Twenty-five years after the announcement of the IBM-PC, few would deny we are in the midst of an information/communications technology revolution. While scholars argue over the novelty of the information or knowledge we encounter, one thing is clear—we are all receiving unprecedented volumes of data and information in our daily lives through ways that could not have been imagined only a few years ago. Most people find the pace of change bewildering as they try to keep up with their own areas of specialization.
Information Technology and the Libraries, by their very nature, are at the vortex of these changes. At core are three dominant and inextricably linked themes. Rapid expansion and changes in information resources and communications technologies have resulted in complexities (even to accomplish heretofore common activities), compounded by personal informational overload, in an era in which enhanced security is required to protect an increasingly vital technological infrastructure.
The “perfect storm” is created when these realities confront an IT/information user that has grown accustomed to a “have it your way” fast food mentality, but lacks the time to deal with increased complexities or effectively sift through a hyper-abundance of communication. Collectively, the promise of an informational mass personalization nirvana shimmers within reach of a population that collectively appears to suffer from mass attention deficit disorder.
Our challenges as well as opportunities are clear. To keep the moving target that is our environment in sight, we must adjust our strategic plan each year. At the suggestion of the UPC last year, we have melded the strategic plans of the Libraries and IT into a single document. I believe this has resulted in a richer understanding of the synergies of the two organizations.
This document represents an update to our projections. Not surprisingly, the foci match the challenges outlined above. This document also contains the strategic plan of KUNR, the public broadcasting station located on campus, which reports to the Vice President for Information Technology.
IT/KUNR FM Strategic Plan 2004 – 2008
