At a time when information and communications technologies are transforming the world in general, and higher education in particular, Lehigh University has demonstrated its ability to be a significant innovator in the use of these technologies to achieve greater effectiveness in instruction, research, community building, outreach, and organizational management. Lehigh’s technology environment provides a rich array of communication channels and tools for developing and communicating the institution's unique culture and style. As a leading research university, we will continue to be challenged in the future to invest aggressively in technology and information infrastructure, and to be state-of-the-art in the areas of networking, instructional support, information access and library service, and research computing.
This plan, a broad roadmap for the future direction of Library and Technology Services (LTS), describes how we intend to meet these challenges. It will be augmented at the project level with assessments and metrics to measure success. It is based on the Strategic Plan of 2002-2005, on the achievements and experience that grew out of our efforts to turn that plan into reality, on continuing communication with individuals and groups within the Lehigh community, and on benchmarking with external communities. Those groups that provide LTS with advice directly are particularly helpful in this respect. We acknowledge them with our thanks. We will intensify our efforts to support academic quality and enable the university to derive maximum benefit from its technology and information investments.
Several guiding principles should be noted. The Lehigh University Diversity Initiative seeks to “coordinate institutional priorities to support our diversity goals, including strategic planning, leadership recruitment, and accountability.” In keeping with this goal and the Initiative’s mission, each Library and Technology Services strategy in this Plan should be understood to include a diversity component wherever relevant. Thus we will actively promote an inclusive community that values, affirms, and advances the diverse backgrounds, interests, experiences, and aspirations of all its members.
Closely related to the Diversity Initiative is Lehigh University’s pursuit of global learning. This is a second guiding principle in the LTS Strategic Plan. Whether it’s expanding scientific collaboration across the world via Internet2 or supporting the library research of Lehigh students who are studying abroad, or a myriad of other learning needs, we seek to have a global perspective.
Photos on this Website by Mary Liz Colley and Steve Lichak
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