Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Releases 2021-2022 Action Plan

Highlights from/links to two new ARL blog posts below.

From ARL Blog Post (and Video) by John Culshaw, ARL resident 2020–2021 and Jack B. King University Librarian at The University of Iowa:

Over the last seven months, ARL has intentionally and strategically crafted an Action Plan that will guide us in supporting our members over the next two years. Above all, this plan will assist the Association in supporting research libraries toward meeting the current, future, and fluctuating needs of the research and learning community. In spite of uncertainties and a different future, we know research library leaders are dedicated to advancing and exploring new pathways. ARL is here to help.

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Through the five objectives outlined in ARL’s new Action Plan, we will further and strengthen the work and understanding of research libraries and implement impactful change in the research enterprise and overall society.

These five objectives build on ARL’s existing strengths.

We will:

1. Advocate and advance law and policy for balanced copyright
2. Enhance partnerships toward open science
3. Advance sustainable and systemic change particularly as it relates to racism and social justice
4. Implement a research agenda addressing impact and outcomes
5. Implement a strategy for leadership and organizational development for library deans, directors, and staff in our member libraries and beyond

Learn More, Read the Complete Post

From the Blog Post “Why this Plan Now” by Mary Lee Kennedy, ARL Executive Director:

Our societies are experiencing seismic shifts in public health, higher education, the economy, and our systems of social justice. Our physical and virtual routines are upended and uncertain as the entire world shares a pandemic that will redefine our ways of life. What once seemed to be long-shot advancements in open science now seem possible, and yet remain challenged by fluctuating confidence in any sense of economic certainty, let alone the nature of higher education. And the too long and constantly present inequities are undeniably now our responsibility to address. In this very complex context, research libraries stand out as valued and trusted institutions. These seismic shifts and our responses to date provide the opportunity for research libraries to be even more vocal about their role in scholarship, and beyond.

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) 2021–2022 Action Plan focuses on accelerating our long-term priorities in alignment with our values, represented by a selective set of initiatives intended to inform, shape, and influence research and learning under current and dynamic conditions. The plan reflects an assessment of the existing and emerging research-information challenges and opportunities for scholars and scholarship, committing the Association to further understanding and advancing systemic change at the intersection of public policy, and institutional policy and practices. The plan builds on our past with an eye on the future in the context of this historical moment.

Much More in the Complete Post

Direct to the Complete Action 2021-2022 Action Plan

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