Association of College & Research Libraries
50 E. Huron St. Chicago, IL 60611
800-545-2433, ext. 2523
acrl@ala.org, http://www.acrl.org
Strategic Initiative Action Plan Proposal Form
Fiscal Year 2011
The following materials (posted at
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/about/whatisacrl/index.cfm) should be consulted while
completing this proposal:
 Strategic Initiative Action Plan Proposal Overview
 Charting our Future: ACRL Strategic Plan 2020
 ACRL Strategic Priorities for 2009-2013
 Strategic Initiative Action Plan Proposal: Sample Assessment
General Information
Date: August 7, 2009
Unit submitting plan: Literatures in English Section
Individual submitting plan: Liorah Golomb
Phone: 316.978.5077
E-mail: liorah.golomb@wichita.edu
Proposal Submission
Before you submit your proposal, please read the following terms and conditions carefully;
understanding and accepting these terms and conditions is a prerequisite to submitting a Strategic
Initiative Action Plan proposal for consideration:
 I verify my group has submitted final reports for all previously approved Action Plans.
The Board only considers proposals from groups that have completed this step.
 I have consulted with my group’s leadership and will copy them on this proposal.
 I have consulted with my ACRL Staff Liaison or Board Liaison and will copy them on
this proposal.
Strategic Initiative Action Plan Proposals must be received by Friday, August 7, 2009. Please
submit the proposal as a Word document to ACRL Program Coordinator Adam Burling at
aburling@ala.org . Please remember to copy your unit’s leadership and Board and staff liaisons.
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Connection to Strategic Priority or Strategic Plan Objective
ACRL Strategic Priorities 2009-2013:
Strategic Area: Higher Education and Research; Goal Area: Learning; Strategic Objective: 2
Strategic Area: Higher Education and Research; Goal Area: Scholarship, Research, and
Creative Activity; Strategic Objective: 3
Strategic Area: Higher Education and Research; Goal Area: Advocacy; Strategic Objective: 4
Strategic Area: The Profession; Goal Area: Leadership; Strategic Objective: 3
Strategic Area: The Profession; Goal Area: Information Technology; Strategic Objective: 3
Strategic Area: The Association; Goal Area: Membership; Strategic Objective: 3
If your proposal does not fall within one of these priority areas, indicate the strategic area, goal
area, and strategic objective that the committee will be address.
Strategic Area:
Higher Education and Research
The Profession
The Association
Goal Area:
Strategic Objective:
Executive Summary
Create a program purpose statement and project description by answering the following
questions: We are doing what, for whom, for what outcome or benefit?
LES plans to raise the awareness among university faculty, administrators, and students of the
many benefits of the literature librarian-teaching faculty collaboration. To accomplish this we
will produce and publish approximately 6 minutes of video, broken into two parts to keep each
video short, in which LES librarians interview an anticipated 10 English Department faculty
members on how their English literature subject specialist has contributed to their students’ and
their success in winning awards, improving their teaching, publishing papers, or pursuing their
research interests. The target audience includes administrators and faculty, who will learn how a
librarian knowledgeable in English literature, theory, and criticism contributes to learning;
library administrators, who will gain a tool for advocacy; subject librarians, whose profile will be
raised; and students considering becoming subject specialist librarians. We intend to make the
videos amusing, accessible, and widely available through a variety of online venues. This project
will advance ACRL Strategic Priority 4: Increase recognition of the value of libraries and
librarians by leaders in higher education, information technology, funding agencies, and campus
decision making.
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Proposal Specifics
List the key activities you will take to carry out the proposed Action Plan, noting responsibilities,
financial resources needed, and target dates for completion. Be sure to include actions and
resources needed to carry out the assessment you describe in the next section.
Key Activities
Form ad hoc Focus on Literature
Librarians Committee to develop a
creative brief for project including
title and description; oversee project
and ensure consistency in look, tone,
and quality of individual videos and
of the finished product (currently
envisioned to be a two-part video
totaling approximately 6 minutes);
identify open access outlets for
produced video such as YouTube,
the LES homepage, university
library pages, etc.; design strategies
to promote the videos to target
audiences; liaise with ACRL, the
LES Executive Committee, and
participating LES members; perform
tasks outlined below.
Person(s)
Responsible
Financial Resources
Needed
--
Liorah Golomb
-Design interview questions, create
guidelines, call for volunteer
interviewers from among the LES
membership, select LES participants.
Focus on
Literature
Librarians
Committee
Identify interviewees, arrange for
videographers and equipment,
ensure that guidelines established by
the Focus on Literature Librarians
Committee are followed, conduct
interviews, send videotapes to
transcriber (see next activity).
LES Interviewers
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$980 (FY2010): 10
Starbucks cards @ $10
each as thank-you gifts
to interviewees ($100);
10 videographers @
$70/hr ($700); 2nd Day
shipping of 10 tapes @
$18 each ($180). Cost
of videographers
(including equipment)
and all other
Target
Date of
Completion
September
2009
Sept. 2009Jan. 2010
Jan.-April
2010
transcription, editing,
and production costs
are based on figures
provided by Wichita
State University’s
Media Resource
Center.
Hire transcriber to transcribe raw
video, inform LES Interviewers
where to send tapes and arrange for
shipping, create a script from
transcription for video editor to
follow. Sending the raw video to a
transcriber reduces editing time
since a script can be created for the
editor to follow.
Hire and work with video editor,
send videotapes to editor, approve
final project. Work with editor can
be done using electronic means. The
editor may be affiliated with the
university of one of the Committee
members.
Create final transcript of video.
Post videos to online sites, promote
videos.
Document project, report to LES
Executive Committee at Midwinter
2011 meeting.
Focus on
Literature
Librarians
Committee and
professional
transcriber
$100 (FY2010): 100
April-July
minutes of raw video
2010
@1.00/minute of tape.
Transcript should be
sent to Committee in an
editable format via
electronic means.
Focus on
Literature
Librarians
Committee and
professional video
editor
$1218 (FY2011): 10
hours of
editing/production
including equipment
and labor @ $120/hr;
2nd Day shipment of
videotapes and script to
video editor ($18).
Hired transcriber
Focus on
Literature
Librarians
Committee
Focus on
Literature
Librarians
Committee
Total Financial
Resources
Needed:
$100
--
Nov. 2010
Dec. 2010
--
Dec 2010Jan. 2011
Aug.-Oct.
2010
$2398
Please add additional entry fields as needed.
Sections only: Would you be willing to commit some of your Section’s basic services funding
for the year to this project in addition to whatever action plan funding you may receive? If so,
which of the above activities will you support with basic services funding and how much?
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Yes
No
If Yes, activities supported and amount:
LES would provide $100 to purchase thank-you Starbucks cards for participating interviewees.
Assessment
Using the following table, describe in detail how you will measure success. The Board looks
particularly favorably on assessment plans using outcomes-based evaluation (OBE). An
introduction to OBE for libraries is available on the IMLS Web site at
http://www.imls.gov/applicants/obe.shtm.
Audience & Need: Who will this project
benefit and why is there a need for this
project?
Audience: The intended audience in the
wider academic community includes
university administrators, faculty, English
Department heads, and students interested
in pursuing graduate education in
literature. Within the library community,
the audience will include library
administrators, subject librarians, and
library science students.
Need: In this tight economy, the need is
greater than ever for English literature
librarians to promote the work that we do
to improve and facilitate learning in higher
education. Literature librarians have
specialized knowledge that equips us to
aid in, for example, digital textual
analysis, research into the history of the
book and publishing, and understanding
trends in theory and criticism. We deal in
centuries of writing, from early medieval
times to the present. The study of literature
has its own vocabulary, and literature
librarians are uniquely qualified to
communicate with teaching faculty in that
language.
Beneficiaries: First, the project will
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benefit both groups of people in the
librarian-faculty relationship. Faculty who
may not have thought to work closely with
their subject specialist will be reminded of
the benefits of doing so. Other faculty will
learn new ways of working with the
librarian to increase their efficiency and
improve their output. Librarians will
benefit by gaining an advocacy tool, and
by learning how their counterparts at other
institutions work with liaison faculty.
Second, we expect this video to provide a
model that other ACRL sections can
follow in promoting their own subject
areas.
Outcome: What is the intended impact of
this project? How does it fill the need or
solve the problem identified above?
Indicator(s): What are the specific,
observable behaviors or conditions you are
going to measure?
Measurement Tool (e.g., measurement,
survey, or focus group): How are you
going to measure these indicators to see
whether you have achieved the desired
outcome?
Finally, people who are considering a
career in academic librarianship with a
specialty in English will benefit from
learning what the work entails and how
rewarding it can be.
The project will improve the audience’s
understanding of the important role played
by librarians specialized in literatures in
English. It will provide libraries with a
tool they can use to advocate for the
retention of these librarians. The ultimate
intended outcome is greater collaboration
between professors of English and their
liaison librarians.
We will measure how many times the
video is viewed and tabulate survey and
poll results.
YouTube viewings will be recorded by
that site’s counter, which also records
ratings on a 1-5 star scale. Other tracking
of downloads may be possible, depending
upon the site. The LES Webmaster and
other knowledgeable people will be
consulted on the best ways to go about
collecting data.
At the end of the video there will be an
opportunity for viewers to take a survey in
which they can respond to questions about
what they learned from the video, how
they might use the information, etc.
Additionally, the LES website will use a
polling widget to get instant feedback
from viewers. A polling question will be
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Measurable Goal: What specific target(s)
have you set for this project using the
Measurement Tool?
Feedback: How and when will the results
shown by the measurement tool be shared
with the Board?
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designed to gauge whether the viewer
found the video helpful and to what extent.
The multi-campus nature of this project
will help the video gain exposure. The
video will be freely available for linking to
social networking sites and web pages.
Because we want to encourage
distribution, many viewings of the video
will go unrecorded, but a realistic
expectation is 1000 viewings in the first 68 months. The target for the post-video
survey is a positive response from at least
70% of respondents, and for the instant
poll, a similar percentage of positive
responses.
The video will be shared with the Board
electronically as soon as production is
completed. Completion is targeted for
December 2010. Assessment results will
be shared at Annual 2011 and MW 2012,
i.e., roughly 6 and 12 months after
publication.