2012 ACRL- & Fall Conference Assessing the Strategic Credibility of Erin Passehl, Western Oregon University Special Collections and Archives Rick Stoddart,

Strategic Credibility Capability to Strategize Communication of organizational strategy to key stakeholders Definition: Methodology: Strategic Planning and Mission Statements “Strategic credibility is defined as how others view the company’s overall corporate strategy and its strategic o Individually examined Orbis Cascade Alliance college/university "Are academic libraries presenting their mission statements planning capability.” mission statements for themes online? How much worth is assigned through • Discussed findings and reached consensus this communication?” – Kuchi (2006) Benefits: o Invidividually examined Orbis Cascade Alliance Special o Improved relations with stakeholders Collections/Archives mission statements Methodology: Accessibility of Mission Statements Better morale of employees o • Included multiple departments at one institution if they had More goal focused employees o mission statements (N=18, not 13) o Does the location of the mission statement on the website o Attracting talented people motivated by the strategy signify how much value the department placed on it? • Discussed findings and reached consensus Judged the position and access to mission statements on Higgins and Diffenbach (1989) o Negotiated common themes (how well-aligned) o each website • Counted number of “clicks” from main webpage Strategic Credibility Factors 37 • Looked at where mission statements were located Orbis Cascade • If not directly linked, we explored where it existed Libraries

Demonstrated Capability to 32 Libraries with performance strategize Special Accessibility Results Collections/ Archives 13 58 % 18 % 18 % 39 % 1 Special Communication of Credibility of Collections/ organizational Archives with organizational easily strategy to key accessible Archives Mission leadership mission stakeholders statements Within 1 Within 2 Within 3 directly statement click of clicks of clicks of linked directly Higgins (2002) Archives Archives Archives from the stated on main page main page main page library Archives main page main page Common Aligned Themes in Key Findings Mission Comparisons

• 59% of Alliance Special Collections/ Special Demonstrated College/ Demonstrated Performance Archives do not have easily Collections/ performance University accessible mission statements online Archives Mission Mission “No single publication of a library can do more to Statements enhance its reputation and increase its budget than its Capability to • Of those with mission statements, Statements many are indirectly linked on their annual report.” Strategize website Mersky (1983), Staines (2009) Research (7) Communication to • Most state WHAT they do (preserve) Subject Area (4) Annual reports for Special Stakeholders but not WHY (learning, research) 0 found online Teaching, Education, Scholarship (3) Collections/Archives in the Alliance Denomination/Faith, Service (2)