The peer and aspirant institutions for environmental scans are:
Peer and aspirant peer institutions were identified in partnership with the Penn Libraries Leadership Team and DeEtta Jones & Associates. Aiming to keep the list to ten or fewer institutions that are fairly comparable to us in size and/or breadth of initiatives, we began with the Ivy Plus Libraries Confederation but also intentionally chose one public institution and one institution outside the United States.
As a group, and with guidance from DeEtta Jones & Associates, we chose seven topics of current interest to libraries and other large information organizations. Teams including Strategic Planning Steering Committee members and the Libraries Leadership Team will research how people in libraries and beyond are approaching these issues. We will look at key trends, other institutions' models and structures, impact on users, and how we might apply what we learn at Penn.
By deeply exploring these topics, we intend to create a picture of best practices that might inform our strategic directions and strategic change. In choosing the topics, we considered in particular:
The deep dive topics are:
Our exploration of these topics will be informed by a commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Yes. The Committee will explore staff development as part of its deep dive into organizational culture and workforce.
The number of peer and aspirant peer institutions in the environmental scan was intentionally limited due to the small number of Strategic Planning Steering Committee members to do the scans and the short turnaround time in which to do it. We understand that the institutions chosen are just a small subset of potential peers we could have looked at but we do not intend to add any additional institutions to our environmental scan so we have adequate time to work on other tasks such as the deep dives, focus groups and values sessions.
No. We are gathering information about peer and aspirant peer institutions beyond the Penn Libraries. For each institution in our peer environmental scan, we review key data and resources, vision and strategic directions, evidence of impact on users, innovation/“aha” moments, change management learnings, and potential influence on the Penn Libraries.
No. The data accrediting bodies consider is more granular and quantitative than that which falls within the committee’s scope. We are working on the level of vision, values, and top-level strategy.
The committee strongly encourages Libraries staff who are attending a conference, or having in-depth conversations with peers at other times, to share insights with us. We’re most interested to know what challenges and opportunities other institutions are facing and how they’re addressing them. Please share your thoughts and conversations with the committee at libstratplancommittee@o365lists.upenn.edu
Yes, this is one of our deep dive topics.
Yes, we are factoring the physical side of preservation into our deep dive on the topic, as well as the digital side.