Mission & Vision
The Baylor Libraries lead as an innovative research library that undergirds scholarship, fosters teaching, and learning, and builds communities.
We will accomplish the mission by:
- Partnering with researchers to create innovative solutions that enhance research and teaching.
- Combining expertise and resources within dynamic spaces to produce collaborations that create new knowledge.
- Providing digital, print, archival, human, and other resources that empower research and teaching.
- Developing partnerships that establish learning communities.
Baylor in Deeds Strategic Plan Alignment
In August 2024, Baylor University unveiled its new strategic plan, Baylor in Deeds. Throughout the fall term, the Libraries collaborated across the organization to adapt its existing five-year plan to the commitments as defined by the imperatives and pillars of the university's new strategic plan. The result of these deliberations follows and will guide the Libraries for the next five years.
I. Equipping Students to Flourish
- Enhance the quality and quantity of our engaged learning experiences in support of a wide range of literacies, learning objectives, and critical thinking skills.
- Optimize course production strategies to improve the course design process.
- Increase the quantity and continue evolving our approach to course integrated instruction provided by our librarians, special collections, the Experiential Learning Commons team, and the Book Arts & Letterpress Lab.
- Expand the integration of literacy frameworks (information, data, AI, media, making, etc.) into curricular instruction and workshops across the range of literacies.
- Expand the number of Open Educational Resources created by faculty and staff through the Affordable Course Materials Fellowship program to reduce the cost of course materials and extend Baylor’s reputation through the OER Commons.
- Explore additional forms of undergraduate and graduate student employment that provide opportunities for extracurricular development while enhancing library operations.
II. Broadening Interdisciplinary Research and Impact
- Grow the Black Gospel Archive and increase engagement in the Baylor community and beyond while enhancing online accessibility for researchers.
- Highlight the Libraries’ existing Latin American collections and broaden our capacity to support research in and on Latin America through targeted acquisitions, developing specialized expertise, improving access, strategic exploration, and assessment.
- Collaborate with Global Engagement to provide programs and services in support of Pro Mundo.
- Increase cross-departmental collaboration by leveraging the Libraries’ position as an interdisciplinary hub.
III. Building a Vibrant, Caring, Global Community
- Create opportunities for intercultural learning and holistic wellbeing through events, exhibits, and other programming that engages with relevant academic topics, supports diverse communities, and promotes a sense of belonging.
- Extend access to select online resources to Baylor Alumni to support lifelong learning.
- Enrich community partnerships to raise awareness of resources available to the local community.
IV. Demonstrating Christian Stewardship
Resources
- Implement a Dynamic Collection Management Strategy:
- Conduct regular reviews of the print collection to ensure the retention of materials that support research and historically important subject print collections
- Expand digital access to support existing and future online graduate programs.
- Lead an initiative to preserve born-digital archives as stewards of the university’s history through the University Archives, Riley Digitization Center, Institute for Oral History, and the Library Systems team to ensure the preservation of Baylor’s digital artifacts and documents with enduring historical value.
Spaces
- Develop new and renovate existing learning spaces in Moody and Jones Libraries that support student engagement, intercultural understanding, and diverse learning styles and accommodate individual and group study, providing spaces for at least 15% of the student population.
- Collaborate with campus stakeholders to develop and deploy technologies that support dynamic teaching and adaptable layouts in classrooms and other spaces across campus.
V. Incorporating AI into Campus Infrastructure
- Deploy AI-enabled features on existing, licensed or managed platforms.
- Explore and adopt emergent AI tools that improve library operations and access as well as enhance research, teaching, and learning.
- Attain expertise in AI-based technologies and train the Baylor community to engage with them critically, ethically, and effectively.
Year One and Two Initiatives
The following initiatives will guide the Libraries as they fulfill the Baylor in Deeds Strategic plan. These initiatives may be revised based on the initiatives of other university department and unanticipated changes.
I. Equipping Students to Flourish
Enhance the quality and quantity of our engaged learning experiences in support of a wide range of literacies, learning objectives, and critical thinking skills.
Explore the potential role of a new position, Student Success Librarian, which is utilized at many other institutions. This position would focus on student success initiatives in the Libraries and collaborate with the Student Success Center.
Optimize course production strategies to improve the course design process.
Hire Video Production Manager (search underway) to provide creative and operational direction for video production services.
Hire Studio Coordinator (search underway) to coordinator technical and facilities operations for studio spaces.
Expand Asana (project management tool) so that faculty can utilize project management software during course design process.
Increase the quantity and continue evolving our approach to course integrated instruction provided by our librarians, special collections, the Experiential Learning Commons team, and the Book Arts & Letterpress Lab.
Units will address how they are going to increase the number of sessions, assess their approach to instruction, and stay abreast of innovative approaches to instruction.
Expand the integration of literacy frameworks (information, data, AI, media, making, etc.) into curricular instruction and workshops across the range of literacies.
Sponsor four workshops over the next two years that feature invited creative academics/professionals interacting with faculty and students around innovation and creative literacies using existing operating funds.
Expand the number of Open Educational Resources created by faculty and staff through the Affordable Course Materials Fellowship program to reduce the cost of course materials and extend Baylor’s reputation through the OER Commons.
Continue the Summer Faculty Affordable Course Materials Program for the next 3 summers, then evaluate the need for continuance.
A&S has agreed to provide 50% of funding towards the budget for the next 3 summers. The libraries, in partnership with Development, will work to secure the remainder.
Explore additional forms of undergraduate and graduate student employment that provide opportunities for extracurricular development while enhancing library operations.
By Summer 2025, units will assess current student employment positions and think creatively about additional positions that will develop student aptitudes and support the Libraries.
Based on those requests, the Business Officer and Dean will set the student budget so that the Libraries leverage Work Study subsidies.
II. Broadening Interdisciplinary Research and Impact
Grow the Black Gospel Archive and increase engagement in the Baylor community and beyond while enhancing online accessibility for researchers.
Utilize the $2.48 million Lilly Foundation grant to support this initiative over the next 4 years.
Plan and execute an expansion by 2.5x of the Black Gospel Archive and Listening Center for 800K by the end of FY26.
Hire 4 staff defined by and paid for the by grant for 4 years.
Have a concert in Waco this calendar year and Chicago in 2026 supported by the grant.
Highlight the Libraries’ existing Latin American collections and broaden our capacity to support research in and on Latin America through targeted acquisitions, developing specialized expertise, improving access, strategic exploration, and assessment.
Create an interdisciplinary library faculty team to collaborate on building an inventory of existing library resources for Latin American Studies by the end of FY 25/26.
By the end of FY 25/26, liaisons will work with departments and individual faculty to identify needed resources to empower research on Latin America.
Director of Collection Development and Delivery Services will work with Collection Development Committee to prioritize needed acquisitions identified beginning in FY26/27.
Investigate the feasibility and potential benefits of creating a dedicated Latin American Studies Librarian position.
Collaborate with Global Engagement to provide programs and services in support of Pro Mundo.
Research and Engagement will take the lead in initiating possible collaboration with Global Engagement on these programs and services.
Provide ongoing international research opportunities and programming through the Keston Center for Religion, Politics, and Society, and Armstrong Browning Library & Museum.
Increase cross-departmental collaboration by leveraging the Libraries’ position as an interdisciplinary hub.
Coordinate with departments to explore possibilities for centralizing creative resources, technology, equipment, and services that can be shared with the campus community through the Libraries.
Work with campus stakeholders to offer programming that focuses on cross-departmental collaboration.
III. Building a Vibrant, Caring, Global Community
Create opportunities for intercultural learning and holistic wellbeing through events, exhibits, and other programming that engages with relevant academic topics, supports diverse communities, and promotes a sense of belonging.
Extend access to select online resources to Baylor Alumni to support lifelong learning.
Work with ITS to establish authentication for alumni.
ITS has asked to work out data governance first to have an authoritative database of alumni – currently at least three exist. They indicate this will take two years. After this, then they will explore how best to deal with authentication.
Explore implementating OpenAthens to replace EZRProxy and facilitate this authentication process.
After authentication for alumni is established, add alumni access to EBSCO’s Academic Search Alumni Edition and Business Source Alumni Edition as well as added alumni access to JSTOR.
Collaborate with Development to help fund these and additional resources for alumni.
Currently licensed resources for remote access include Adam Matthew Digital Collections, Project Muse, and Sage, which provide access to well over 100,000 journals, books, and primary resources.
Enrich community partnerships to raise awareness of resources available to the local community.
Expand partnerships with the Waco-McLennan County Public Library, including loaning materials for local historical exhibits.
IV. Demonstrating Christian Stewardship
Resources
Implement a Dynamic Collection Management Strategy:
Conduct regular reviews of the print collection to ensure the retention of materials that support research and historically important subject print collections
Continue the deselection processes currently identified and/or in process (2nd floor Moody periodicals; O’Grady; Jones 1st floor reference collection; dissertations & theses (digitize and discard).
Expand digital access to support existing and future online graduate programs.
Continue to focus on an e-only acquisitions preference when acquiring library materials, especially for journals and resources in the social sciences, sciences, and technology.
Lead an initiative to preserve born-digital archives as stewards of the university’s history through the University Archives, Riley Digitization Center, Institute for Oral History, and the Library Systems team to ensure the preservation of Baylor’s digital artifacts and documents with enduring historical value.
Hire a Digital Archivist (search for this position is currently active) by summer 2025.
Charge a task force (that includes the University Archivist, the Digital Archivist, and the Systems Librarian) with identifying a potential digital preservation system or platform for managing electronic university records of enduring historical value and providing a guidance document on types of materials that are considered active university records versus those that will have enduring historical value.
There will be a significant cost for a digital preservation system
Spaces
Develop new and renovate existing learning spaces in Moody and Jones Libraries that support student engagement, intercultural understanding, and diverse learning styles and accommodate individual and group study, providing spaces for at least 15% of the student population.
Finish deselecting Government Documents on the 1st floor of Jones by May 2025.
Move the Children’s Collection from the Garden level to the 1st floor of Jones in a selection shelving left behind by the Government Documents by June of 2025.
Create a Group Learning Commons on the Garden Level using the existing open space and space gained by moving the Children's Collection.
New carpet and paint of Garden Level summer of 2025 for $100,000 using Endowment Income
Deploy banks of Group Study Carrels in the area for a total of $750,000 in phases as funds are available starting in summer of 2025. $500,000 in funding has been identified including a recent grant from the Schumacher Foundation.
Project will add seating for at least an additional 60 people on the Garden Level
Remove the Reference Collection on the 1st floor of Jones by May of 2027.
Engage Space Planning and Interior Design to begin re-imagining space usage on the 1st floor of Jones. Complete redesign will cost ~$1.3 million.
Collaborate with campus stakeholders to develop and deploy technologies that support dynamic teaching and adaptable layouts in classrooms and other spaces across campus.
Launch in-house AV installation service to minimize use of contract AV installers, including establishing chargeback model for installations to help fund staffing and equipment needed to launch and scale installation services for campus.
Determine the most appropriate source of funding: Savings from the Classroom Technology Fund, salary savings, and/or have chargebacks tracked to partially fund the position.
V. Incorporating AI into Campus Infrastructure
Deploy AI-enabled features on existing, licensed or managed platforms.
Deploy Scopus AI in January 2025.
Collaborate with ATL to evaluate Paper to Digital by Turn-It-In during the Spring 2025 Semester. If recommended, additional funds would need to come from Central Budget Office.
Any new requests to add AI features will require additional funding from Central Budgeting or support from academic departments. There are no funds available for the additions as the contract budgets are fully committed to existing core products.
Explore and adopt emergent AI tools that improve library operations and access as well as enhance research, teaching, and learning.
Work with the AI Committee, the Provost Office, and Central Budgeting to implement localized AI capabilities with support in place for any deployment of software, and hardware.
New funding of $100K would be needed to launch any added technology and support. This includes $30K/year for graduate students to provide training and support.
Attain expertise in AI-based technologies and train the Baylor community to engage with them critically, ethically, and effectively.
Empower liaisons to invest time to learn AI tools and platforms and integrate these newly obtained skills in instruction.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Our approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is illuminated by Baylor's "Christian commitment to a caring community" and "understanding the complex diversity of God's creation"; the Christian tradition of social justice; and libraries — all of which are marked by human experiences.
The Baylor University Libraries commit to increase diversity and recognize, value, respect, and empower all members of our community. We actively challenge and respond to bias, harassment, and discrimination. We commit to a policy of equal opportunity to resources, services, and spaces for all persons. The library is a place where differences are welcomed, people are nurtured, all perspectives are heard, and every individual feels a sense of belonging.
Cultural environments evolve and our commitment is both an imperative and a shared responsibility. Such work is continuous and contributes to the flourishing of our communities.