Strategy Development 2028-2032: Towards the New LIBER Strategy

The LIBER Strategy guides our Association’s priorities and objectives for a five-year period. With the current strategy cycle concluding in 2027, the development process of the next strategy is now underway.

Our mission is to enable world-class research in our member institutions. To build on the success of our current and past strategies, LIBER has initiated the development of our strategy for 2028-2032. It will be a comprehensive and collaborative multi-year process that actively involves our community through various activities and iterative feedback rounds. The development process is coordinated by the LIBER Strategy Taskforce, supported by Strategy Facilitator Monica Steletti, a librarian from the European University Institute (EUI). In this key role, she will guide the strategy’s development and serve as a link between the research library community, LIBER’s partners and the rest of the Taskforce. Next to Monica, the Taskforce is composed of representatives from the LIBER Executive Board: Ann-Sofie Axelsson, Alicia Fatima Gomez, Giannis Tsakonas (Chair), and Martine Pronk (until the end of February 2026; the role will then pass to her successor, Alexander Hasgall).  

What matters to me is knowing that the strategy reflects real needs, real challenges, and real aspirations, placing library users’ needs at the centre. Contributing to the LIBER strategy means helping to shape a future for research libraries that belong to all of us.

Monica Steletti, LIBER Strategy 2028-2032 Facilitator

Involving the LIBER community

The Strategy Taskforce began its work in late 2025 with a landscape analysis to inform the framework of the new strategy, taking into account emerging trends, challenges, and opportunities within research communities. In spring 2026, the focus shifts to gathering input from community stakeholders on strategic priorities. The results of these consultations will be incorporated into a draft strategy, which will be presented during the Meeting of Participants in July 2026 for wider feedback from the LIBER community and our partners.  

LIBER is an inclusive organisation, and its new strategy must reflect this. We are therefore designing the strategy as a participatory process, bringing together and synthesising the critical perspectives of our community. Throughout the year, we will create numerous opportunities to engage with our network and partners, inviting them to help shape the future priorities of research libraries. It is essential that no LIBER member or partner misses this opportunity to contribute.

Giannis Tsakonas, LIBER Vice-President and Chair of the Strategy Taskforce

What’s to come: Next Steps in the Strategy Development

Close collaboration will continue to be a central element of the strategy planning process. Following the Meeting of Participants 2026, the LIBER community will be invited to participate in additional consultation stages. Once the next strategic plan is finalised, it will be presented to the community in July 2027 and, following approval, officially launched later in the year.