Weekly Review

UK LIBRARIES NATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD:

Members of the UK Libraries National Advisory Board also receive the Weekly Review and I want to take this opportunity to thank them for their support. During the past year the Board has completed a new constitution and by-laws that will make it an even stronger organization and help increase Board members’ involvement with the success of UK Libraries.

The UK Libraries Annual Dinner will be held this April and the Medallion for Intellectual Achievement will be awarded. More details about the dinner and the spring Board meeting will be coming early in the new year.

I know all UK Libraries faculty and staff join me in thanking each Board member for their support of UK Libraries.


STRATEGIC PLANNING:

UK Libraries has a very well developed strategic plan that guides our planning and initiatives. With the plan in place, it is necessary for everyone to review our work and how we deploy our resources to assure that we are allocating our resources in support of the plan. To be sure, a large percentage of the plan deals with “tending to basics” which provide the services that our students, faculty, staff, and researchers need daily. But even in this critical area, it is important to continually reassess how we provide these services and, in fact, determine if they are still necessary. It is also essential that we make needed changes to put adequate resources towards our strategic initiatives.

To achieve these goals we need everyone’s help and input. Please review our strategic plan and consider ways that we can accomplish our goals in a way that provides better service and supports our strategic initiatives while creating cost savings. I encourage you to share your thoughts and ideas with your colleagues, department heads, and AD’s.

During December I am meeting with each AD to review division goals and how resources, including personnel, are being allocated to meet basic services and strategic goals. Early in the spring semester I will discuss the review with both faculty and staff. These discussions will help inform planning for the spring budget hearing with the Provost and how we will deal with possible further cuts in our budget.

We have made important progress the past six months and I thank each of you for the important role you play in our success.

I hope you will enjoy the extra days off this year with family and friends during the winter break and I look forward to working with you next semester to continue moving UK Libraries forward.


Weekly LibGuide Feature:

This week’s guide was developed by Jen Bartlett and Debbie Sharp for English 772: Seminar in Renaissance Studies. This guide incorporates a beautiful graphic on main page and includes primary sources, books from the catalog (with book covers), and a search widget for Reference Universe. You can find this great guide at http://libguides.uky.edu/ENG722


Thanks to Beth Kraemer and Sue Smith for their contributions to the Weekly Review.


Terry Birdwhistell
Dean of Libraries