🔗 linkedin.com/in/vivienne-piroli-edd-9744609

Research Focus: Academic Libraries • Strategic Planning • Social Justice

“Strategic Planning Assessment: A Meaningful Driver of Change in Academic Libraries”

What research challenge did your dissertation address?

My research investigates methods to help academic libraries accurately assess their value and worth to their communities, including their support of institutional priorities like retention and student success. Much of the existing assessment work focuses narrowly on metrics and measurable outputs. I wanted to shift that emphasis, moving libraries and the library profession toward building intentional, inclusive practices aligned with professional library values. I used a library consortium where I serve on the board of directors as my research site, which gave me a broader sample of engagement and experience to draw from.

What inspired you to pursue this research?

As a librarian, I recognize that libraries are often shaped by policies and procedures that have inhibited their ability to fully serve marginalized populations and community members with the fewest resources. Against that backdrop, I brought to my board colleagues my interest in examining how our consortium’s strategic plan could elevate social justice and change agency, adopting an action-oriented stance aimed at generating equitable outcomes for member libraries and the communities they serve.

What did your research find, and what is its impact?

I developed a consortium-centered, participant-led assessment mechanism to understand how strategic planning initiatives grounded in social justice met their goals and affected member libraries, patrons, and campus communities. I found that members were highly motivated to see the strategic plan succeed: its goals were closely tied to their sense of professional purpose and identity, and they connected the consortium’s success directly to success for their own libraries and communities. Data evidence was plentiful, but it was the narratives of impact, the stories of how patrons actually benefited from these changes, that provided the most meaningful and authentic evidence of the partnership’s power. This consortium-centered, participant-led approach stands as a model for navigating change work collaboratively.

“It was the narratives of impact, the stories of how patrons actually benefited from these changes, that provided the most meaningful and authentic evidence of the partnership’s power.”

Vivienne Piroli