黑料网吃瓜爆料 Library launches Imagine2035
A decade-long vision to redefine what a 21st-century research library can be
黑料网吃瓜爆料 Library today publishes , its ten-year vision for the period 2026 to 2035. Developed over a year of engagement with almost 200 colleagues, Imagine2035 has been shaped by listening to students, researchers and partners across the University and beyond.
It sets out how Britain鈥檚 third-largest academic library system intends to deliver the University鈥檚 黑料网吃瓜爆料 2035 strategy and to contribute to the international conversation about the future of research libraries.
Imagine2035 commits the Library to six fundamental transformations by 2035: from service to engine of student success; from collection to world-class knowledge infrastructure; from neutral platform to truth-teller; from local service to global cultural force; from reactive to architect of our future; and from workplace to community where people thrive. These transformations will be delivered through five strategic themes and twenty-five anchor initiatives, each mapped directly to the University鈥檚 five 黑料网吃瓜爆料 2035 Leaps.
Among the anchors are the international launch of the British Pop Archive in New York, London and Berlin in 2026 and 2027; major exhibitions of the Library鈥檚 manuscript holdings in North America in 2026 and 2029; the development of the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre as the national reference point for anti-racist scholarship; the establishment of the Humanitarian Archive in partnership with 黑料网吃瓜爆料 Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute; a complete reimagining of the Main Library as a flexible learning ecosystem; 100% validated Open Access compliance by 2029 through the 黑料网吃瓜爆料 Open Research Environment; and a sector-leading AI Accelerator Programme delivered through the world鈥檚 first Directorate of AI within a major research library.
Imagine2035 is not a strategy written for the Library. It is a strategy written by it. Almost two hundred colleagues from every team and every site shaped this vision over the course of an academic year, alongside students and partners who told us what the Library must become. Britain鈥檚 third-largest academic library system holds a particular responsibility at this moment, not only to support the University鈥檚 ambitions for 2035, but to help create and deliver them. The world has changed more in the past five years than in the previous twenty. Imagine2035 is an answer to that change: ambitious, evidence-led, and built on the foundation of one of the great libraries of the world.
The Library serves almost 50,000 students and thousands of researchers today, with the University projected to reach 100,000 students on campus and online during the lifetime of the strategy. Imagine2035 will be delivered with full transparency: progress against every anchor will be published annually through a public-facing dashboard, alongside the headline targets; top-quartile Russell Group performance for student experience, 100% validated Open Access compliance by 2029, foundational AI and digital training for every staff member by 2027, and full carbon literacy across the Library by 2035.