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A Note from the Dean: Creating a Culture of Transformational Change
Previously in Source, I discussed the importance of building strategic staffing capacity in order to create new positions and opportunities within UC Libraries both to meet the organization’s growing needs and to attract new talent. While finding new talent is important to the success of UC Libraries and the implementation of our Strategic Plan, developing and retaining the talent we already have is equally important. One of the main objectives of the Strategic Plan’s People pillar is to “cultivate and empower a well-trained and technologically savvy workforce that embraces a culture of continuous learning, creative thinking and the pursuance of excellence.” The concept of embracing a new culture is one…
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A Note from the Dean: Master Planning for the Future of Library Spaces
Transformation is a common theme at UC Libraries. It is a cornerstone in our vision: to become the globally engaged, intellectual commons of the university. The most visible transformations can be found in the libraries’ multiple campus locations, in the physical space they offer to the students, faculty, scholars and researchers they serve. Over the past three years, we have completed space projects in every library on campus, relocating portions of our collection, refreshing or adding new furniture to increase seating, installing new service desks, creating modern active learning classrooms and, occasionally, building a new Starbucks location. The decisions we make about library space are not made lightly. They require…
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A Note from the Dean: Reappointment as Dean and University Librarian
Editor’s Note: We were extremely pleased this summer when the University of Cincinnati Board of Trustees approved the reappointment of Dean Xuemao Wang for a term of five years effective July 1, 2017. Every five years, per board rule, university deans participate in a decanal review. This is a thorough procedure that evaluates their leadership as perceived by their fellow deans, UC leadership, and their respective college’s faculty and staff. In enthusiastically recommending Dean Wang’s reappointment, the librarian and staff review committees recognized his outstanding leadership, advocacy, and vision for UC Libraries to become the globally engaged, intellectual commons of the university—positioning ourselves as the hub of collaboration, digital innovation,…
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A Note from the Dean: IFLA Comes to Cincinnati
This August, the International Federation of Libraries (IFLA) will host their yearly conference in Columbus, Ohio. Last fall, I posted about my experience at the IFLA conference in South Africa. While at the time I knew that UC would be involved in some of the conference events this summer, I am excited to tell you now in more detail what is coming and what role UC Libraries and I will play in welcoming these international visitors. The first of two IFLA related events will take place at the Walter C. Langsam Library when we host the Knowledge Management (KM) section of IFLA for their pre-IFLA satellite conference on August 12.…
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A Note From the Dean: Finding the Talent
Finding the Talent: Building Capacity through Organizational Strategy and Partnerships with the Broader University Community One of the objectives of our Strategic Plan is to “develop a diverse workforce that…possesses broad and varied knowledge and skill sets, job categories, backgrounds, ideas and perspectives that create opportunities to engage colleagues and institutions within and beyond UC Libraries and the university in support of our mission and vision.” In 2014-15, UC Libraries welcomed 11 new staff members. Some of these positions were created to drive our Libraries’ strategic directions forward, while others support the core functions and responsibilities that keep our libraries running. Finding and recruiting this new talent to UC Libraries…
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Dean Wang Joins SPARC Steering Committee
Xuemao Wang, dean and university librarian, has been selected to serve on the Steering Committee of the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), a group that advocates for open access, open education and open data. SPARC is a global coalition of 200+ academic and research libraries that works to enable open sharing of research output and educational materials in order to “democratize access to knowledge, accelerate discovery and increase the return on investment in research and education.” To achieve this mission, SPARC collaborates with authors, publishers, libraries, students, policymakers and the public to build opportunities and promote changes to make open access the default for research and education. “SPARC’s…
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A Note from the Dean: An Update on UC Libraries’ Strategic Initiatives
Last May, the University of Cincinnati Libraries launched our Strategic Plan. Strategic plans are common in organizations today, both in the public and private sector. They set priorities, create a strategy and help companies identify a common direction to pursue. And while the thoughtful creation of a strategic plan is incredibly important, so is its implementation. For the first year of UC Libraries’ Strategic Plan we set ambitious goals, including last fall the launch of 10 strategic initiatives. These initiatives are managed by faculty and staff across our library system, and are created with the sole purpose of fulfilling our mission to “empower discovery, stimulate learning and inspire the creation of knowledge…
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A Note from the Dean: A Busy Year in Review
The 2014-15 academic year has been one of exploration, innovation and collaboration for UC Libraries. The launch of the Strategic Plan has contributed greatly to our success with its ten initiatives along with a wide range of events and activities created and sponsored by library faculty and staff throughout our libraries. The initiatives are all focused on the same goal, to make UC libraries the globally connected intellectual hub of the university. Below is a small sampling of those successes. More information on the ten strategic initiatives is available online. ____________________________ Scholar@UC One of the ten strategic initiatives was to create the next generation digital repository. Named scholar@uc, it successfully…
