21. One Library Platform

• Manchester 2035 Leap: Digital University

In partnership with IT Services, we will enhance the technical infrastructure that makes One Library supporting One University real: single sign-on across all services, a unified discovery layer that works seamlessly mobile-to-desktop, integrated physical and digital borrowing, a staff directory showing expertise regardless of location, shared project management systems and redundant discovery platforms removed, including in Special Collections. This eliminates every friction point where users encounter 'inconsistent policies, contradictory advice, outdated portals or bureaucratic paralysis.' This is about becoming 'easier to work with' through infrastructure, not just culture change. It requires matrix working over hierarchical silos, reducing handoffs between teams, and genuine shared workflows.

22. AI Accelerator Programme

• Manchester 2035 Leap: Innovation Powerhouse

Our response to AI is not a defensive protection of traditional skills but aggressive adoption and innovation: AI-led structural planning, AI-enhanced discovery systems, chatbots for 24/7 reference, automated metadata generation, AI literacy programmes for students and staff, partnerships with Computer Science on AI ethics research. This includes piloting generative AI for collection analysis and personalised learning pathways. We will position the University Library at the centre of the University's AI strategy, not on the sidelines.

23. Transparency Dashboard and Strategic Portfolio Management

• Manchester 2035 Leap: Innovation Powerhouse

Manchester 2035 demands 'transparency about how decisions are made and what success looks like.' We will build a public-facing dashboard showing our strategic goals, projects delivering them, resources allocated, progress metrics, and decision rationale. For internal use, we will implement rigorous portfolio management: every project has a business case, defined success metrics, quarterly reviews, explicit execute criteria. This responds to 'understanding both costs and opportunities of every project we pursue' and models the transparency the University expects. We will articulate not just what we decide but why, what alternatives we considered, what trade-offs we made, and who influenced outcomes.

24. The Agile Library: Innovation, Service Excellence and Student Success

• Manchester 2035 Leap: Flexible Learning

We will embed agility, service excellence and innovation into the culture of the University Library, not just its organisational structure. Structure enables agility but does not guarantee it; culture determines whether permission to innovate translates into actual innovation, and whether agility translates into better outcomes for students. This anchor is where 'From Service to Engine of Student Success' is operationally tested: the agile Library is the Library that responds, adapts and improves in service of the people it exists for. We will create mechanisms for rapid prototyping and piloting, where staff can test ideas without lengthy approval processes and where intelligent failure is celebrated as learning. We will establish innovation time, protected space for staff to explore new approaches to persistent challenges. We will reward risk-taking in performance recognition, promotion criteria, and public celebration of experiments whether or not they succeed. We will build rapid feedback loops so that pilots are evaluated quickly and either scaled, iterated, or stopped. We will challenge hierarchies that slow decision-making, empowering staff closest to users to make changes without escalation. We will create cross-functional innovation teams that bring together diverse perspectives on shared challenges. The test of our success is not whether we have an innovation strategy but whether innovation happens routinely, at all levels, driven by staff who feel empowered to try things that might not work, and whether that translates into measurably better service for students and researchers. By 2027, the University Library will be recognised across the sector as a place where new ideas flourish in service of excellent outcomes.

25. MA Library & Archive Studies: Shaping the Profession's Future

• Manchester 2035 Leap: Flexible Learning

We will leverage our MA Library & Archive Studies programme to become an influential force in shaping the future of the library and archive professions. Our programme will be a laboratory for new approaches to professional education, integrating AI literacy, data science, digital preservation, and critical information studies alongside traditional competencies. We will ensure our curriculum reflects the transformed environment in which graduates will work, preparing them not for the profession as it was but as it will be.

We will create pathways between the MA programme and Library staff development, enabling mutual learning and ensuring our teaching is grounded in current practice. We will build partnerships with employers nationally and internationally, ensuring our graduates are sought after and that our programme influences sector expectations. We will contribute to professional discourse through research, publication, and sector engagement that positions Manchester as a thought leader. Already ranked in the world's top 20, by 2030, the MA Library & Archive Studies will be recognised as among the most innovative and influential professional programmes in the UK, and our graduates will be shaping practice across the sector.