Thriving Digital Library Strategy 2022-2024 Review

Explore our Thriving Digital Library Strategy 2022-2024, its vision, purpose and outcomes achieved.

Our vision, purpose and culture

See our achievements 2022-2024

The ambitious vision executed over the span of the Future-Ready Library Strategy 2018-2021 has positioned the UOW Library for its next wave of development. Over the next three years, aspirations will be centred on what it means to be a thriving digital-first Library.

The Thriving Digital Library Strategy will be balanced with a focus on consolidation and optimisation of the refreshed digital environment and targeted innovation aligned with UOW's institutional strategy.

We will leverage the skills, knowledge and experience gained through working and learning in the maturing digital environment to enhance the design and delivery of services. We will strive to optimise the new tools, resources and analytics to create value for Library users in their quest for information and knowledge for learning, research and scholarship.

Our commitment to the success of staff and students of UOW is a hallmark of our culture – we really care about Library users and strive to understand their needs and expectations. Inclusion and equity initiatives, especially in the context of the digital environment, will drive our priorities and projects.

We will strengthen partnerships with our user communities for the development of increasingly open, personalised and human-centred services. We will draw upon our awareness, experience and learnings from the Jindaola program to build welcoming, inclusive and culturally safe (digital and physical) spaces. We will foster knowledge integrity through protocols for Aboriginal ways of knowing through services and collections underscored by the principles of respect, responsibility and reciprocity.

Over the past four years we have changed. We have transformed the digital environment and our ways of working in new environments. The user-experience informs and guides the development of services and experiences. We have fostered awareness and understanding of equity and diversity issues, challenges and opportunities. We are better at collaboration and partnerships. We have looked out for each other and celebrated progress, achievements and milestones.

This is a time for a refreshed vision, purpose and culture reflective of our learnings, experience and maturity – creating a new context for the Thriving Digital Library.

Margie Jantti
Director Library Services
University of Wollongong

Our vision

Our unifying aspiration

Advancing truth, integrity and trust through open, equitable, accessible pathways to information and knowledge and lifelong learning initiatives.

Our purpose

We are essential for the accessibility, dissemination, use, creative engagement and management of information aligned to the UOW mission and purpose.

We are a Digital-First Library. We strive to lead and advance open, equitable and inclusive digital access models for information and knowledge for a University that is highly networked and global in its outlook.

We do this by:

• Fostering open, equitable, accessible models to information and knowledge services and resources; prioritising digital access to content and services.
• Engaging and partnering with students and staff to identify collaborative solutions to user needs and expectations.
• Being welcoming, inclusive and culturally safe in all Library spaces (physical and digital).
• Promoting knowledge integrity through protocols and Aboriginal ways of knowing for the organisation and description of collections.
• Facilitating development of contemporary and emerging literacies.
• Working with our community to understand how these literacies impact their use of scholarly, media, government, and other types of information in their daily lives.
• Advancing research initiatives through knowledge-based services, infrastructure, networks, standards, and best practices that enable digital and open access to scholarship and research now and for future generations.
• Investing in our people: who are recognised as respected knowledge workers and are forward looking, curious and constantly learning and growing.

Our culture

The shared expectations, attitudes and values for our ways of working.

• We are human-centred in our ways of working:
  • where diversity and inclusivity are respected
  • where people are safe to be authentic
  • where inquiry and curiosity are valued
• Our work is purposeful and user-centred:
  • We seek to understand needs and expectations to shape solutions
• We collaborate with students, staff and communities on UOW priorities and challenges
• We are agile in anticipating the future and invested in developing our capabilities for performance and value
• We share governance and accountability for the performance of the Library across our portfolios and teams.
• We foster the development of attitudes and capabilities of all staff through our Thriving Library Capabilities Framework.

We continue to be recognised in a growing list of Welcome Here locations across UOW sites that are visibly welcoming and inclusive of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) communities. An All Gender facility has been established in the staff space.

First Nations’ healing, recognition and truth-telling

• Recruited to the inaugural Library Indigenous Projects Lead in Q3, 2024 – a limited term two-year appointment to develop and implement a Library Action Plan in response to the UOW Healing and Recognition Track (HART).  
• Partnered with Indigenous academics from the School of Health and Society (HAS) to secure the 2024 Informit Publishing’s First Peoples' Lens Cultural Grant. The grant is being used to develop an Indigenous-led curated database of Indigenous knowledge resources for inclusion in curriculums, with the Library facilitating promotion, discovery and access. 
• Completed description reparation of over 2,400 print item records discoverable via Library Search, which now apply AIATSIS thesaurus terms as content descriptors. These records also include an elevated Cultural Warning statement to warn of biased and harmful language.
• A project has commenced to label identified print items with an Aboriginal flag sticker to aid the discovery of titles by Aboriginal authors or about Aboriginal peoples.

_{Image: Identified print items with Aboriginal flag stickers. The collection includes titles by Indigenous authors and about Indigenous peoples.} 

Project Period pilot

‘Project Period’ combats period poverty by providing free period products to UOW students in Library bathrooms. In the 2022 National Student Safety Survey, 73% of Australian university students reported experiencing financial stress. With 56.6% of UOW students being female-identifying and an even higher percentage menstruating (not all female-identifying), period poverty significantly impacts students.

The Library’s Digital Applications Roadmap has driven the following innovation:

• A new single sign-on (SSO) authentication service, OpenAthens, for seamless, secure access to Library electronic resources anytime, anywhere, enabling users to login with their UOW account to access all supported online resources both on and off campus.
• A new Document Delivery system for improved, streamlined Document Delivery requests and fulfilment.

Student experience and digital literacies

We continually seek to understand the needs and expectations of our users to shape solutions. In the 2023 QILT Student Experience Survey (SES), UOW Library scored over 87% satisfaction for Learning Resources and Facilities, 0.9% higher than the sector average.  

The Library has introduced informal survey of all our users each session. The input and insights provided guide continuous improvement efforts in response to requests ranging from extended opening hours to Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) monitor hubs and quiet study spaces. Equally we are communicating these changes back to the user community, You told us... so we improved these Library services in Spring 2024.

_{Image: A member of the Library Client Services Team guides a student to access electronic resources on their laptop.}

Self-agency in learning (Tier 0 level services)  

Institutional access (for students and staff) to LinkedIn Learning has been embedded into the Digital Skills Hub to make it even easier to find and access foundational and advanced digital skills support resources and services.

LibKey discovery solutions

LibKey integration into Library SEARCH and subscription databases to aid fast and easy access to electronic resources by linking to full text directly from search results.

Online Chat (Tier 1 level services)

An average of 6,500 chats with a 95% customer satisfaction rating over the past 3 years, Chat continues to connect students, staff and alumni directly with a client services team member for search and study guidance or referral for consultation with a subject librarian.  

Extended Opening Hours

Informed by user feedback, we sustained a pilot initiative to extend opening hours at the Wollongong Campus Library, with the support of the Student Services and Amenities Fee (SSAF). This has allowed the Library to open between 10pm and 12am Mon – Fri, and 8am-10am (Sat-Sun), in session. There were 14,551 extended hours visits for 2024 exceeding a target of 10,000 visits. This is estimated to have provided an additional 35,000 hours of study time for the students who utilised the service in 2024. SSAF funding will continue to support further extended opening in 2025.

Refreshed online Guides  

A new customised, on-brand design for LibGuides. This update provides a seamless experience between LibGuides and other UOW systems and gives a neater look to future guides that may be embedded into Moodle sites using iframes or integration modules.

Generative AI in Learning and Teaching

The Library’s Gen AI Guide Using Generative AI well aims to equip staff and students with the knowledge and skills to understand, if not adopt Gen AI where appropriate. The Gen AI Guide can be found in the Digital Skills Hub.   

UOW Archives  

Liz Hilton Memorial Fellowships

The Fellowship is made possible through a bequest from the estate of former UOW staff Elisabeth (Liz) Hilton, and enables students or staff of UOW to undertake a sustained period of research or study using UOW’s archival collections held within the Library. Two Fellowships have been awarded since commencement.

2024/2025 Fellows

Dr Ellie Crookes and Dr Emma Darragh from the School of The Arts, English and Media for Women’s Mission to Women: Women’s Rights Advocacy in the Illawarra (1970-2025). This project aims to uncover the neglected history of women’s advocacy movements in the Illawarra from the 1970s to the present day.  

2022/2023 Fellow

Dr Jen Saunders from the School of The Arts, English and Media for Cross-reading South Coast histories to extend understanding of the interconnectedness of local histories and narratives of Yuin Country utilising two collections D217 Archibald Campbell and D92 Frank McCaffrey.

_{Image: Jen Saunders, recipient of the Liz Hilton Fellowship 2022-2023, in the UOW Library Archives Reading Room on Wollongong Campus.}

Sustainable Research Systems

The Library contributed extensively to the University’s Research Systems Roadmap through membership of RITAS (Research IT and Systems) and RIAG (Research Infrastructure Advisory Group). This large-scale project resulted in the identification and implementation of a fit-for-purpose and sustainable:

• UOW Scholars management platform (academic identity management)
• Institutional Repository (Open Access research)

A new Library-led and managed Open Access Repository went live at the end of 2024. The new platform provides enhanced integration functions for research data and non-traditional research outputs (NTROs). The repository is interoperable with the UOW Scholars management system, which in turn enhances compliance for Grant Funders' Mandates for open access, e.g. NHMRC Open Access Policy

Expert Research Services

A revitalised Library Research Support model was developed to further enhance research support capabilities, to provide expert guidance in identifying evidence of impact and open access publishing options, in partnership with UOW researchers. This is recognised by inclusion of the Library in the current Research Active Policy, effective December 2024 and within the UOW Open Access Principles, effective February 2024.

Pathways to Open Research

Open Access Publishing

UOW Library participates in Read & Publish (R&P) agreements with selected publishers, through the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) consortium. These agreements allow UOW staff and students to access both the subscription content and to publish open access. In 2024, UOW had 455 articles accepted under the agreement, avoiding over $2.4M in article processing costs (APCs).

Open Access Week and Awards

In 2023 and 2024, the Library hosted Open Access Week and Awards events including UOW staff panel discussions, surrounding the broader theme of Open Research.

_{Front row: 2024 Open Access Week award winners and highly commended: Denelle Cosier, Dr Nelly Liyanagamage, Crystal Arnold, Dr Summer Finlay, Catherine Moyle, Jesse Michael, Dr Xinlei Zhou, Dr Rebecca Campbell and Ruichen Ma.  Back row L-R: Library Associate Director Georgina Konstanta, Library Associate Director James Conroy, Professor Simon Moss Dean of Graduate Research and Distinguished Professor Sharon Robinson.}

• Jantti, M., 2024, Scaling-up libraries: How to make the most of advanced digital technologies, Digital Universities Asia
• Jantti, M., 2024, Using AI to Face Learning Challenges in the Digital Age, ITB (Institut Teknologi Bandung) Talks
• Jantti, M., 2024, Leading from the HART, IATUL Conference
• Jones, S., Salopek, C., Hutchinson, S., 2024, Advocacy at UOW  in Open Education Down UndOER: Australasian Case Studies, Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL)
• McKenzie, C. et al., 2023, A vision for change leadership: Trust, transparency and accountability at University of Wollongong Library, The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 49 (3)
• Campbell, L., & Konstanta, G., 2022, Making it happen, Incite – The Journal of the Australian Library Association, 43 (6) 
• Slater, C., Campbell, L., & Duggan, L. 2023. The Power of Proactivity: UOW Library’s Successful Live Chat Implementation. Journal of the Australian Library and Information Association, 73(1), 98–104. https://doi.org/10.1080/24750158.2023.2286220