Public invited to 'State of the Libraries' address Dec. 8

LAWRENCE — In 2011, KU Libraries’ seven locations saw more than 1.5 million visits, the equivalent of each student at KU visiting 58 times. Librarians and staff taught 16,587 participants in 1,093 instruction sessions, and patrons checked out nearly 300,000 items. But the numbers only tell part of the story.

Lorraine J. Haricombe, dean of the University of Kansas Libraries, will offer a more complete picture in the “State of the Libraries 2011” from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 8, in the Kansas Union Jayhawk Room. The presentation, which is open to the public, will be streamed live here.

Haricombe will discuss recent progress made on KU Libraries’ five-year goals and the past year's challenges and accomplishments, and will also provide an update on the Libraries' current strategic planning process and how it will be informed by KU’s Bold Aspirations plan and lessons learned from the Changing for Excellence review.

Questions are welcome, and attendees are invited to send them in advance to Sean Barker in the dean’s office.