PALCI Strategic Outline

Mission, Vision, & Values

Vision: PALCI is the trusted and preferred partnership for academic library collaboration and innovation.

Mission: PALCI enables cost-effective and sustainable access to information resources and services for academic libraries in Pennsylvania and surrounding states.

Values: PALCI operates on mutual trust. It is PALCI’s responsibility to continuously earn and renew that trust by consistently demonstrating operational excellence, transparency, innovation, and respect for diversity and privacy.

Strategic Outline

*Note: The outline below was developed by PALCI staff to guide operations based on the direction set by the board to guide our work. It has not been approved by the PALCI Board.

Key Focus Areas

PALCI Staff focus their efforts in the four key areas outlined below in support of the organization’s mission, vision, and values.

1) RESOURCE SHARING

2) ACQUIRING COLLECTIONS TOGETHER

3) SUPPORTING INNOVATION

4) COLLABORATION INFRASTRUCTURE

Organizational Strategies

1) Achieve impact through relevance and scale.

2) Prioritize inclusivity by honoring diversity.

3) Enhance community and build partnerships.

4) Strengthen our influence and agency to improve the outlook of the library landscape.

Strategic Directions

1) ENHANCE RESOURCE SHARING PROGRAMS & SERVICES – Enhance our members’ ability to effectively and efficiently share and manage collections in a variety of formats to increase access, save space, reduce costs, and leverage collective resources.

2) ACQUIRE COLLECTIONS TOGETHER – Develop shared prospective collections that increase access to information resources, reduce individual expenditures, and leverage our members’ collective influence, budgets, and scale.

3) DRIVE STRATEGIC INNOVATION – Develop key innovations that respond to transformations taking place in higher education and related industries, advance members’ institutional missions, enhance our ability to collaborate, and enable cost-effective and sustainable access to information resources and services.

4) STRENGTHEN PALCI’s COLLABORATION INFRASTRUCTURE – Develop and enhance PALCI’s shared infrastructure (business models, tools, systems, people, expertise, community) to support effective communication and collaboration. This objective includes implementation and support of PALCI’s newly approved Mission, Vision, and Values Statement.

5) IMPROVE PALCI’s FINANCIAL POSITION – Enhance PALCI’s ability to collaborate by strategically growing membership, diversifying revenue, and developing service models that will build organizational net assets in support of future collaboration opportunities.

6) DEMONSTRATE THE VALUE OF PALCI PROGRAMS & SERVICES – Develop measures and provide annual value reports to communicate the value of PALCI collaboration to all PALCI partners and stakeholders.

7) INCUBATE IDEAS THROUGH COMMUNITY – Position PALCI as a leader in supporting the missions of PALCI libraries and their parent institutions by incubating ideas and investing in developing community collaborations among member libraries, university administrations, state Departments of Education, and faculty, students and staff.