A c t i o n f o r L i b r a r i e s — F e b r u a r y 2 0 0 5

New BCR Strategic Priorities Announced

By David Brunell
The following strategic priorities were established at the December meeting of BCR's Board of Trustees:

1. BCR will continue to diversify the range of information services it offers the library community in order to meet the growing needs of its member libraries. BCR will rigorously test the functionality as well as the feasibility of pricing models of all proposed new services and offer them as efficiently as possible. Cost recovery and the diversification of revenue streams are necessary for ensuring the long-term sustainability of BCR's service programs.

2. BCR will expand its educational program with high-quality training that addresses the evolving needs of member libraries. BCR will put a particular effort into producing high-quality distance education courses and continue to experiment with the emerging technological tools in this area with an eye toward reducing the costs of training and staff development for member libraries.

3. BCR will seek opportunities for innovation and cost reduction by encouraging collaboration among member libraries and by developing partnerships with organizations that will enrich BCR's programs and membership. Current examples of such mutually beneficial networking include the agreements with consortia and state library agencies that work with BCR to develop large-scale group contracts for information services, as well as BCR's relationship with the Western Council of State Libraries and the Cooperative Digitization Program.

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