initiative consists of three overlapping areas of focus:
• Design, deliver, assess, and refine a pilot bibliometrics service that is provisioned jointly between MUL and HSL and available to audiences across campus; develop a plan to deliver a long-term sustainable service
• Engage with campus administrators and communications professionals on topics of research impact via interest groups that will be established during this initiative
• Develop and implement an engagement strategy to sustain conversation and collaboration amongst high-level administrators across McMaster around the responsible and effective use of research impact analysis across campus.
This initiative completes the process of McMaster joining the Ontario Council of University Libraries’ (OCUL) Collaborative Futures program. With the addition of McMaster, 18 of the 21 OCUL member institutions participate in Collaborative Futures, a shared implementation of the Ex Libris Alma library services platform and Primo discovery layer (branded as Omni in OCUL’s implementation). In the current cycle, we will complete the migration from the Sierra and EncoreDuet systems previously used by the libraries to Alma/Primo (Omni), implement key resource sharing tools, coordinate ongoing configuration and data clean-up, and support staff training and workflow development in the new systems.
LinkedIn Learning (LiL) is a critical digital resource for learning and development. The goal of this project is to increase awareness and usage of LiL across McMaster. Based on initial LiL data and analysis, year two of the LiL project will target areas of identified growth, including specific faculties, departments, or people, where there is limited access and use of LiL. Year two will also focus on development workshops and presentations for faculty who wish to share LiL content for course enrichment and for staff who want to build their personal and professional skills.
This strategic initiative focuses on clarifying and articulating McMaster Libraries’ priorities for funding open access collections, as part of larger Library initiatives around scholarly communication. Team members will establish collection guidelines covering format, content relevance, transformative potential, and type of initiative (content, infrastructure, or advocacy). We will provide clear, public information regarding our interest in various kinds of licensing agreements (e.g., Transformative Agreements), open access approaches, and funding models, and will promote funding guidelines based on sustainability, cost containment, and value. Criteria will be developed to assess and evaluate transitional models/agreements. Criteria used to assess publisher offers will be shared via the Library website(s), and potential budget implications will be identified to Library stakeholders.
The University Library will collaborate with the University Secretariat in the development of a university records management program that includes the identification and retention of university records in both physical and electronic formats that have enduring archival value. With the Secretariat and the Health Sciences Library, we will complete a summary document and business case for university leadership outlining the importance of university archives and the resources we anticipate would be required to launch an archives program and establish its initial years of operations.