BLC Purpose Statement:
The Boston Library Consortium leads in creating transformative 21st century member libraries by leveraging a shared platform of information resources, expertise, and trusted relationships. It sustains strategic, cost-effective partnerships to achieve collaboratively what cannot be achieved singularly.
BLC Value Proposition:
Our collaborative resources and services provide a rich and sustainable environment supporting teaching, research, and the creation, dissemination, and preservation of knowledge.
Key Assumptions
- Staff development and engagement will be built into each of the priorities.
- We will promote, foster, and support a culture of involvement.
- We will create a culture of transparency.
- The key to success will be focus – we will not try to be all things to all people.
- Grants and other sources of funding will be sought to accomplish major projects.
- Because the strategic priorities address issues identified to be of importance to all members, all members will have a role to play in implementing consortia projects and initiatives.
- The strategic priorities will drive a set of decisions regarding stop doing/start doing/redefining activities, e.g. statistics, licensing, general staff development activities.
The BLC’s strategic priorities are designed to:
- Leverage collaboration to reduce individual institution effort
- Reduce duplication of effort and collections
- Address common and growing issues
- Aid Value Proposition by addressing knowledge dissemination
- Provide an alternative to paying commercial publishers
- Enhance our ability to lead nationally in these areas.
- Leverage staff expertise to increase efficiency and effectiveness of members
- Leverage collaboration to reduce individual institution effort
- Expand access for users.
Implementation
Each of the priorities will be staffed with a Priority Implementation Team, with two board member sponsors and a group of staff level people. Their charter will include a budget as well a set of milestones to accomplish each year. At the end of each year, the Team will issue a report of accomplishments, revised goals for next year and lessons learned.
Priority: The BLC will adopt a broader definition of Resource Sharing
Key Result Areas:
- Continue to expand the capabilities of our resource sharing discovery tool to meet our users needs
- Enable access to information-on-demand for our users
- Share staff and staff expertise to advance the priorities of the BLC (cataloging, metadata, preservation/conservation, technology).
Milestones
Year 1- Define metrics for success desired capabilities of the optimal discovery tool
- Monitor developments of other possible software application solutions for Resource Sharing Catalogue
- Develop a model for print/scan-on-demand service
- Expand licensing for consortium-wide shared commercial resources (Lyrasis)
- Develop a plan to expand our collection coverage collectively.
- Identify hidden collections and explore funding options to make materials accessible.
- Create and publish a BLC last copy policy.
- Assess effectiveness of Strategy implementation committees in reference to resource sharing
Year 2
- Continue to monitor developments of other software application solutions
- Assess whether WCL successfully meets BLC user needs after all participating members are fully operational (Evaluate our WorldCat against criteria developed in year one)
- Implement a collaborative print/scan-on-demand service
- Identify information-on-demand service needs beyond print/scan (streaming video, eBooks, etc.???) (year 2-ongoing)
- Determine feasibility and cost of additional On Demand services (year 2-ongoing)
- Identify areas for joint preservation projects
- Implement one pilot project for staff sharing
- Determine whether or not to remain with WCL or migrate to another system
- Implement selected additional On Demand services
- Explore and pursue funding options for joint preservation projects
- Develop multiple models for jointly funding future staff (e.g., Hebrew cataloger, metadata creator for digitization projects, IR technology expert, etc.)
Priority: The BLC will help redefine the library’s role in scholarly communication.
Key Result Areas:
- Provide an environment for exploring a collaborative infrastructure for digital publishing.
- Educate our stakeholders (faculty, staff, and students) on Open Access, author’s rights, copyrights, and intellectual property.
Milestones
Year 1
- Report on Institutional Repository (IR) options
- Review and discuss IR’s with member libraries that already provide one
- Outline other IR options
- Create a list of resources and agenda to would be available to each member to facilitate Open Access discussions on campus using BLC and other experts (for example, SPARC).
- Create a Scholarly Communications section on the BLC web site to host or link to relevant documents.
- Inventory how may BLC organizations have adopted author addendum on member campuses based on MIT/BLC model.
Year 2
- Hold at least four Open Access discussions on interested individual campuses.
- Develop a BLC model statement for member organizations to use to gain institutional commitment to open access.
- Implement a shared IR for interested members (as opposed to campus-only IR’s).
Year 3
- Provide link to IR from BLC site page.
- Publicize availability of IR on member campuses.
- Explore providing search and access across all BLC IR’s.
- Focus BLC staff development efforts on understanding the research process and the potential staff roles within it.
- Explore and implement collaborative solutions for digital asset management (DAM).
- Explore and implement collaborative solutions for research data curation.
- Promote and leverage our special or unique materials and integrate them into the research process.
Year 1
- Co-Sponsor the Worcester’s e-Science initiative
- Co-Sponsor symposium with NITLE, NERCOMP, etc
- Post literature, links to discussions on BLC website/blog
- Host 3 brown bag lunches to discuss the librarians role in the research process and share what they have learned at regional/national scholarly research conferences
- Inventory member activities /needs around DAM and Identify members willing to participate in collaborative solutions.
- Inventory member needs and activities around data curation
- Identify regional and national initiatives around data curation
- Create BLC website/blog highlighting materials scanned via OCA project
- Inventory members’ special collections to understand strengths and areas to promote.
Year 2
- Create a white paper documenting successful models of DAM in the consortium and outlining the scalability of such projects across the consortium.
- Create a white paper documenting outlining pros/cons of various collaborative solutions:
- Create a Metadata Committee to work with Internet Archive to make our bibliographic records more accessible and effective.
- Publish best practices for each integrated library system to bring Internet Archive records into local catalogs.
- Inventory member activities and needs around data curation.
Year 3
- Provide link to IR from BLC site page.
- Publicize availability of IR on member campuses.
- Explore providing search and access across all BLC IR’s.
Priority: The BLC will increasingly enhance its perceived value to its stakeholders through improved communication.
- Empower staff to own and manage communication
- Improve and expand communication venues
- Improve information flow with all Stakeholders
- Improve BLC visibility to the larger community (administrators, institutions, press, grant agencies, etc)
Year 1
- Identify best communication practices in the website and pilot a staff-initiated program to support information flow throughout the BLC.
- Develop a set of recommendations to overcome current issues as evidenced by the Strategic Plan’s staff survey 2009.
- Establish a BLC-wide communication and marketing plan that addresses existing gaps in the perceived value the BLC among stakeholders.
- Upgrade the website based on recommendations.
Year 2
- Roll out a BLC-wide communication and marketing plan with modifications from year one pilot.
- Review effectiveness of web site and upgrade as necessary
Year 3
- Conduct staff survey to assess the effectiveness of milestones in year one and two.
- Measure effectiveness of BLC marketing efforts.
