The Association of Research Libraries and the Canadian Association of Research Libraries commissioned Ithaka S+R to consult with university leaders in Canada and the United States to identify their strategic priorities, to gauge their expectations of research libraries in achieving them, and together with our members, to determine what more research libraries can do to advance them. This report represents the findings of the consultations, as well as a summary of Ithaka S+R’s research on scholarship and Ithaka S+R’s recommended menu of opportunities for research libraries to achieve further strategic alignment.

The report findings are wide-ranging, sometimes hard-hitting, and are welcomed by our members. The report informs both associations’ strategic planning.  In addition, each of the menu of research library opportunities identified by Ithaka S+R in the report includes an indicator of organizational alignment. This initial list of indicators is shared with an invitation for broader engagement by university leaders and the research library community to define those indicators of alignment with the greatest benefit to advancing institutional strategic priorities.