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Staff & Administration • Mark Haslett

Celebrating Collaboration and Leadership

The Library's Role in Waterloo's Information Infrastructure

Notes for November 19, 2007 Senate Presentation

In this year’s update to Senate, I will highlight the key role that the Library plays in the research infrastructure here at Waterloo.

Before I do this, I’d first like to mention the Library’s success in completing the Kresge Challenge. Thanks to the support of students, parents, alumni, faculty, retirees, and corporate partnerships, the Library has raised $2.8 million in under 24 months. As result, we have been awarded a $600,000 US grant from the Kresge Foundation – the largest grant Kresge has ever awarded to a Canadian academic library.

Through initiatives such as the Kresge Campaign the Library strives to be a strong and vital part of Waterloo’s research infrastructure.

In supporting research, our goal is simple: to connect researchers to content. The Library accomplishes this goal in several ways:

Developing Key Partnerships and Celebrating Leadership

In a recent speech David Johnston noted the importance of "working collaboratively to accomplish what an individual cannot; in coming together as a community, with each doing his or her part."

The Library, as noted in Waterloo's Sixth Decade Plan, strives to “foster and [be a] model [of] collaboration, connectedness, and partnerships.”

One partnership having a profound impact on our ability to connect researchers to content is our involvement in the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN). As one of 67 university members of this consortium, we are providing Waterloo researchers with access to:

Other examples of effective partnerships are the corporate connections we have recently established:

The staff team which lead the RFID security project recently won a Special Staff Recognition Team Award in the categories of Fostering Innovation, Major Efficiency Improvement, and Achievement of a Major Project or Milestone.

Staff Excellence and Leadership

The Library is able to connect researchers to content and provide an effective advisory role in Waterloo’s research infrastructure through the excellence of our staff.

A good example of how UW staff have accomplished this is the eTheses initiative. I am pleased to note that for their leadership in this area, Library staff together with staff in IST and the Grad Studies office involved have also been recently recognized with a Special Staff Recognition Team Award.

Library staff also exhibit excellence through original research that they conduct. Recently one of our librarians, Christy Sich, has embarked on a research project to study how video games can be used to teach students information literacy skills. Her research will benefit not only the research community, but will also directly improve the way we design and deliver our services to students on campus.

Looking ahead

The Library will continue to draw on feedback from researchers and others to inform changes in our research resources and services.

Finally, we will continue to collaborate effectively – to do together what we cannot do individually. The Library is engaged in collaborations on provincial, national and indeed on an international & global levels. We collaborate through partnerships such as ARL, CRKN, and OCUL Scholarships.

Through support of the development of a Canadian Digital Information Strategy, we will foster and support digitization efforts on a national scale through joint initiatives (such as Alouette Canada and the Canada Project.)

Finally, through CARL, the Canadian Association of Research Libraries, I am pleased to tell you that CARL was recognized in the House of Commons last Friday when my counterpart at the University of Ottawa was introduced as the new President of CARL. The MP who made the remarks finished them by noting: "long live the Canadian Association of Research Libraries."

I finish today by simply saying: Long live a strong & healthy higher education research environment. Long live collaborations and the infrastructure which support and foster such research. And long live Waterloo’s active and collaborative leadership in such endeavors.


Secretary to the University Librarian
Last Updated: January 22, 2008