Forward plan 2022-2025

Sponsor – Associate Director: Student Learning and Experience

O13 – Measure and improve our environmental impact and promote sustainability in our services.

KR1: Undertake an environmental analysis of our physical and digital spaces by June 2023, and identify approaches that reduce the environmental impact of libraries by December 2023.

KR2: Remove single-use plastics across the library by 2025.

KR3: In co-production with students, improve sustainability in libraries by June 2024.

KR4: Bring more nature into our spaces, through plants, living walls, and investigate feasibility of Laidlaw terrace as a green space by December 2024.

KR5: Ensure staff are linked to networks that enable us to use collections in support of sustainable development and knowledge sharing on an ongoing basis by July 2023.

Linked strategic priorities: SP11

O14 – Develop an incremental plan to refurbish Health Sciences and Brotherton Libraries.

KR1: Develop a staged business case for refurbishment of Health Sciences spaces by June 2023.

KR2: Complete refurbishment of Brotherton West Building link corridor by August 2022.

KR3: Develop a staged business case for refurbishment of Brotherton Library by July 2023.

KR4: Implement final phase of the Brotherton Library stock moves by August 2025.

KR5: Improve Art Gallery infrastructure to display textiles and digital artworks. Incorporate digital screens in interpretation by August 2024.

Linked strategic priorities: SP11, SP12

O15 – Improve the aesthetics, quality, and overall provision of our spaces.

KR1: Improve the vibrancy and sense of belonging in our spaces through art, colour, plants and furniture by December 2024.

KR2: Improve user experience and access to Brotherton and Edward Boyle Libraries by changing layout of reception and enquiry desk areas by September 2023.

KR3: Invest in adequate high value, inclusive spaces including sensory spaces, family space, and wellbeing spaces by August 2024.

KR4: Develop new forms of spaces to support post-pandemic student experience by December 2023.

KR5: Develop a programme of art framing and conservation to enhance collection use in buildings by May 2025.

KR6: Improve the provision of the Skills Zone and Maths and Stats Zone to meet increasing user demands by September 2024.

Linked strategic priorities: SP11, SP12, SP13, SP16, SP20

O16 – Embrace smart campus program and improve our data analysis capability.

KR1: Improve our physical infrastructure to collect and use appropriate data by June 2023.

KR2: Develop and deploy a data dashboard for evidence-driven decision making by December 2023.

KR3: Position libraries as a testbed for smart campus initiatives by September 2024.

KR4: Integrate smart campus functionality in the SpaceFinder app by December 2024.

KR5: Develop an approach for digital wayfinding within and beyond libraries by August 2024.

Linked strategic priorities: SP11, SP14, SP2

O17 – Provide leadership for improving education spaces across the institution.

KR1: Develop a students as co-producers framework for space design by December 2023.

KR2: Develop an entrepreneurial space in the libraries for students by September 2023.

KR3: Improve the quality of centrally accessible PC clusters by August 2024.

KR4: Implement SpaceFinder app for space findability across campus by September 2022.

KR5: Contribute to Digital Accelerator Incubator and Invention Labs programs on an ongoing basis.

KR6: Contribute to the wider postgraduate research hub development across campus by September 2023.

Linked strategic priorities: SP13, SP14, SP17

O18 – Embrace digital in our approach to encourage interdisciplinary experimentation.

KR1: Launch a scheme to advance implications of technologies on libraries by August 2022.

KR2: Support the Deanery building plan for integrated digital support by August 2024.

KR3: Review and improve the digital collaboration functionality in libraries by August 2024.

KR4: Develop a wide-ranging understanding of copyright, licensing, and rights management for digital use and reuse by August 2024.

KR5: Create CultureTech initiatives to support experimentation at the intersection of culture, knowledge and digital technologies by August 2025.

Linked strategic priorities: SP13, SP14, SP3

O19 – Develop a storage plan to manage the physical growth in our Special Collections and to improve storage facilities for modern collections.

KR1: Support the development of a national distributed print collection through stock audits and addition of retention statements by Dec 2023.

KR2: Establish a rolling programme of stock-editing of main collections at all sites by December 2024.

KR3: Rehouse main collection through an appropriate institutional storage facility or external storage options by December 2024.

KR4: Develop and implement appraisal and deaccessioning plans for effective management of Special Collections by July 2023.

KR5: Review the use and functionality of the Western Campus Store as part of an institutional storage facility planning by July 2025.

KR6: Review the governance of cultural and heritage acquisitions by the University by May 2023.

Linked strategic priorities: SP15