As a dynamic organization that thrives in relation with our community, the Libraries respond to diverse and changing user needs. We exemplify the characteristics of Marianist education and leadership, which inform our models for innovative and sustainable collections, discovery, and service so that we can empower learning, scholarship, and creative expression.

The Libraries are an intellectual fulcrum -- opening doors, activating scholarship, inspiring creativity.

Collaboration    Curiosity    Inclusion    Respect    Service    Sustainability

The strategic plan provides a context for our work. Achieving our goals is evidence that we are a dynamic and effective organization. Five organizational assets and mechanisms form the foundation of our plan: assessment, communication, diversity, effectiveness, and professional development.

• Assessment: We foster a culture of assessment and continual improvement.
• Communication: We recognize that consistent and high-quality internal and external communication leads to better relationships and builds trust.
• Diversity: We are committed to a framework of inclusive excellence that informs every aspect of our work and our spaces, ensuring that all learners are welcome and empowered to succeed.
• Effectiveness: We strive for meaningful impact through our people, our processes, and our structure while responsibly stewarding our resources.
• Professional development: Our organization is a community of learners, leading through service and committed to educational and professional development.

Supporting scholarship throughout the research cycle

Libraries have long been a partner in the research process, serving both students and faculty. We will maximize our partnership with faculty to educate students in information literacy and other competencies necessary for the acquisition and creation of knowledge. We will also extend the Libraries’ role in the faculty research process with special attention to data management, research metrics, and the visibility of UD scholarship.

Advancing student learning

The Libraries take an active role in student learning through curricular, co-curricular, and extracurricular learning experiences. We will expand our collaborations with campus and community partners to provide students with opportunities to extend their classroom experiences, spark their creativity, build their leadership skills, experience a diversity of thought, and achieve success.

Stewarding a 21st-century collection

It is no longer feasible for individual libraries to build comprehensive, just-in-case print collections. Twenty-first-century collections are a mix of traditional, electronic, and other emerging formats made available on site and increasingly online or shared with partner institutions. We will work with all areas of campus to facilitate the discovery of and provide access to knowledge needed to support research, teaching, and learning in the most appropriate formats, methods, and media.

Highlighting our Catholic, Marian and University special collections and programs

The Libraries are uniquely qualified to help raise UD’s reputation and affirm its identity as a Catholic research university by promoting our collections and programs related to the U.S. Catholic experience, the Virgin Mary, and the University. We will enhance the creation, preservation, discovery, and use of our special collections and archives and expand the prominence of the International Marian Research Institute and its research.

Leveraging the renovation

The Library is a busy place. More than 2,000 people pass through Roesch Library each day during the academic year. They come to learn, search, create, teach, interact, study, and engage with our materials, exhibits, and programs. We will use the renovation of Roesch Library’s first and second floors as an opportunity to think critically about collections, space, services, programs, and partners as we strive to create a dynamic and flexible learning environment that is a destination for the entire campus.