Theme 4: Being core is being central
Being core to the University is also being central to the city of Manchester.
Values-led leadership is meaningless unless it costs us something. Our commitment to civic responsibility, sustainability, and equality must be demonstrated through actions that reshape how we operate.
Carbon Literacy and Environmental Sustainability
We commit to achieving full carbon literacy across the Library by 2035, meaning every staff member understands the carbon impact of their decisions and has tools to act on that understanding. We will establish clear targets for sustainable procurement, manage data storage to reduce digital carbon footprint alongside physical, make environmental impact a core criterion in all vendor negotiations, and lead sector conversations on sustainable library practice.
This is about more than compliance. It's about using our position as major procurer and infrastructure provider to drive systemic change.
17. Carbon Literacy and Sustainable Library Practice
- Manchester 2035 Leap: Innovation Powerhouse
We will achieve full carbon literacy across the University Library by 2035, making environmental sustainability integral to every decision we make. Every staff member will complete carbon literacy training, understanding the environmental impact of their work and having tools to act on that understanding. We will establish clear targets for sustainable procurement, requiring environmental impact assessment for all major contracts and using our purchasing power to drive vendor behaviour. We will measure and reduce our digital carbon footprint, recognising that data storage, server use, and digital preservation have environmental costs that must be managed alongside physical impacts. We will lead sector conversations on sustainable library practice, sharing our learning and advocating for systemic change. We will make environmental impact a core criterion in collection development decisions, storage solutions, and service design. By 2035, the University Library will be recognised as a sector leader in sustainable practice, demonstrating that environmental responsibility and excellent service are not in tension but mutually reinforcing.
Defending Truth in Complex Information Landscapes
In an age of misinformation, the Library's commitment to truth is civic responsibility. We will explore with students and researchers how to evaluate sources critically, detect manipulation, and navigate complexity. Through our journalism collections, open education initiatives, and public programming, we model what truth-seeking means.
Our commitment to truth is inseparable from our commitment to equality. The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre demonstrates this: providing accurate, well-documented resources on racism and migration challenges dominant narratives and supports evidence-based understanding of social justice.
18. Truth and Information Integrity Initiative
- Manchester 2035 Leap: Research Impact
We will establish the University Library as a recognised leader in information integrity education and practice. We will develop curriculum resources for critical evaluation of sources, detection of manipulation, and navigation of complex information landscapes, embedded in undergraduate and postgraduate programmes across all Faculties. We will leverage our journalism collections, including the Guardian archive, to teach the history and practice of evidence-based reporting. We will create public programming that models truth-seeking for Manchester communities, recognising that misinformation is a civic challenge not just an academic one. We will partner with Computer Science and other disciplines on research into AI-generated content, deepfakes, and emerging challenges to information integrity. We will ensure our own practices model the standards we advocate, with transparent sourcing, clear distinction between fact and interpretation, and willingness to correct errors. By 2030, the University Library will be a go-to resource for anyone seeking to understand how to navigate an information environment where truth is contested.
Social responsibility and impact
19. The Manchester Impact Framework
- Manchester 2035 Leap: Research Impact
Building measurement infrastructure that moves us from 'resource to engine.' This isn't traditional library metrics, it's tracking employment outcomes for students who used our services, educational attainment in communities we engage, research citation impact from collections we provide, economic mobility linked to our digital literacy programmes. This makes the case for our centrality to University core business with evidence, not assertions. It demonstrates that our civic responsibility produces measurable outcomes.
Civic Engagement Through Collections
We will redesign spaces to be truly woven into civic life, surrendering the idea that we control who uses our buildings and for what purposes. The John Rylands Reading Room will host community events. Exhibition spaces will be programmed with local partners. Our digital infrastructure will serve small businesses as readily as PhD students. Manchester residents will experience the Library, especially The John Rylands Library, as genuinely theirs. Our social impact will be measured not by visitor numbers but by transformation in the communities we serve.
20. The University Library as a Cultural Institution
- Manchester 2035 Leap: Partner of Choice
We will secure recognition of the University Library as one of the University's Cultural Institutions, alongside Manchester Museum, the Whitworth, and Jodrell Bank. The University Library's special collections, housed within The John Rylands Library and the Main Library, represent cultural assets of national and international significance. The John Rylands Library on Deansgate is already recognised as a cultural icon, but the full scope of our cultural contribution, spanning rare books and manuscripts, the British Pop Archive, the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre, and collections across multiple sites, has not been systematically promoted or resourced as cultural infrastructure. We will work with the University to ensure the Library is formally included in cultural institution governance, strategy, and investment planning. We will develop integrated programming that connects our collections with those of sister institutions. We will advocate for capital and revenue investment that reflects our cultural as well as academic mission. By 2030, the University Library will be understood internally and externally as a cultural institution of first rank, with the recognition, resources, and partnerships that status requires.