Library Capacity for Research Advancement in Higher Education

Strategic Planning for High-Impact Academic Libraries

The Challenge: Aligning Library Capacity with Research Growth

For universities seeking to grow, deepen, or broaden their research activity and impact, the library is a prerequisite for that ambition, not a downstream beneficiary. Without sustained investment in collections, staffing, spaces, and scholarly support, institutions cannot fully realize their research potential. Yet many lack the data and comparative analysis needed to make an investment case compelling to leaders and funders.

Supporting Library Capacity for Research Advancement

Attain Partners’ Library Capacity for Research Advancement service helps leaders evaluate how effectively their library supports faculty research and what investments are needed to reach the next level. Drawing on comparative analytics, benchmarking, and quality reviews, we deliver a comprehensive readiness and capacity report and an actionable strategic plan tailored to your institution’s research goals.

Library Capacity Assessment and Strategic Planning Components

Environmental Scan and Peer Benchmarking

Comparative analysis of your library’s budget, staffing, and research services against aspirational peers.

• Identify and validate a set of aspirational peer institutions for comparison.
• Gather and analyze library budget, staffing, and expenditure data from publicly available and institutional sources.
• Conduct service audits of peer libraries to identify best practices in research support.

Services Assessment

Evaluation of current collections, technology infrastructure, scholarly communication programs, and special collections.

• Conduct interviews and/or focus groups with library administrators and functional leads.
• Review policies, workflows, and systems for collections, technology, and digital scholarship.
• Evaluate service portfolio (e.g., research data management, instruction, and scholarly communication) for coverage and efficiency.
• Identify strengths, bottlenecks, and risks to sustainability.

Faculty Research Support Analysis

Review of services supporting grant-funded research, open access publishing, data management, and digital scholarship.

• Map existing services supporting faculty, postdoc, and graduate researchers, including open access publishing, data services, and grant support.
• Assess library engagement with sponsored research and indirect cost recovery models.
• Benchmark scholarly communication, research data, and digital scholarship services.
• Recommend staffing, policy, and technology improvements to strengthen faculty partnerships.

Strategic Readiness Report

Synthesis outlining gaps, risks, and opportunities with prioritized recommendations for staffing, funding, and space.

• Analysis of existing services and opportunities for growth.
• Develop evidence-based recommendations for staffing, funding, collections, and space needs.
• Identify quick wins and high-impact investment areas aligned with institutional priorities.

Actionable Implementation Plan

Roadmap that identifies short-, medium-, and long-term investments required to meet research goals.

• Develop a phased plan with short-, medium-, and long-term actions.
• Estimate resource and budget requirements for each priority area.
• Define performance indicators and metrics to track progress over time.
• Facilitate leadership presentations or retreats to align next steps across stakeholders.

Deliverables

Why Engage Attain Partners for Library Strategy

Our team brings deep expertise in the research enterprise, academic library leadership, assessment, and service development, as well as higher education benchmarking and research budgeting. We work alongside your staff, not just deliver a report, ensuring findings are actionable and tailored to your institution’s strategic context.

This packaged solution is designed to align with the priorities of research offices and provosts seeking to bolster institutional support for funded researchers. The assessment and resulting implementation roadmap may be funded through research administration, central academic affairs, or shared investment models and will position the library as essential research infrastructure rather than a discretionary service.

Who This Is For

• Institutions aspiring to Carnegie R1 or R2 research status
• Universities seeking to strengthen faculty research support
• Library leaders building data-driven strategic plans
• Libraries preparing for accreditation or board review

Attain Partners – Experienced Library Strategists

Academic libraries play a central role in enabling research growth, yet many institutions lack the data and analysis needed to plan effectively. At Attain Partners, we help library leaders assess capacity, benchmark against peers, and develop actionable strategies that align with institutional research goals. Contact us to learn how to build your library capacity to advance research at your institution.

About the Authors

Hilary Craiglow is a Senior Manager at Attain Partners, leading our team of library strategists to strengthen library systems. With extensive experience leading academic and research libraries, Hilary has a deep understanding of college and university systems. She is a strategic and visionary administrator, melding rich library traditions with innovative forward-thinking services. As a data and mission-driven leader, she employs proven evaluation and assessment methods and creates organizational transformation through empathy and partnership. Hilary helps library leaders achieve their mission faster, more efficiently, and with greater impact.

Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe is a Professor and Coordinator for Research Development in the University Library at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a renowned leader in academic library assessment and service development, information literacy, and scholarly communication. A past president of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), Lisa is widely published and sought after as a speaker on library strategy, the evolving research environment, and the intersection of libraries with the broader higher education mission. Her practitioner expertise and commitment to evidence-based library practice make her a trusted voice for library leaders navigating change.