By the time the lamp image (below) came down from the spotlight on the Library home page on the 27th of March, 271 sets of wishes had been submitted to the Library Genie.

To see the wishes, please go to the Strategic Planning website.

There are two access points - under:

Timeline - dates: 21 Feb -25 March, or
What's been happening - under 21st February, below the image (there) of the lamp.

The team is happy to take any questions or comments.

At yesterday's launch, the Library Conference Room was filled with the strains of Sultan Selim III's Magnificent Ottoman Empire Turkish harem music. Genie wishes captured via the 'Three wishes to the UQ Library Genie' form scrolled in a continuous loop, along with 15 tag clouds representing the 248 sets of wishes received to date.

Sample tag cloud, showing respondents' wishes.

UQ Executive perspective
Sandra Rothwell introduced Professor Deborah Terry, the University's Senior Deputy Vice Chancellor. Prof Terry spoke of the great importance of the planning process, over the outcome: gathering together, communicating, and creating a shared vision for the Library over the next three years.

The room resonated with her statement that 'culture eats strategy for breakfast'. Prof Terry underscored the need for strong underlying values to be articulated in such times of change. She quoted Donald Rumsfeld, saying whilst it was necessary to identify the known knowns (the elephants in the room), it was critical to scope the unknown unknowns - the tigers in the room - in order to manage blindsiding.

Prof Terry outlined three themes central to UQ Executive's current frame of reference:

• Disruptive technology, such as MOOCs. It is reshaping higher education, world-wide. Attending a conference in Boston recently, she observed an unusually high number of Vice Chancellors and Provosts in attendance. UQ will take leadership in the area, and not merely react. Four UQ MOOCs will be delivered this year - a call for expressions of interest has been issued.
• Funding, particularly in this, a Federal election year. The Vice Chancellor sees the diversification of income sources as critical in an environment fiercely competitive for students (e.g. through partnering, and alumni)
• People. The importance of attracting and retaining excellent staff. Not only for its own sake, but also for its impact on world rankings.

Academics tell Prof Terry that the Library is fantastic, and a cornerstone of the University. She wished us well in the process, and applauded our efforts.

Outline of the process, and the Genie video
Next, Sandra spoke of the team, the blog, the website to go live following this launch, and the wishes gathered via the online Genie form.

A video of wishes expressed by three UQ staff, and several students was shown (additional thanks to Teik, from LTS).

Bob's thee wishes concluded the video, and he rose to the podium to expand on them. In essence, Bob's wishes are for the Library: 1) to be the best exemplar of an innovative academic research library, nationally and internationally; 2) to be a strong contributing partner to UQ's priorities, and 3) to be a fun and rewarding place to work.

Timeline
Helen Morgan outlined the following milestones in the strategic planning process:

19/3-30/4: Preparation of four scenarios to be presented at stakeholder sessions
2-3/5: Four stakeholder sessions, with Brett Mayze
25/3-30/4: Consideration of the Library's vision and mission statements, and values
April-May: Refinement of statements/values, and a new tagline (to replace 'Enriching World-Class Scholarship')
28-30/5: Strategic planning workshop for Library managers leading to a draft strategic plan, with Brett Mayze
June: Strategic planning team roadshows, to gather Library staff feedback on/input into, the draft plan
July: Presentation of the final strategic plan to Bob.

Helen asked launch attendees to complete the forms placed on their chairs. These asked for three genie wishes, and for six aspirational values to be chosen for the Library. The values represent collective beliefs on how the Library will achieve its mission and vision. An online Checkbox form will be available shortly, to capture input from those who did not attend the launch.

Attendees were then invited to afternoon tea.

The Strategic Planning team met on Tuesday 12/3.

The team discussed:

• The expressions of interest received for the four scenario writing exercise
• Progressing the strategic planning webpage. It will go live after the official strategic planning launch (of 25/3, 2pm)
• Creating a registration process for attending the official launch (via the LibNet Training Calendar)
• Gathering feedback on Library values via clickers, and on paper, during the official launch
• Using Checkbox to capture feedback online, on Library values
• The increased number of Genie wishes, generated by the Library spotlight, and emails to UQ T&L and Research committees (have you wished yet?)
• Filming of Genie wishes videos
• Generating a Genie wishes tag cloud
• Using Twitter and Facebook to disseminate strategic planning activities
• Changing the feedback form: from Genie wishes to tagline suggestions (i.e. to replace 'Enriching World-Class Scholarship')
• Possible dates for the 2.5 day strategic planning workshop (end of May, in the Library Conference Room)
• Possible dates for, location of, and marketing for, the four external stakeholder focus groups: undergraduates, postgraduates, academic staff and hospital staff (early May)

Bob charged the Strategic Planning team with designing and managing a strategic planning process for UQ Library that is open, inclusive, customer-focused, and provides a variety of avenues for staff and community input.

The completed plan is required by the middle of July 2013.

With this in mind, the team has:

• Met four times (on 24/1, 6/2, 19/2, 26/2)
• Established a blog to encourage two-way communication
• Requested aspirational ideas to guide the process - starting with a call for '3 wishes by the Library genie' from interested stakeholders
• Set a date for the formal launch of the strategic planning process, in which video snippets featuring selected wishes will be used (on March 25th, in the Library Conference Room, at 2pm)
• Commenced development of a webpage on the Library's public site, to provide a single point of reference for/interaction with the strategic planning process (coming soon)
• Met twice with Brett Mayze from People Knowledge Consulting (Brett led the Library's two day operational planning workshop in October 2012)
• Planned project milestones/timelines (broad plan established on 26/2)
• Begun mapping a multi-step process, to facilitate the widest possible consultation with stakeholders (Library staff, UQ students, UQ staff, UQ alumni, teaching hospital staff, and the wider community)

The draft process is shaping up as follows:

Step 1:
Formal launch.
(On March 25th, in the Library Conference Room, at 2pm)

Step 2:
Reflect upon the Library's vision and mission: answer 'why do we exist?'.
There will be a call for stakeholder feedback.
(To be completed by 2-3 weeks after formal launch)

Step 3:
Set goals and 5-6 values (behaviours) based on an environmental scan.
Library staff: will tailor four scenarios, describing possible UQ Library futures (call for expressions of interest to be issued).
Library staff: will be asked to comment on the finalised scenarios.
External stakeholders: will debate, provide feedback, then choose one of the four scenarios, in four x 90 minute focus groups (led by Brett). Questions will also be available online for other contributors.
Library staff: will debate the results and provide input to the strategic plan, at a two and a half day strategic planning workshop (call for expressions of interest to be issued).
(To be completed by late May)

Step 4:
Identify any gaps between what we do and wishes expressed by stakeholders.
Team to draft the strategic plan.
Check alignment of existing operational plan with draft strategic plan.
Invite feedback on the draft plan.
Hold roadshow consultations, to elicit feedback from Library staff on the draft plan.
Invite feedback on development of a new tagline to replace 'Enriching World-Class Scholarship'.
(First draft plan to be completed by the end of May)

Step 5:

Strategic Planning team to finalise new tagline to replace 'Enriching World-Class Scholarship', based on the results of the strategic planning process.
Strategic Planning team agree on the final version of the plan, and sign over to Bob.
(By mid July)

Step 6:
Monitor and review the progress of the plan.
(In 2014, 2015, and 2016)

More, as it comes to hand.