Library Mission, Vision, Principles, and Strategic Plan

Mission

In support of free inquiry and expression, the University of Chicago Library is transforming the global knowledge environment to be open, accessible, and equitable. We enable the University of Chicago and our greater community to create a better world through effective information services, a comprehensive connected collection, and a culture of innovation, respect, and partnership.

Vision

The University of Chicago Library is a leader in an inclusive and sustainable global knowledge environment.

Principles

A. We meet the information needs of the University of Chicago—both as stewards of an outstanding research collection and as leaders in open scholarship.

B. We achieve our vision through partnership, within the University as well as externally.

C. Open is the default for everything we do: opening scholarship for use and impact, facilitating the widest access to collections and spaces, and practicing transparency as an organization.

D. We recognize information literacy is critical in an age of rapid technological change—for students, researchers, and staff as well as for our local community.

E. We serve our users through a culture of excellence, by being agile and innovative, and by embracing change.

F. We are a learning organization that develops our greatest resource, our staff.

G. We foster diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility across our work, spaces, and collections.

H. We achieve environmental and operational sustainability through continual review and upgrade of our processes, service portfolio, and spaces.

Library Strategic Plan for FY2025-FY2028:
Opening Knowledge, Transforming Lives

Strategic Priorities

Over the coming four academic years, we will work towards this vision through four themes:

Research Amplified

1) Delivering UChicagoNode, a service for preservation of and access to Library collections and UChicago research outputs.

2) Driving the creation of the UChicago data service, a cross-campus service that offers full lifecycle support for research data management and sharing.

3) Developing workflows that facilitate research information management and open access publishing and reduce administrative burden for faculty.

4) Increasing UChicago’s impact in digital scholarship through services for computational research and open science, including open source software.

Connected Collections

5) Developing a content strategy that emphasizes access, strengthens distinctive collections locally and achieves comprehensiveness through building connected collections with trusted partners.

6) Strengthening our processes and workflows to make more of our collections discoverable and accessible.

7) Addressing the storage needs for physical collections at UChicago.

8) Expanding collections and services in support of the University’s curriculum on games, including coordinating the campus-wide Year of Games program.

Engaged Library

9) Growing the scope and reach of the Library's instructional programming for information literacy, digital skills, artificial intelligence (AI), and undergraduate research.

10) Developing a program of events that stimulate debate on wider issues of information in academia and society, including banned books and AI.

11) Enabling Library and University to benefit from artificial intelligence, for example by leading the cross-campus program on generative AI and integrating AI into services in a responsible way.

12) Supporting the University’s civic engagement through a community engagement program, establishing the Library as a trusted partner for South Side communities.

Sustainable Library

13) Nurturing a resilient, innovative organizational culture of belonging that develops staff, embraces risk taking and delegates decision making to the right level.

14) Developing and implementing a master plan that grows the footprint and versatility of our spaces to expand student services, events programming, research support, and staff facilities.

15) Developing a long-term vision for carbon-neutral library operations alongside a sustainability plan to advance the University goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030.

16) Growing and diversifying Library income through grants, philanthropy, and tuition.