Library and Cultural Services is a key enabler of the University’s mission of excellence in transformative education and research. We will work in partnership across the wider University community, enabling and empowering all students, researchers and academic staff to discover, critically engage with, and to create, cutting-edge knowledge and research, culture, and the arts. Student and researcher success will be central to everything we do, as well as the development of an inclusive and engaged University community, and the standing and continued growth of the University.
Our libraries, theatre, arts venues, and digital spaces, will be vibrant, welcoming and inclusive places where students and researchers feel a sense of belonging to the University community. These spaces will be recognised as locations where transformation happens and where students come to: be inspired, discover, and to create; develop their skills and master collaborative and independent study; engage with scholarship and produce research; and exhibit, perform, publish and showcase their work. Through these mechanisms we will enable students and researchers to be knowledgeable, confident, and empowered individuals, who are communicating their work to a global audience.
Knowledge and cultural collections and learning content will be utilised as education and research assets across the University, contributing to the development of both a research-led education and the development of the open research environment. This will be underpinned by digital skills development support and platforms for content curation, research visibility and publishing. Our spaces on every campus will be platforms for these objectives and the remodelled Albert Sloman Library will be the physical centre-piece of the vision, containing a modern and engaging research library and cultural centre for the University.
Library and Cultural Services will deliver outstanding services and be sector leading, with services, facilities, collections and staff that make positive impacts upon student satisfaction, achievement and outcomes, and enable access and participation through community building. Our impactful services and the environments we create will make a significant contribution to the University’s successful outcomes in both TEF and REF assessments. We will be recognised as one of the leading research libraries and university arts services in the UK, with an international network and audience, fit for a Top 25 UK University and a Top 200 World University.
To deliver this vision, we will base our work around 5 strategic pillars:
