UC Santa Barbara

UC Santa Barbara Strategic Plan 2005-2009 http://www.library.ucsb.edu/services/policies/StrategicPlan2005.pdf

I started this assignment not entirely sure what I was supposed to do. I decided to look for some useful structure or inspired goal that we might want to borrow from Santa Barbara to put into our plan. Alas, I was unable to find much that I liked. And the more I read, the less impressed I became. Repeated readings did not uncover any missed treasures and I found myself at a loss. Finally, I decided that the best I could do was to provide an analysis of where I think they fell short so that we might avoid making similar mistakes.

Apologies in advance if any of this comes across as snarky. That is not my intent. Though one hopes that this wiki is not googlable.

Overall impressions

This library claims that its vision is to provide a ‘transformational environment’ but there is little in the strategic plan to suggest that they embrace real change in the way libraries manage information. Their values statement could apply to any academic library circa 1980. The document is more than anything a defensive statement. It spends more than half a page detailing the challenges that they face from declining budgets to recruitment and retention issues to underfunded new programs. However, there is no corresponding statement of the opportunities for innovation at their disposal.

This is not a library at the vanguard of the revolution. This library is fighting a rearguard action, adopting new technologies because it has to and sustaining a very traditionalist view of what an academic library should be. They are positioning themselves to participate in innovation within and outside the University but I do not see a commitment to lead.

The planning document lacks cohesion. For example, their vision statement speaks of their role in supporting campus staff and the Santa Barbara community. However, neither the staff nor community is the focus of any of their goals or objectives.

The strategic objectives are non-quantifiable and unranked. They do mention a separate implementation plan that I hope provides measurable objectives (I have enough to read without searching for that) but the objectives listed in the strategic plan do not stand on their own as action items.

The mission and vision statements are typical of the form: that is, they are poorly written with a fair bit of redundancy, self-aggrandizement, and adjectival flab. Most troubling to me is the combination of a lofty vision with a pedestrian strategic plan. A vision statement should challenge an organization to grow beyond its current condition while the strategic plan illuminates a path between the status quo and the desired state. UCSB fails to make the connection. This shortcoming undermines my faith in the presentation.

While I would not waste my time or yours rewriting their entire plan, I offer this critique and rewrite of their vision statement to explain why I think they did such a poor job of it. My own version is far from perfect; it preens more than I would like. Still, it more closely approximates my ambitions for our vision statement: that it be credible and that it could pass muster with a Writing 1 instructor.

UCSB LIBRARIES VISION 1.0

The UCSB Libraries will sustain the University's position as a worldwide academic and research center of excellence through the expert provision of information and services. The UCSB Libraries will remain integral partners within the University in fulfilling the campus mission of academic excellence in research, scholarship, and teaching. The UCSB Libraries will support the predominant future directions of the faculty, students, staff, and Santa Barbara community by providing a transformational environment in which scholarly materials, innovative services, facilities, and responsive information systems, play a key role in the University’s intellectual life.

“The UCSB Libraries will sustain the University's position as a worldwide academic and research center of excellence through the expert provision of information and services.”

Just at the first sentence and I am already arching a brow. The Libraries will sustain the University? Sustain it? Really? ‘Support,’ yes, but ‘sustain’ is overreaching. As for being a ‘worldwide academic and research center of excellence,’ well that is certainly true of the University of California as a whole and one could easily argue that UCB and UCLA are major players. The rest of us are second tier. So before I get to the end of the first sentence I see a library that is putting on airs and overselling itself and I am already questioning the credibility of the planning document. Finally, we have ‘expert provision of information and services.’ What kind of services does the library provide apart from information services? The last ‘and’ is unnecessary. And the whole phrase ‘through the expert provision of’ is horribly clumsy.

“The UCSB Libraries will remain integral partners within the University in fulfilling the campus mission of academic excellence in research, scholarship, and teaching.”

Research, scholarship, and teaching are all academic pursuits (the sum total, no?) so ‘excellence’ does not require ‘academic’ as a modifier. Either say ‘…campus mission of academic excellence.’ Or ‘…campus mission of excellence in research, scholarship, and teaching.’

“The UCSB Libraries will support the predominant future directions of the faculty, students, staff, and Santa Barbara community by providing a transformational environment in which scholarly materials, innovative services, facilities, and responsive information systems, play a key role in the University’s intellectual life.”

‘Predominant’ is a waste word in this context and I do not even know where to start with ‘transformational.’ It makes me think of students walking on their knees toward the library on pilgrimage in search of an epiphany. Either that or UCSB is again trying too hard to be grand. I was glad to see a nod to staff and the community here but, as I mentioned earlier, it does not carry over to the actual strategic objectives of the library. There are no goals or objectives anywhere in the document that speak to reaching out to campus staff or the campus community. It makes the mention of staff and community here seem insincere and patronizing.

UCSB LIBRARIES VISION 1.1

The UCSB Libraries will support the University's position as an academic and research center of excellence by providing expert information services. The UCSB Libraries will remain integral partners within the University in fulfilling the campus mission of academic excellence. The UCSB Libraries will support the future directions of the faculty and students by providing an environment in which scholarly materials, innovative services, facilities, and responsive information systems play a key role in the University’s intellectual life.