From March 11-13, 2026, the ACRL Board of Directors met in Chicago for a Strategic Planning Session at ALA Headquarters and the Warwick Allerton Hotel. The Board’s focus was to discuss the mission and vision of ACRL given the political and socioeconomic tumult of the previous year and the financial challenges facing ALA.
On Wednesday, March 11, Mike Norbut, Vice President of Business Development with the Association Management Company (AMC) facilitated a Board exercise to evaluate how best to align ACRL’s strategic objectives with the new ALA Forward Strategic Plan, which was officially adopted by the ALA Council in 2025, while capturing the unique needs of ACRL members. ALA Executive Director Daniel Montgomery participated in the session along with ACRL staff while other ALA staff members, including ALSC Executive Director Alena Rivers, observed the proceedings.
At the end of the day, the Board created a draft of a new strategic plan with updated mission and vision statements. Over the following two days, Board members discussed academic library and higher education trends, communications strategies, and challenges to associations in the current global environment. As part of these discussions, the Board examined ACRL’s current strategic plan—the ACRL Plan for Excellence—and determined that work on the current strategic goal areas should continue in conjunction with the proposed new plan.
The next steps are: the ACRL Board plans to hold stakeholder and constituent listening sessions to get feedback on the draft plan while exploring the implementation process and timing. More information about the proposed new ACRL strategic plan will be forthcoming on ACRL Insider and ALA Connect.
Please stay tuned to learn how you can make your voice heard in this process.