About PASCAL

Strategic Agenda

Last revised by membership, December 10, 2020

Mission

The Partnership Among South Carolina Academic Libraries provides timely and universal access to information resources and library services - through creative use of technology, central licensing, and collaborative action - in order to support a highly productive knowledge environment for students, faculty and staff at every member institution of higher learning in South Carolina.

Vision

PASCAL supports higher education and the growth of South Carolina’s knowledge-based economy by providing equitable access to high quality academic resources.

Our Values

• Embrace equity, diversity, and inclusion in our organizations, collections, services, and programs
• Equitable access to information resources and library services
• Transparency, open communication and collaborative decision-making
• Respect for and between all member institutions and the communities they serve
• Responsible stewardship of resources; efficiency and cost savings through collective action
• Innovation and creative use of technology to enhance library services

Strategic Goal 1: Enhance, preserve, and provide universal access to print and electronic information resources to member libraries.

Objective 1.1: Enhance the value of PASCAL Delivers as a universal borrowing program for member libraries through: training and promotion; improved discovery; annual assessment; and continued development of the service.

Objective 1.2: Enhance PASCAL’s electronic resources program through continued growth of core collections and widely used opt-in resources; improve discovery and access through our Shared Library Services Platform, promotional tools, and adequate training; and utilize licensing best-practices for statewide access.

Objective 1.3: Empower libraries to leverage their institutional resources through statewide plans for collection analysis and development that emphasize collaborative collection management, shared access, and shared collections.

Objective 1.4: Pursue initiatives that support shared preservation such as shared off-site storage, last-copy retention, and digitization, in order to preserve and enhance access to the statewide academic collection.

Objective 1.5: Support Affordable Learning by identifying and promoting alternatives to costly textbooks and educational resources.

Strategic Goal 2: Support and foster consortium-wide coordination of technology development, deployment, and training.

Objective 2.1: Maximize the value of our Shared Library Services Platform at individual institutions.

Objective 2.2: Utilize our Shared Library Services Platform to better integrate support for our common collections, access, and preservation goals as stated in Strategic Goal 1.

Objective 2.3: Coordinate the development of best practices and training to help members work collaboratively within the Shared Library Services Platform.

Objective 2.4: Develop additional infrastructure tools such as project management, authentication, communication, privacy, and security applications that support our objectives in Strategic Goals 1 and 2.

Strategic Goal 3: Nurture relationships with key partners.

Objective 3.1: Establish a clear brand and message for the organization and improve channels of communication with both member libraries and relevant external constituencies, both on campuses and elsewhere within the state.

Objective 3.2: Strengthen the recognition of PASCAL within South Carolina higher education and government.

Strategic Goal 4: Ensure long term fiscal sustainability.

Objective 4.1: Assess and communicate PASCAL’s value proposition, effectiveness of programs, and return on investment to member libraries and institutions, and to key external constituencies.

Objective 4.2: Ensure that fee structures safeguard long term fiscal sustainability and support ongoing programs and new initiatives.

Objective 4.3: Work with Commission on Higher Education and other stakeholders to secure permanent funding for ongoing program expenditures and core resources.

Objective 4.4: Assess PASCAL’s governance and staffing structures to ensure the organization is able to support ongoing, emerging, and future initiatives.

PASCAL Mission Statement approved 2010; Last revised June 11, 2015

Strategic Agenda last revised December 10, 2020