A Note from the Dean: Introducing our NEXT Directions

As announced in our Annual Progress Report, this year the faculty and staff of UC Libraries undertook an endeavor to update our existing Strategic Plan, building on success of our Strategic Plan implementation, bringing in initiatives from the Provost-led Strategic Sizing priorities and aligning them with UC’s NEXT Lives Here Strategic Directions.

What has resulted is a new Strategic Framework for UC Libraries that we are calling our NEXT Directions.  

Through fulfillment of our NEXT Directions, the University of Cincinnati Libraries aims to increase our impact by: creating paths to education innovation and student success; contributing to the university’s research, learning and teaching agendas; and by creating partnerships within UC, the wider Cincinnati urban community and at national and international levels.

Our mission and vision remain the same.

Mission

The University of Cincinnati Libraries empower discovery, stimulate learning and inspire the creation of knowledge by connecting students, faculty, researchers and scholars to dynamic data, information and resources.

Vision

The University of Cincinnati Libraries are the globally engaged, intellectual commons of the university – positioning ourselves as the hub of collaboration, digital innovation and scholarly endeavor on campus and beyond.

In setting our NEXT Directions, we felt it important to articulate Guiding Principles that serve as our North Star. They are central to our mission/vision and serve as critical tenets signifying who we want to be and where we want to go. They are the common thread throughout all our services, activities and initiatives.

Investment in our People

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Digital Transformation

The Strategic Framework outlines the Pathways that will lead us in our next Directions. They will set our course of action and enable us to continue to fulfill our mission and to achieve our vision.

Enrich – the Academic Experience

Empower – Research, Scholarship & Innovation

Engage – We are Cincinnati

The University of Cincinnati’s NEXT Lives Here Strategic Directions focus on the core areas of Academic Excellence, Urban Impact and the Innovation Agenda in order to engage people and ideas – and to transform the world. The University of Cincinnati Libraries is key to what’s NEXT. Through our NEXT Directions Strategic Framework, UC Libraries fuels student success, research, innovation, scholarship and engagement with the community. We forge pathways to discovery and empower students, faculty and researchers to achieve academic success. The Strategic Framework works as a guide for our work and should grow and adjust as we do.

For more, and to see our progress, visit the next Directions website.