On February 4, 2014, President David Rudd issued invitations to members of the Redefining the University Library Committee, with the charge:

“Today’s University Libraries must face a rapidly evolving landscape from the changes surrounding information and technology that have occurred over recent decades. Managing the migration to digital information systems raises numerous challenges, and considerations requiring the collected wisdom of various constituents. The library’s traditional role as a repository for physical books and periodicals is changing, with important implications for space utilization, resource acquisition, and deployment of staffing.”

The purpose of the Redefining the University Library Committee was to propose a plan for how the University Library will flourish on that new landscape, and how to best position future directions for the programs, services and physical configuration of the University libraries. The committee’s recommendations for the library of the 21st century has considered best practices for serving the University community and for meeting both ideal configuration and realistic support models.

The committee’s substantive and visionary recommendations may be seen here in the final report presented to the President on May 30, 2014.

As chair of the committee, I would like to thank all of the committee members for their diligence, research, and thoughtfulness in the preparation of this report.  The members included: