Emporia State University's William Allen White Library

Strategic Plan:
Increase course hours of information literacy instruction
By: Doris Brosz, Marcia Hannon, Elizabeth Miller, & Tiffany Newton Fall 2012 LI 805

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Table of Contents
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT ................................................................................................................ 3
Library Mission and Goals................................................................................................................................... 3 SWOT Analysis ....................................................................................................................................................... 4 A. Internal Strengths .................................................................................................................................................4 B. Internal Weaknesses ..............................................................................................................................................5 C. External Opportunities ..........................................................................................................................................5 D. External Threats ...................................................................................................................................................6

MANAGERIAL FUNCTIONS .................................................................................................................. 7

Contingency & Organization .................................................................................................................................. 7 Contingency and Leadership .................................................................................................................................. 8 Leadership for the Instructors ...................................................................................................................................8 Leadership for the Student Workers .........................................................................................................................9 Revised Mission Statement .....................................................................................................................................10 Contingency & Control ......................................................................................................................................... 10 Statement of Goals ..................................................................................................................................................10 Strategy ...................................................................................................................................................................11 Timeline ...................................................................................................................................................................13 Required Resources.................................................................................................................................................15

CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................................... 16
Effectiveness and Accountability ............................................................................................................................16

REFERENCES.......................................................................................................................................... 18 APPENDIX 1 ........................................................................................................................................... 19

Present Organizational Structure .............................................................................................................................19 Future Organizational Structure ..............................................................................................................................19

APPENDIX 2. .......................................................................................................................................... 20
Curriculum Change Review Procedures ..................................................................................................................20

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Strategic Management
Library Mission and Goals The William Allen White Librarys mission is to support the academic, research, and service programs of Emporia State University and to meet the individual and lifelong learning needs of the university. However, due to the lack of course content and credit hours offered the WAW Librarys UL100 Information Literacy and Technology class at Emporia State University does not adequately meet the needs of the student body at the university. The UL100 course is currently offered as a two credit hour course; most students are only interested in enrolling in three credit hour courses either to meet financial aid requirements or to meet the credit hours required for their degree. In addition, based on the course syllabus the outcome of this course is designed to introduce basic skills needed using print and electronic resources to conduct research. UL100 does not cover advanced research to create artifacts for an identified discipline or research used in designing a research plan for publication. This strategic plan will address these issues by increasing the Introduction to Information Literacy class from two to three hours and augmenting the literacy instruction by adding an advanced information literacy class. To accomplish these two outcomes, this plan will adjust the schedules of currently employed librarians and student workers. The librarians teaching the introduction to information literacy course will require more time to focus on instruction and preparation due to the increased hours of the course. The additional hours will impose an extra workload on the existing librarians. After this change, only student workers will staff the reference desk (except during peak times), while the reference librarians will work in their offices on instructional preparation. The student workers, at the reference desk, still have accessibility to the librarian for assistance with in-depth questions. One reference librarian who has no instructional duties will be assigned supervisor of the student workers. The efficient use of the current staff will enable them to fulfill their vision of meeting the pedagogical, intellectual, and recreational needs of the library patrons more effectively. The intra-departmental dependence within the public services department will change slightly with these proposed adjustments to the assignments. The reference desk is not staffed

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completely with student workers, however, with the proposed changes, students will be answering the bulk of the questions. Only the most complex questions will reach the reference librarian. Presently, the head of the department is the supervisor of the all the librarians and student workers. After this change, one of the librarians will have the responsibilities of supervising the student workers at the reference desk.

SWOT Analysis

A. Internal Strengths
Culture o Our library is very focused on student and faculty needs A core competency of the library is the resilient focus on the needs of its patrons. This competency will allow an enhanced recognition of opportunities in which to extend the information literacy credit hours. Building a quality collection and providing easy access to information. Trying new tools such as the new Discovery Tool to help ease the students uncertainty in finding information from the online catalog and databases

Employees o Another core competency the library has is its knowledgeable staff Faculty and staff are committed to provide high quality services and bring new ideas to the library A synergy that is in place at this library is the cross-trained librarians in both Reference Services and Instruction Services Cross-trained student workers in reference and circulation High interdepartmental technology and synergy between Technical Services and Reference Services in that both perform instructional duties Management o Our managers are very aware of the changes taking place in the current trends in an academic library setting. This is a core strength for the library. There is a drive to continually improve upon patron-centered services. For example, the leaders made the decision to change the library hours to better fit patrons needs. These plans include recently installed study areas on fourth floor, rearranging second floor reference area, extended library hours, uniting Reference Services with Access Services (flattening the hierarchy of authority), and new scanners and printing systems Plans to implement a patron-driven acquisitions policy to help customize

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the collection directly to patron wants and needs. Budget cuts could increase creativity for more efficient solutions.

B. Internal Weaknesses
Culture o A weakness in the current program does not fully develop the students skills necessary for success in future research projects. Recently added library instruction classes, still developing curriculum and fine-tuning the details Small classes generate few credit hours for the library Possibility of user dissatisfaction and fear to use the library With many students from different cultures and different age groups, it is difficult for them to all feel comfortable in the same types of settings Management o Impact of limited budget on maintaining high quality standards for collections, equipment, and staff Open positions not filled and reassignment of duties. Archives was closed for a few years before the Head of Archives position was filled. Reference librarians have high uncertainty with numerous duties these include general reference duties, such as answering basic directional questions, answering more in-depth research questions, collection development duties, instructional duties, doing chat reference, as well as phone reference, other committee tasks, and community outreach programs. Employees o Lack of external communication and sufficient advertising and marketing for library programs, services and resources. University students, faculty, and staff are relatively un-informed about new library services because the library does little for promoting the library besides word-of-mouth. Older librarians with old-school mindsets are hesitant to take the plunge into 21st century librarianship.

C. External Opportunities
Labor Market o Newly hired librarians bring fresh perspectives in information literacy Retirements also bring changes in workflow, possibly increasing effectiveness in instructional design

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Customers o Untapped potential in the librarys patron base to increase community awareness through outreach programs. This leads to increased usage of the library resources and services. Reinforcing the important roles of librarians This also helps to build internal collaboration with other university departments o Improve communication with other university departments Librarians could quickly respond and support user needs and demands Use the professional skills of the librarians to the fullest extent Increase low synergy between the library and other academic departments Technological o Availability of e-books and e-readers provides under privileged patrons the opportunity to have access to a new technology. Sociocultural o Growing amount of unreliable information on the web that students use o After taking a basic information literacy course, students will understand this fact and be more responsive to an advanced class to help them learn how to better evaluate web information.

D. External Threats
Economic o Uncertain economy leads to budget cuts. Decreases salary budget and hiring of new professionals. Fewer opportunities to increase and upgrade resources. Customers o Student perceptions changing, making the library a lesser resource. Competition o Organizations, such as Google or Wikipedia, create smaller or lesser quality substitute products to traditional library services (Upson, 2012). Technological o Technology in todays society is an ever-changing event. Training for staff to keep up-to-date on new technologies Limited resources for hardware and software improvements.

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Managerial Functions Contingency & Organization

With the changes proposed here, the overall bureaucracy of the public service department becomes a little more mechanistic. Current evaluations have shown it to be equally organic and mechanistic with a score of 2.5 out of 5. The centralization of power would not change at all. Presently the dean has an impact on decisions within the department and due to the university being overly mechanistic; this would stay the same at 4 out of 5. The current hierarchy is relatively short and wide with the dean of the library over the head of the public services department and the department head over the rest of the department. The supervisor over the student workers would be the only change to the organizational structure that would be made here (See Appendix 1). Therefore, the hierarchy would lower slightly to 2.5 out of 5. Both the formalization and specialization would increase one point, specialization from a 3 to a 4 out of 5 and formalization from 2 to a 3 out of five. The duties of the employees would become more repetitive and those tasks would be governed by more written policies especially for the student workers who will be working more independently after the changes. For these reasons, the bureaucracy will become more mechanistic with a score of 4 out of 5. When evaluating the organizational technology, presently the fit is slightly off with an overall score of 2.6 out of 7. With the changes here, the organizational technology will be more in fit with the organizational bureaucracy with a score of 3.5 out of 7. Examination of the workflow technology reveals an overall ranking of 2.1 out of 7 and with increasing the reciprocal interdependence, due to the instructors discussing the content of the information literacy course with those in other departments, the rank will change to 3.3 out of 7. The task analysis revealed that the department is presently 3.2 out of 7, however, with the proposed changes would increase slightly to 3.5 out of 7. The task variety would decrease with the more routine and repetitive tasks required of the staff. Currently variety ranked 3.3 but it will decrease to 2 out of 7. Along with more repetitive tasks, the jobs of the staff of the reference desks and the instructors will become more predictable. The student workers perform the same tasks most of the time, while the instructors being more removed from the reference desk can concentrate more on instruction. With these proposed changes the public services department, their organizational technology will become more in fit with its bureaucracy.

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Contingency and Leadership

To increase the hours for the present information literacy course to three credit hours and add an advanced course, the number of instruction hours must increase while the number of instructors must remain the same. The schedules and duties of the current reference librarians will be readjusted to find the needed hours. The instructors that are presently teaching will to teach more hours and spend more time preparing, planning, and then teaching. To compensate this, they will not be responsible for as many hours on the reference desk as previously. Non instructing reference librarians will spend more time on the reference desk, especially during peak hours. With these changes, there are two different facets to consider related to leadership, first, the leadership of the instructors who will be responsible for increasing the instruction hours and courses and secondly, the leadership of the added student workers who will need to be inspired to assume more responsibilities.
Leadership for the Instructors

The instruction librarians responsible for instructing the information literacy courses need to be willing to accept the idea of the change in the department and encouraged to develop creative methods for instructing information literacy and promoting the courses to the student body of ESU. The leader of this group needs to take a transformational leader stance, one that will inspire the other instructors by creating an atmosphere of change. To increase their motivation to accept these changes the leader should solicit their participation within the decision-making process during the development of the course requirements and assignments. The instructors will feel empowered when allowed to be part of the process and more likely to work to make the new program a success. The leadership style required for this group, according to Hersey and Blanchards situational theory, would be that of a delegating style. The instruction librarians presently employed within the library seem to be very willing to increase their hours of instruction. Within Hersey Blanchards theory, followers who are able and willing or confident, require a delegating type of leader (Daft, 2008). According to Fiedlers Contingency theory, with the instruction segment of this department being more organic, the leader would need to be more relationship-oriented style than task-oriented style. Due to the diversity amid the staff, some may respond well to the leader while others may not. In addition, the task structure of this group will be more unstructured during this time of change (Daft, 2008).

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Leadership for the Student Workers

The student workers who will provide service at the reference desk will require a different type of leadership style. Where the instructors needed a transformational leader during the time of change, this group would need a transactional type of leader. The transactional leader is one that clarifies the roles and tasks for the employees and initiates structure within the organization. Aside from increasing the policies, the transactional leader also displays consideration for the employee. The supervising of students demands a balance of good leaderemployee relationship and enforced structure. The leader needs to remember that these workers are students first. They are at the university to get an education and the job is a means to this end. Within this type of environment, one motivating factor that may not be as obvious, but advantageous to the student, is the promise of a positive letter of recommendation after their graduation or departure from the position if they perform well in their work. If the students are motivated intrinsically, they will have more enthusiasm for endeavoring into the more challenging inquiries. With less support from the reference librarians, these workers will need to become more self-sufficient in providing the services to the patrons. A librarian, or access to an on-call librarian, will always be available for the most complex situations. The students working at the library have majors in various programs and come from varying degrees of previous research experience. The leader of this group needs to ensure each worker is competent to work independently at the reference desk. He will need to ensure they receive supplementary training to give them the confidence that they are able to perform more in-depth searches without additional support. Motivation to attempt to answer questions that are more difficult by themselves will increase with further training. The students direct supervisor should be someone who would have referent power. It is easier for students to approach the librarian/supervisor for assistance if they have respect and admiration for the person. According to Hersey and Blanchards Situational Theory, the type of leader needed would be one of varying styles, depending on the type of student employee. Some of the students are able and willing or confident, for which a delegating type of leader is required. However, there might also be an employee that is unable and unwilling or insecure, for which a leader who can instruct them on the basic searches and continue to supervise and train them in hopes of them becoming more confident is essential (Daft, 2008). In regards to Fiedlers Contingency Theory, the task structure in very structured, the leader position power

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needs to be strong, and the leader-member relations would be best if it was good. In this light a leader is more task-oriented is necessary, but he should also partially follow the relationshiporiented model (Daft, 2008).
Revised Mission Statement

The William Allen White Library supports inquiry and learning through instruction to meet the individual and lifelong learning needs of the university, community, and Kansas citizens. Library collections, services, staff, and facilities further the university's mission. The library provides access to print, multimedia, and electronic format resources. o We assist students, faculty and administration in efficiently locating and accessing the University's information resources. o We provide instruction courses to promote library literacy research skills utilizing reference tools, internet searches and electronic database selection. o We develop and provide relevant services, programs, and tools that promote translation of information into knowledge that supports research, teaching, and learning. o We build, select, and preserve our collections and information resources that are compatible with the current and anticipated disciplines needed for the University's instructional programs and support the teaching and learning processes on campus and online. o We are committed to advancing the University and the profession; and participate in addressing the information needs of local and rural communities in Kansas

Contingency & Control

Statement of Goals

The overall goal of the strategic plan is to alter the courses offered through William Allen White Library to assist the academic success of the students. Expanding the courses in information literacy, reallocating the library staff, and by collaborating with the university faculty, WAW Library will better equip the students for the advancing technology of today and graduate with skills for their careers. The goals included in this plan involve changes within the structural organization of reference department. 1. Increase the credit hours for UL 100: Information Literacy and Technology course from two credit hours to three credit hours. 2. Add another, one-hour, advanced information literacy course. 3. Adjust the schedules of the librarians to enable more time for instruction. 4. Improve awareness of the benefits of information literacy instruction with the ESU faculty and student body.

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Strategy

With this strategic plan, the librarys will be better able to prepare students for the 21st century skills that they will need, including cognitive, interpersonal, and intrapersonal skills. (Education for Life, 2012). This plan accounts for the changes that will occur within the next three years that will shift present staff to enable more instruction hours and increased communication between the library and other university instructional departments. With the ever-changing technology of the library, this plan is not intended to be an unchangeable plan. By the end of this three-year period a new plan will be implemented reflecting the future technology and information literacy needs. The following are the strategies for the above goals listed with a deadline for completion.

Goal 1: Increase the credit hours for UL 100: Information Literacy and Technology course from two credit hours to three credit hours by August 2013. Students do not always want to take a two-hour class and would rather take a threehour class; the reason being that some need to take 15 hours a semester for financial aid purposes. Also some may think taking more than 15 hours would be too much. o Form an ad hoc committee to evaluate the current syllabus for UL 100 and make suggestions for fresh activities and assignments. o Add in class activities with databases o Add hands-on activities with HTML o Increase the amount of evaluation of students knowledge via quizzes and tests Goal 2: Add an one-hour, advanced information literacy course by August 2014 An advanced course in information literacy will focus on developing the research skills for those students who are required to engage in higher level research. At this level, the library will work closely with other departments in developing and instructing the necessary skills. Interdepartmental communication will be necessary for this goal to be a success. o Form an ad hoc committee o Examine other library instruction from other universities o Committee will communicate with other university departments to understand the research needs of their students. With this interdepartmental communication, the library will more efficiently meet the needs of the university students. o Brainstorm ideas for activities, assignments, and discussions

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o Write a syllabus including activities in using Google, Wikipedia, Web 2.0, and current technologies o Select instructor(s) to teach the course. Goal 3 discusses allocating the staff to allow the reference librarians time for instruction and planning.
Goal 3: Adjust the schedules of the librarians to enable more time for instruction of additional hours by August 2013

The William Allen White Library currently has six full-time reference librarians. Four of whom also perform information literacy instruction. Four additional librarians from other

departments also assist in instruction. To increase the UL100 class from two to three hours and adding the new advanced class the following suggestions cover human resource issues: o Presently librarians spend 72 hours Monday through Friday staffing reference desk. Therefore to meet the goals, the two librarians who do not perform instructional duties will work the reference desk during the peak times of 10 am to noon and 2 to 4 pm Monday through Friday. (Peak times were selected by looking at LibAnswers, and the number of questions the reference desk gets daily. The times above had more transactions than other times.) That would make available 52 hours for the other four librarians to perform more instructional duties. o The librarians specialization will increase because they will be doing less reference and more instruction. The variety of their work will increase, and the analyzability will decrease. o To fill the rest of the time there will be two student workers or one student worker and one graduate teaching assistant at the reference desk. o There would be reference librarians in the library from 7:30 am to 9:30 pm. They would have on call hours in which they needed to be available to assist the student workers if needed, but otherwise be in their completing instruction and collection development tasks during this time period. o We would hire two new student workers through the work-study program for the reference desk and three students to complete shelving duties. The wages from the workstudy students is paid for by the university, and will be of no cost to the library itself. These new students would help make up for the time in which the 4 instruction librarians would be removed from the reference desk schedule. o The formalization for the student workers at the reference desk will increase through increased policies. o The reference desk will become more mechanistic because the formalization will have increased, the specialization will have increased, and there will likely be an additional level added in the hierarchy of authority to supervise all the student workers.

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Goal 4: Improve awareness of the benefits of information literacy instruction, as well as the other library resources and services with the ESU faculty and student body by May 2015 Without increasing the awareness of the instruction and services available at the library, these changes will not reach the intended population. With the advent of internet search engines, many students do not see the need for the library let alone the need for learning information literacy skills. It is the responsibility of the university to prepare the students for their futures and to do that the library needs to properly train them to use the information technology presently available so they can be lifelong learners. This goal will involve more than communication between departments, it will also involve departments working together. We will rate this improvement of awareness by looking at library gate counts and circulation statistics. There should be at least a 25% increase in gate counts and 15% increase in circulation statistics from August 2013 and August 2015. Faculty's use of the librarys one shot library instruction should also increase by 20% in the same time period.
o o o

Form an ad hoc committee to brainstorm ideas on marketing. Invite the faculty to an introduction to the librarys resources and services. Send out departmental liaisons to each department to discuss the librarys resources and services. o This increased communication with the university will increase interdepartmental communication with the various schools of Emporia State University. o Continue to work with the faculty to develop programs that will increase the use of the library resources within their courses.
Timeline January 2013 o Goal 1: Form a team to evaluate the current syllabus of UL100 and plan a rough curriculum for the additional one hour. February 2013 o Goal 1: Present and Share rough curriculum with Provost and all faculty members (as per the level 1 curriculum change request form - See Appendix 2) o Goal 1: After the 10 day review period, address any issues brought up, then fine tune curriculum and syllabus o Goal 3: Form a committee to look at the current training program for reference students. April 2013 o Goal 1: Submit final curriculum so it can be included in the schedule for Fall 2013.

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Goal 3: Librarians look at current duties and begin shifting them. Instruction librarians spend less time at reference desk and have on-call hours instead. Librarians without instruction duties spend more time at reference desk.

May 2013 o Goal 1: Students begin enrolling in 3-hour UL100 class. o Goal 3: Finalize reference training and train current student workers (who will also be employed in the fall) on the new reference policies and procedures. June 2013 o Goal 3: Post job openings for student workers through the work-study program. o Goal 4: Form a team to brainstorm marketing ideas and improve awareness of the library resources July 2013 o Goal 3: Finalize shifts in librarian schedules for the start of the new semester o Goal 3: Begin interviewing for student worker position August 2013 o Goal 3. Continue interviewing for student worker position (if necessary) o Goal 4: All departmental liaisons visit their departments and discuss the library's resources and services to new and returning faculty and staff before semester starts. o Goal 3: Hire new student workers o Goal 3: UL100 classes begin o Goal 3: Begin training new student workers September 2013 o Goal 2: Form a team to prepare syllabus and curriculum for new, advanced Information Literacy Class October 2013 o Goal 2: The team looks at other universities and brainstorms activities, assignments, and discussions for new information literacy class December 2013 o Goal 2: Finalize rough draft for syllabus to share in January o Goal 1: Ask students to fill out survey over UL100 class January 2014 o Goal 1: Share student feedback with instruction librarians. Make improvements and adjustments as needed. o Goal 2: Share new syllabus for advanced class with Provost and faculty, according to Curriculum change request form (Appendix 2). Allow 10 days for approval. o Goal 4: Host an introduction to the library presentation for all new and returning faculty and staff. Bring them into the library, give them a tour, and show them how the library can help both them and their students.

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February 2014 o Goal 2: After a new syllabus is approved, select instructors for advanced course. o Goal 4; Speak to one of the library's student workers or GTA's about writing brief columns every month for the bulletin o Goal 4: Speak to ESU bulletin and Sunflower about getting more, and regular coverage for the library April 2014 o Goal 2: Submit new, advanced course to add to schedule for students to begin enrolling August 2014 o Goal 2: Advanced information literacy class begins September 2014 o Goal 4: Departmental Liaisons speak to faculty about developing programs and collections that will be beneficial to their classes and students. November 2014 o Goal 4: Discuss ideas from meetings with faculty about new programs. Begin brainstorming ideas. December 2014 o Goal 2: First semester of advanced information literacy course ends. Get student feedback. January 2015 o Goal 2: Make changes to advanced course as needed according to student feedback. March 2015 o Goal 4: Start the programs suggested by faculty and begin looking into resources they suggested and purchase as budget allows. April 2015 o Goal 4: Host another faculty day in the library to explain all the new programs and collections that they suggested. Get their feedback and adjust as needed.

Required Resources Money The third goal states that students will be hired through the work-study program at ESU to fill the hours vacated by taking most of the librarians off the reference desk. These students are not paid out of the librarys budget. No extra librarians will be hired, thus making no budgeting issues to manage within the scope of these goals.

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Human Resources The duties of the current reference librarians will be changed to allow for additional time needed for instruction. These hours will be filled with current students and the addition of five new student workers. Two librarians will also staff the desk during peak times, and will not have instructional duties. One of these will supervise the student workers. The committee will compile the curriculum for the information literacy classes and submit the document to the supervisor of the instructional librarians. The supervisor will either approve the curriculum or send it back to the committee for more work to be completed. If the curriculum is approved then it will be passed on to the instructional librarians. They will then create their class activities around the curriculum and write their class syllabus, which will be submitted to their supervisor for approval. The submission of the syllabus to the supervisor will only take place when a new class is offered or a new instructor is added to the faculty, although the supervisor can request a copy of the class syllabus at any time. Training The student workers who are hired for reference desk duties will complete one week of shadowing a reference librarian or the supervisor of the reference desk. During this time period the students will be given a tour of the library, along with introductions to faculty and staff members of the library. The students will be introduced to the library website and taught how to navigate the site. Also, there will be an intensive training in how to use the databases, e-journals and archives. In addition, they will be given instruction on how to handle minor computer and printer problems. Student workers will also be given a copy of the policies and procedures that have been decided upon by the committee. The students will be required to sign a form stating that they have read the policies and procedures and understand them.

Conclusion
Effectiveness and Accountability Next Steps in Advancing the WAW Strategic Plan for 2013-2015

The William Allen White Library staff and faculty will work consistently to achieve the goals of this strategic plan. This plan is comprehensive, detailing many indicators of library performance. The plan will be actively monitored, improved, and updated as needed.

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As this plan is implemented, measuring the success of our efforts will be critical. The specific work plan and student surveys will be utilized to track and measure our results. The findings will be used to plan improvements and address deficiencies within library staffing and the UL100 Information Literacy Course on an ongoing basis.

This strategic plan was created by MLS students Doris Brosz, Marcia Hannon, Elizabeth Miller, and Tiffany Newton, with the help and guidance of the Director of Instruction at WAW, Cynthia Akers.

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References
Daft, R. L. (2008). Management (8th ed.). United States: Thomson South-Western Education for Life and Work Developing Transferable Knowledge and Skills in the 21st Century (pp. 1-4). (2012). Report Brief. Washington DC: The National Research Council. Upson, M. (2012, September 26). Information Literacy for Faculty and Staff . LibGuides at Emporia State University. Retrieved October 17, 2012, from http://libguides.emporia.edu/infolitfac

*Photo courtesy of University Photography, Emporia State University

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Appendix 1 Present Organizational Structure

Library Dean

Head of Public Services -

Head of Archives

Head of Tech Services

Administrative Office

Circulation Librarians

Reference and Instruction Librarians

Archives Librarians

E Resources Librarian

Catalog Librarian

Administrative Students

Student Supervisor

Reference Students

Graduate Teaching Assistants

Archives Students

Student Workers

Circulation Students

Future Organizational Structure

Dean of the Library

Head of Public Services

Head of Archives

Head of Tech Services

Administrativ e Office

Circulation Librarians

Head of Instruction

Head of Reference

Archives Librarians

Catalog Librarian

E Resources Librarian

Student Workers

Student Supervisor

Instruction Librarians

Graduate Teaching Assistants

Reference Librarians

Archive Students

Student Workers

Student Workers

Reference Students

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Appendix 2.
Curriculum Change Review Procedures

http://www.emporia.edu/dotAsset/eb1a6f01-f62c-4a4c-b2a8-366d935bf369.pdf 4M.05 CURRICULUM REVIEW PROCEDURES The procedure for instituting curricular changes is as follows: 1. The initiator(s) of a curricular change must prepare all recommendations on the University. Curricular Change Request form that are available from the office of each school or college dean. 2. Once a proposed change has been approved at all levels and the ESU Curriculum Form has been sent to and processed by the Registrars office, the p rocess is complete. Until the process is complete, a faculty member, chair, or dean who does not concur with the proposed curricular change may submit a request to the office of the Provost to refer the curricular change request to the Curriculum Review Panel. 3. If the proposal is for a new degree, a new major, a new program, or a new sub-specialty under an existing degree, it is considered a major curricular or organizational change and must go through Level Two review (see Level Two Curriculum Review Process below). After the Level Two process has been completed on campus, the proposal must then be approved by the Kansas Board of Regents before it goes into effect. The Board requires documentation in accord with the Procedures for Approval of New Programs or Academic Units, copies of which are available from the office of the Provost. Those initiating such requests must provide the full required documentation required when they submit their request to the dean of the initiating school or college. The office of the Provost will coordinate the documentation and submission of any curricular changes requiring Kansas Board of Regents approval. It is the responsibility of the University's representative on COCAO to present the proposal to COCAO, after which it is sent to the Council of Presidents and on to the Board of Regents. All other curricular changes are handled on campus. 4. Other changes not listed above are considered course and program changes. If a proposed course change also affects a degree program, concentration, minor, or certificate program, a separate curricular change form will need to be submitted for each change (1 curricular change request form for the new course and another curricular change request form for the revised program will need to be submitted). However, these changes may be submitted at the same time. Proposed changes encompass two levels of review. Level One curriculum changes encompass any modification of a course that affects only the department where the course is housed and does not require review by the Council on Teacher Education, the General Education Council, the Graduate Council, or the Committee on Advanced Programs. These changes are minor modifications where the course description and course content (including the syllabus) remain essentially the

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same as when originally approved. These changes do not significantly alter the intent and purpose of the course and do not have implications for another department. They include the following: Changing a course number within the same level: lower division, upper division, or graduate. (Must check with Registrars office to make sure an appropriate number is selected prior to submitting the curriculum change.) Changing a course title. Changing a prerequisite that exists only within that department. (Must check with the Registrars office to make sure that the change is compliant with the course management system prior to submitting the curriculum change.) Changing the number of hours. Deleting a course. Only the course identification section (Part I) and the general statement proposal (Part II, A) on the Curricular Change Request form need to be completed. 5. All other curriculum changes belong to Level Two, including changing a course number to a different level, changing a course or degree program/concentration/minor/certificate that affects another department, adding a new course (courses that were previously taught under umbrella numbers are considered new courses), an extensive course change is being requested, or the change requires review by either the Council on Teacher Education, the General Education Council, the Graduate Council, or the Committee on Advanced Programs, then full details must be supplied on the Curricular Change Request form (Part II, B). Before any course can be required of any students, full details of the course must be provided on the Curricular Change Request form and that course must have been approved via the curriculum review process. 6. Level One Curriculum Review Process All curriculum changes are initiated at the department level (the School of Library and Information Management acts as a department for curriculum review procedures). When the department approves the curriculum proposal, it forwards the proposal to the office of the dean, which in turn directs the proposal through the respective colleges or schools internal approval process. If the proposal is approved by the school/college and dean, it will be electronically distributed by the office of the Provost to all deans and department chairs for a review period of 10 working days. The academic deans and department chairs are expected to inform faculty of the proposed curricular changes. If the office of the Provost receives no written objections to the proposal during the 10 working day review period, the proposal is considered approved. The office of the Provost informs the Registrars office and the originating dean of the approval. The department completes the ESU Curriculum Form and returns it to the Registrars office. This form must be received and processed by the Registrars office before changes can be implemented.

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If the office of the Provost receives written objections to the proposal(s) during the 10 day working day review period, the office of the Provost forwards objections to the originating academic unit and the respective dean. Objections are resolved by consensus among the interested parties. Objections that cannot be resolved by consensus are submitted by the office of the Provost to the Curriculum Review Panel for resolution (see #9). 7. Level Two Curriculum Review Process All curriculum changes are initiated at the department level (the School of Library and Information Management acts as a department for curriculum review procedures). When the department approves the curriculum proposal, it forwards the proposal to the office of the dean, which in turn directs the proposal through the respective colleges or schools internal review process. If 2 or more schools or colleges are involved with initiating the proposed change, then the proposal must be submitted to all deans of the units involved for review by the college/schools curricular review process. For a Level Two proposal, the office of the dean also forwards the proposal to the applicable review body(ies) (e.g., the General Education Council, Graduate Council, Council on Teacher Education, Committee on Advanced Programs) to initiate its review. If the proposal is approved by the school/college, respective dean, and all additional review committees or councils, it will then be electronically distributed by the office of the Provost to all deans and department chairs for a review period of 10 working days. The academic deans and department chairs are expected to inform faculty of the proposed curricular changes. If the office of the Provost receives no written objections to the proposal during the 10 working day review period, the proposal is considered approved. The office of the Provost informs the Registrars office and the originating dean of the approval. The department completes the ESU Curriculum Form and returns it to the Registrars office. This form must be received and processed by the Registrars office before changes can be implemented. If the office of the Provost receives written objections to the proposal(s) during the 10 day working day review period, the office of the Provost forwards objections to the originating academic unit and the respective dean. Objections are resolved by consensus among the interested parties. Objections that cannot be resolved by consensus are submitted by the office of the Provost to the Curriculum Review Panel for resolution (see #9). 8. If a department has final approval to change a course that is required in the program(s) of another department and the second department is substituting the new course for the old course, the second department can submit one curriculum change request that covers all affected programs within that department and that change would be considered a Level One change. 9. If objections cannot be resolved by the two parties, the office of the Provost, the chair, and members of the Curriculum Review Panel will be notified. In addition, the dean(s)

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and chair(s) of the initiating unit, as well as, the initiator(s) will be notified. The chair of the Curriculum Review Panel shall contact the initiator(s) of the curricular change and the group(s) objecting to the change. The chair shall engage all groups involved to attempt to resolve the issue. The Curriculum Review Panel will serve as mediator in the matter. 10. If a resolution is not possible, the matter along with the recommendation from the Curriculum Review Panel will be sent back to the office of the Provost. The President or a designee in the office of the Provost becomes the final authority on the matter.

Deadlines: In order for courses to be listed in the printed class schedule, proposals must be approved and submitted to the office of the provost by April 1 for the change to be effective in the academic year that starts the following July 1.

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