Shields Library is closed through January 1. Requests for books, digitization services, and interlibrary loan will be fulfilled after the new year.
Strategic Plan 2022-2027
Overview
The UC Davis Library identified diversity, equity and inclusion as the key guiding principles in our strategic plan. These principles are embedded in each of the five priorities that will guide our work over the coming years.
The plan emerged from a four-phase strategic planning process during 2021, which included several opportunities for input, review and comment by the campus community, and was informed by the strategic framework that guided our work from 2013-2021.
Our Guiding Principles
Activate diversity, equity and inclusion as the cornerstone of library operations and culture.
Priority 1
Create welcoming physical and virtual spaces for our increasingly diverse campus community.
Priority 2
Empower diverse campus communities to succeed via education, public engagement, and community partnerships.
Priority 3
Advance our role as a catalyst for research, collaboration, and equitable access to knowledge.
Priority 4
Ensure that our collections embrace equity, reflect diverse populations and adapt to meet clinical care, research and educational needs.
Priority 5
Spark an organizational culture rooted in empathy and transparency to enable an atmosphere of well-being and growth.
Our Guiding Principles
Activate diversity, equity and inclusion as the cornerstone of library operations and culture
The library will develop and implement a formal Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) program with priorities, goals, and objectives that cut across all library operations, including human resources, library management, collections, research, learning, and teaching support, and other services to our communities of students, researchers (both faculty and staff), and health professionals, as well as our support of California agriculture. We will develop assessment methodologies that allow us to measure, track and continually refine our efforts. We will support innovative approaches and pilot projects to shape a DEI-centered culture and transform the library into an engine for diversity, equity and inclusion on campus.
We strive for:
- Diversity in our collections and workforce;
- Equity in our services and programs;
- Inclusion in our spaces and planning.
We understand diversity to mean all of the identities, cultures, and experiences that comprise our communities. We are committed to building an environment that recognizes, respects and embraces the backgrounds, ideas and perspectives of our community. We affirm the UC Davis Principles of Community, and we “confront and reject all manifestations of discrimination, including those based on race, national origin (including caste or perceived caste), ethnicity, gender and gender expression, gender identity, gender transition status, age, visible and non-visible disability, sexual orientation, citizenship status, veteran status, religious/non-religious, spiritual, or political beliefs, socio-economic class, status within or outside the university, or any of the other differences among people which have been excuses for misunderstanding, dissension or hatred.”
We understand equity to mean that we have a commitment and an obligation to promote fairness, balance and justice. We acknowledge the existence of societal barriers and that individuals in our communities experience and have experienced challenges accessing opportunities and resources. We stand committed to understanding the impact of structural and societal inequalities, and our role as the UC Davis Library is to provide our diverse communities a foundation and platform to thrive. Our plan reflects the necessity of all people taking personal responsibility for dismantling racism and systemic inequality, not placing the burden of that work on our colleagues who have been historically and structurally marginalized.
We understand inclusion as a moral commitment and responsibility to create an environment where all individuals are treated respectfully and fairly. We stand committed to implementing actions that promote a culture that ensures equal access to opportunities and resources, and provides space and support for all individuals to participate fully.
Structural racism is an enduring problem. There is no finish line. There is no singular answer that will end racism. Our effort towards organizational change focuses on a process that institutes intentional and perpetual conversations about racism into the organizational culture.
— Being with Anti-Racism Organizational Change Efforts: Using a Process-Oriented Approach to Facilitate Transformation.