The FY2019-2023 

Strategic Plan

of the Library of Congress

ENRICHING THE LIBRARY

EXPERIENCE
1

TABLE OF

CONTENTS

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7

8

9

12

13

16

18

27

28

Opening Message

The Strategy

Framework

Our Mission 

Our Vision 

A Unified Role

Direction Forward

Being User Centered

Goals and Objectives

Implementation and 

Metrics

Library At-a-Glance
Enriching the Library Experience 3

The Library’s collection and its human 

expertise hold untold intellectual and 

inspirational value. I have seen firsthand the 

spark that results when someone makes a 

connection with the Library: when a Member of 

Congress is moved listening to a historian bring 

to life a founding document of history; when 

high school music students from Maryland 

studied the papers of Leonard Bernstein and 

wrote original music inspired by what they saw; 

when teachers at our summer institutes have 

shared with me their innovative strategies for 

making history come alive using the Library’s 

collections in the classroom; when Smokey 

Robinson saw his very first piece of sheet 

music submitted to the U.S. Copyright Office. 

How do we extend those experiences to people 

across the country?

To meet this challenge, the Library is embarking 

on an exciting new journey that puts users 

first. By expanding access and enhancing 

services, while applying data and optimizing 

resources, we will build lifelong and meaningful 

connections with our users of today and of 

tomorrow.

This strategic plan, Enriching the Library 

Experience, is our roadmap to expanding the 

Library’s reach and deepening our impact, thus 

fulfilling our mission to engage, inspire, and 

inform our users. 

I can’t wait to see the many thousands of 

sparks we ignite. Maybe one of them will 

be yours.

Carla Hayden

14th Librarian of Congress

The Library of 

Congress is the 

world’s largest 

library, with nearly 

170 million items 

in our collections, 

and extensive 

expert services and 

programs. What 

does this mean 

for you?

The Library of Congress has built the 

largest collection of human knowledge 

ever assembled. It is an awe-inspiring 

achievement—a testament to the wisdom of 

Congresses throughout our history, which have 

invested national resources in the ideal of a 

universal collection available to all. 

Yet, as Librarian of Congress Herbert Putnam 

noted more than a century ago, “A book 

used is fulfilling a higher purpose than a book 

which is merely preserved.” In other words, 

it is not enough to collect and preserve. To 

be successful, collections must be used. 

This same principle applies to all parts of our 

agency—services and programs too must be 

accessible and used. 

OPENING

MESSAGE
THIS STRATEGIC 

PLAN WILL GUIDE 

THE LIBRARY 

IN EXPANDING 

OUR REACH AND 

DEEPENING OUR 

IMPACT WITH 

OUR USERS.
Enriching the Library Experience 7

Mission

Engage, inspire, and 

inform Congress and the 

American people with a 

universal and enduring 

source of knowledge 

and creativity.

Vision

All Americans are 

connected to the 

Library of Congress.

THE STRATEGY

FRAMEWORK

Expand Access

Make our unique collections, 

experts, and services available 

when, where, and how users 

need them.

– Increase Discoverability and 

Availability

– Use Connectors to Extend Reach

– Expand Physical Presence

Direction Forward

User Centered 

Digitally Enabled 

Data Driven

A Unified Role

Memory 

Knowledge 

Imagination

Enhance Services

Create valuable experiences 

for every user to foster lifelong 

connections to the Library.

Optimize Resources

Modernize, strengthen, and 

streamline our operational 

capabilities.

Measure Impact 

Use data to measure our impact 

on the world around us and share 

a powerful story.

– Elevate Digital Experiences

– Transform In-Person 

Experiences

– Develop User-Centered Content

– Align Core Library Activities 

– Modernize Operations

– Invest in Talent for the Future

– Diversify and Expand Funding

– Understand Our Users

– Communicate Impact

– Promote a Culture of Continuous 

Improvement
8 Library of Congress Enriching the Library Experience 9

Connectedness has many forms 

for the Library: 

Informing lawmakers, policy-makers, and 

their constituents requires us to be connected 

intellectually. 

Engaging and sharing knowledge with users 

worldwide, and quickly and easily copyrighting 

creative works requires us to be connected 

digitally. 

Creating strong ties that move partners, 

organizations, and individuals to donate their 

time, resources, stories, and creative works 

requires us to be connected societally. 

Being a unified organization requires being 

connected to our workforce with support, 

training, and a sustained commitment to 

recruit the next generation of Library experts 

and leaders. 

The goals and objectives in this Strategic Plan

help us get closer to this vision. Enhancing 

awareness of the Library’s offerings, improving 

discoverability of and access to those 

resources, and increasing usage through a 

suite of services that meet diverse needs will 

connect more people to the agency in more 

meaningful ways.

Additionally, with a strong emphasis on digital 

enablement, the Strategic Plan will further the 

Library’s worldwide influence.

Inspire

With 1.6 million annual visitors, the Library’s 

Thomas Jefferson Building has become 

a landmark destination, renowned for its 

architectural beauty and celebration of 

knowledge and creativity. 

Programs, exhibitions, centers, and marquee 

events such as the Veterans History Project, 

National Book Festival, and Digital Learning 

Labs expand the Library’s reach and inspire 

learners of all ages.

Inform

Congress, the judiciary, and other federal 

agencies have reliable, round-the-clock 

access to reliable knowledge in print, online, 

and via consultation with scholars and experts 

from the Congressional Research Service, the 

U.S. Copyright Office, the Law Library, and the 

Kluge Center. 

Families seeking to research their heritage 

can rely on subject experts in our reading 

rooms, tap into the StoryCorps Archive, or 

take advantage of the vast digital collections 

of early American newspapers, manuscripts, 

maps, photographs, and prints.

OUR

VISION

OUR

MISSION

The Library’s vision is aspirational and speaks 

to the tangible and intangible connections that 

are possible with the nation we serve. Through 

our unequaled collections, services, events, 

and products, users can connect with the 

Library in meaningful ways throughout their 

life journey. 

This vision reinforces the agency’s focus on 

users—visitors, researchers, and patrons from 

a variety of locations, circumstances, and 

walks of life—by expanding our efforts to make 

the nation’s universal and enduring source of 

knowledge and creativity more discoverable, 

accessible, relevant, and useful. 

Service to Congress has been and remains 

at the core of our mission. We will continue 

to engage, inspire, and inform Congress 

through our collections and our diverse 

service and experience offerings, including 

policy consultations, on-demand analysis, 

briefings, events, programs, and constituent 

engagement. 

As the steward of a unique, universal, and 

ever-growing collection that belongs to the 

American people, the Library of Congress also 

has a mandate to inspire, inform, and serve 

all Americans by engaging their cultural and 

intellectual curiosity and creativity. 

Our mission in action takes 

many forms:

Engage

Researchers and authors turn to the Library 

for source material not available anywhere 

else. With access to original manuscripts, 

ancient maps, rare books, photographs, films, 

and sound recordings, these authors create 

new works that help interpret history for 

future generations. The process of copyright 

registration and deposit completes a virtuous 

cycle that may result in the addition of these 

new works to the Library’s collections. 

The Library helps ensure that millions of 

Americans with blindness and other disabilities 

continue to experience the joy of reading 

through a national network of libraries that 

distribute the latest contemporary literature in 

a variety of accessible formats.

All Americans are connected to the

Library of Congress.

Engage, inspire, and inform Congress and 

the American people with a universal 

and enduring source of knowledge and 

creativity.
IN EXECUTING THIS 

STRATEGIC PLAN 

OVER THE NEXT FIVE 

YEARS, THE AGENCY 

WILL MAKE A DECISIVE 

SHIFT TO BE MORE 

USER CENTERED, 

DIGITALLY ENABLED, 

AND DATA DRIVEN.
12 Library of Congress Enriching the Library Experience 13

Digitally Enabled

As much as we desire to have every American 

come to Washington, D.C., to visit the Library, 

that is not possible. This is why being digitally 

enabled is paramount to our success. 

Realizing a digitally enabled Library of 

Congress is an ongoing process. As technology 

advances, new business models emerge and 

user expectations evolve. We will take a long 

view, developing strategies that account for 

what is on the horizon. Our Digital Strategy will 

be closely aligned with the Strategic Plan.

Data Driven

A data-driven organization is one that embeds 

analysis, data, and reasoning into the decisionmaking process. Efforts to embed analytics 

have begun in pockets throughout the Library. 

Becoming a data-driven organization, however, 

means determining how best to scale these 

projects across the Library to drive greater 

business impact. 

Moving forward, we will increase our 

investment to take advantage of the 

tremendous amount of data associated with 

our vast collections. We are also building upon 

previous efforts to learn more about our users 

in order to tailor our services. 

Data will help to improve the speed and 

quality of performance measurement and 

decision making. Through this evidencebased approach, the Library will provide a 

more productive experience and improve our 

opportunity to create a lifelong connection 

with each of our users. 

A UNIFIED

ROLE

DIRECTION

FORWARD

The Library’s rich and diverse body of work 

can be framed in terms largely inspired by 

Thomas Jefferson’s organizing construct for 

his personal library—the core from which the 

Library’s collection developed:

Memory

Acquire, sustain, and provide 

access to a universal collection;

Knowledge

Provide authoritative and 

objective research, analysis, and 

information; 

Imagination

Inspire and encourage creativity, 

promote and support the work of 

American creators.

Developed by and applied to all parts of 

the agency, these concepts transcend our 

organizational boundaries and inform the 

goals and objectives which comprise this 

Strategic Plan.

The unifying 

themes of Memory/

Knowledge/

Imagination 

ground the strategy; 

the direction 

forward guides it.

In executing this Strategic Plan over the next 

five years, the agency is making a decisive shift 

to be more user centered, digitally enabled, 

and data driven.

User Centered

We are a user-centered organization. 

Therefore, our strategic decisions consider 

what users want and expect from their national 

library. Improving user experience is not a 

one-time event; rather, it represents a 

fundamentally new way of operating. As such,

it requires our leadership to build the 

capabilities and infrastructure that will enable 

this transformation.

Our staff are some of the Library’s best 

ambassadors. The new strategy seeks to 

harness staff insight and their contributions to 

elevate the user experience. All staff, including 

those in internal-facing roles, have a part to

play in this effort. 

The Library’s 

more than 3,000 

dedicated staff 

work every day to 

provide authoritative 

and objective 

information to 

Congress.

Library staff build, steward, describe, and share 

the world’s largest and most comprehensive 

collection of knowledge; examine and register 

hundreds of thousands of copyright claims

for works of original authorship every year; 

interpret complex, dynamic legal issues for 

Congress, the judiciary, and executive agencies; 

provide primary source-based curricula; design 

and host events and programs across a broad 

spectrum of creative and intellectual interests; 

distribute accessible versions of the latest

books to people who are blind or have other 

print or learning disabilities; and demonstrate 

leadership in their professional fields.
BEING USER 

CENTERED MEANS 

THINKING ABOUT 

THE LIBRARY

 IN THE LIFE OF 

THE USER. 
16 Library of Congress Enriching the Library Experience 17

The Library has 

a rich history of 

serving a diverse 

group of users. 

Dating back to the mid-19th century, Librarian 

of Congress Ainsworth Rand Spofford managed 

the transition of the Library from an entity 

whose role was exclusively in service to 

Congress to one also serving a more general 

audience as an institution of knowledge. 

Today, we continue this pursuit. Being user 

centered means thinking about the Library 

in the life of the user instead of the more 

traditional model of thinking about the user

in the life of the Library. 

The agency’s strategy centers around four 

user groups: Congress, Creators, Learners, 

and Connectors. 

The User Experience 

Continuum

Awareness

Many people describe the Library as a beautiful 

museum or a resource for Congress and 

scholars, but that is not the full story. We want 

to broaden awareness and ensure people 

know even more about what the Library 

offers—and specifically what it can uniquely 

offer each person. We also want to learn more 

about those who do not know that the Library 

is a resource available for them. We will use this 

knowledge to target our outreach efforts.

Discovery

Our users should be able to find what they 

are looking for easily and as intuitively as 

possible. Current user experiences—shaped 

via search engines, social media platforms, 

available metadata, and always-connected 

devices—have led to an expectation that 

relevant information will rise to the top and

in many cases present itself to a user even 

without asking. While this is a challenging 

expectation for any organization to meet, 

in some ways this is where libraries excel. 

Because of our expert staff, we are well-suited 

to expose interesting relationships, enable 

“serendipitous discovery,” and 

facilitate creativity.

Congress

First and foremost, supporting 

access to authoritative 

information and the democratic 

exchange of ideas

Creators

Researchers, originators of new 

knowledge and scholarship, 

builders of cultural capacity, and 

copyright users and stakeholders

Learners

Those of any age who seek 

understanding and knowledge 

through the Library’s digital and 

physical collections and services

Connectors

External communities such as 

libraries, schools, and other 

groups and institutions that 

ultimately connect users with 

the Library

These groups are not mutually exclusive. Users 

can assume different personas to interact with 

the Library in multiple capacities in a single 

day or over the course of their life. They can 

do so from different locations, using different 

platforms and devices. Understanding these 

factors are part of designing an optimized user 

experience. 

Improving our understanding of the myriad 

ways users interact with the Library’s 

collections, experts, and services is 

fundamental to delivering our mission. Each 

interaction is an opportunity to move people 

along a path, from awareness to discovery, 

then to use, and finally, to connection with 

the Library—a continuum that renews itself 

over time.

Use

Once an item from our collections, a particular 

expert, or a service we offer has been found, 

it needs to be useful and delivered in a way 

that engenders a positive experience. While 

the primary function of the agency is to serve 

Congress, many other organizations and 

individuals use the Library. Given the diverse 

needs and global dispersion of these groups, 

we will improve our existing offerings while 

seeking innovative ways for people to interact 

with the Library.

Connection

The user experience continuum culminates 

with connection. A connection happens when 

the user interacts with an item or service 

and leaves feeling that the experience was 

personally relevant and valuable. 

This continuum is renewed as we inform 

people of reasons to return to the Library and 

share new ways to engage with and explore 

our offerings, thus inspiring a connection that 

strengthens over time.

BEING USER

CENTERED
Enriching the Library Experience 19

Make our unique 

collections, experts, 

and services 

available when, 

where, and how 

users need them.

Shortly after being sworn in as the 14th 

Librarian of Congress, Dr. Carla Hayden noted 

that, “The biggest opportunity for the Library 

is to make its wonderful treasures available 

to people...make people aware that it is part 

of their national heritage and that everyone 

can find something in the Library that relates 

to them, their classroom curriculum, or where 

they want to go in life.”

This statement aptly describes our aspirations 

of being not only the world’s largest, but also 

the world’s most-used library. In addition 

to our expert staff and collections, we have 

many tools at hand to realize this aspiration. 

Technology provides an opportunity to 

democratize the Library’s collections 

and services like never before. Strategic 

partnerships and collaborations can multiply 

our user base. And when people cannot 

come to Washington, D.C., we can bring some of 

the magic of experiencing the Library to them. 

GOALS &

OBJECTIVES

GOAL 1

EXPAND ACCESS

Given the diverse needs and geographic 

dispersion of our users, we will continue to 

improve our existing offerings while seeking 

new and innovative ways for people to interact 

with the Library.

Objective 1

Increase Discoverability 

and Availability

We will make our collections, experts, and 

services more readily discoverable and 

available for users, whether visiting 

Washington, D.C., or accessing the Library 

remotely.

Objective 2

Use Connectors to 

Extend Reach

We will work with partners to promote our 

collections, experts, and services to their 

networks.

Objective 3

Expand Physical Presence

We will proactively bring elements of the Library 

to the American people and enable broader use 

of our collections, experts, and services.
Enriching the Library Experience 21

Objective 4

Elevate Digital Experiences

We will invest in an end-to-end digital 

experience that improves online services, 

enhances discoverability, and facilitates the 

online curation of content to help all users 

derive more value.

Objective 5

Transform In-Person 

Experiences

We will focus on exhibitions, learning 

spaces, educational materials, and cultural 

programming to transform visitors into users of 

our services and contributors to our mission.

Objective 6

Develop User-Centered 

Content

We will develop content in a variety of formats 

and media to enhance the usability and 

accessibility of the Library’s collections.

Create valuable 

experiences for 

every user to foster 

lifelong connections 

to the Library.

Meeting a user’s needs has always been 

context-dependent, but this is more so in 

today’s complex environment when people are 

using so many powerful new tools to discover, 

access, and use information. 

In other words, users have options. Whether 

providing policy consultations with Members of 

Congress via Skype, launching a crowdsourcing 

project inviting users to create a database of 

historic newspaper images, providing online 

access to copyright regulations and cases, 

or debuting “touch history” tours that allow 

visually impaired visitors to experience the 

magnificence of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 

the Library will continue to innovate and rethink 

the way we do business. Delivering superior 

services and valuable experiences is the way to 

encourage users to return regularly and become 

lifelong learners and Library contributors.

GOALS &

OBJECTIVES

GOAL 2

ENHANCE SERVICES
Enriching the Library Experience 23

Objective 7

Align Core Library Activities

We will align and strengthen capabilities across 

the Library to achieve optimum operational 

efficiencies while providing enhanced user 

services.

Objective 8

Modernize Operations

We will share information, apply best practices, 

and use data across the Library to drive usercentered enhancements that will deliver the 

highest returns while balancing staff workloads.

Objective 9

Invest in Talent for

the Future

We will uncover and address capability gaps; 

train and retain our experts; and recruit new 

talent to augment our knowledge, skills, and 

abilities.

Objective 10

Diversify and Expand Funding

We will more effectively articulate the Library’s 

value to attract additional resources from 

Congress, private donors, and others.

Modernize, 

strengthen, 

and streamline 

our operational 

capabilities.

The agency’s financial and human resources, 

physical and digital capacities, and rate of 

technological advancement have struggled to 

keep pace with the growth of its collections 

and the needs of its users. The confluence of 

these factors has made our current operating 

model untenable without a shift in approach.

Our approach moving forward will focus on 

two fundamental opportunities. The first is to 

identify, synergize, and leverage capabilities, 

processes, and talent dispersed across 

organizational units as a single enterprise. The 

second opportunity goes beyond the common 

adage of doing more with less, and seeks 

instead to proactively find more, so the agency 

can do even more.

GOALS &

OBJECTIVES

GOAL 3

OPTIMIZE RESOURCES
Enriching the Library Experience 25

Use data to measure 

our impact on the 

world around us and 

share a powerful 

story.

The Library of Congress is the world’s largest 

library with nearly 170 million items; yet what 

ultimately makes the Library successful 

is usage. There is no doubt the Library’s 

collections and its human expertise hold 

untold intellectual value. But we must go beyond 

the volume of collections or number of research 

requests from Congress when speaking to 

our value, and focus on increasing usage, and 

perhaps more importantly, measuring the 

impact of our collections, services, and experts.

We will use data to measure how effectively 

we deliver services to our users. Having access 

to better quality aggregate data about our 

users—while appropriately disclosing how the 

information is being collected and used, and 

safeguarding user privacy—will allow the agency 

to gain insights to operate more efficiently and 

effectively. To enhance our services, staff will 

be empowered by this data to turn what they 

learn into principled action, working with users 

and with each other to address issues as they 

emerge and make timely improvements.

For an institution as large as the Library to be 

effective, our approach to achieving the goals 

and objectives outlined in this Strategic Plan

must be integrated across the organization. 

This means promoting shared outcomes and 

resource planning to enable our organizational 

units to fulfill their mission-specific goals. 

GOAL 4

MEASURE IMPACT

Objective 11

Understand Our Users

We will use data to better understand our users 

and their needs and measure how effectively 

we deliver services, while appropriately 

safeguarding user privacy.

Objective 12

Communicate Impact 

We will measure impact in order to 

demonstrate value to all stakeholders and 

share our story in compelling, creative ways.

Objective 13

Promote a Culture of 

Continuous Improvement

We will become an insight-driven organization, 

using data to plan, set goals and targets, and 

strengthen performance management.

GOALS &

OBJECTIVES
Enriching the Library Experience 27

IMPLEMENTATION

& METRICS

objective from the Strategic Plan. They will be 

tracked, reported, and reassessed or updated 

yearly, though progress will be measured more 

frequently, depending on the availability of 

data. Collectively, these measures will be used 

as indicators of progress and will: 

– Improve decision making and 

problem solving

– Enable accountability

– Provide early warning signals 

– Enable projections and planning

– Facilitate feedback

– Increase objectivity 

– Focus attention

Communicating Results 

The Library will communicate the progress and 

results of the Strategic Plan implementation 

on a regular basis. Progress and results 

will be shared with Congress and external 

stakeholders through annual reports, and with 

staff via the intranet, the Gazette, meetings, 

open staff forums, and other venues.

Beyond 2023 

The Library of Congress will reassess our 

strategic priorities, including goals, objectives, 

measures, and actions each year. Library 

leadership will convene to discuss and 

evaluate the success of the Strategic Plan and

Implementation Roadmap as we determine our 

planning approach for 2024 and beyond.

Performance 

measures will 

be established, 

reported, and 

assessed annually.

Implementation Timeline 

The Library of Congress will implement our 

strategic goals and objectives through a 

phased, five-year plan from FY 2019—FY 2023.

The agency’s strategy will come to life in the 

Directional Plans that organizational units 

will develop to identify and prioritize key 

initiatives. The Directional Plans will identify 

office direction and operational priorities and 

be aligned to the Strategic Plan. They will speak 

to what each unit is doing to track progress to 

and ultimately realize the agency’s strategy. 

As the Directional Plans are developed, 

the Library will develop one enterprise 

Implementation Roadmap to capture the 

aggregated priority initiatives, timeline, and 

targeted success for the entire organization. 

Performance Measurement

Regular evaluation and improvement are 

critical components to a successful strategic 

plan implementation. When developing the 

Implementation Roadmap, leadership will also 

develop a strong performance management 

plan to track success to the goals. A set of 

performance measures will accompany each 
28 Library of Congress

THE LIBRARY

AT-A-GLANCE

– 127,710,490 items in the non-classified 

(special) collections, including:

– 3,696,825 audio materials 

(discs, tapes, talking books and 

other recorded formats)

– 72,061,060 manuscripts

– 5,586,836 maps

– 17,219,510 microforms

– 1,826,847 moving images

– 8,195,320 items of sheet music

– 15,683,296 visual materials, as 

follows:

– 14,897,266 photographs

– 108,815 posters

– 677,215 prints and drawings

– 3,440,796 other

(including machine-readable items)

Welcomed nearly 1.9 million on-site visitors to 

the Library’s three Capitol Hill buildings;

Leveraged the unique knowledge, skill, and 

expertise of more than 3,000 permanent 

staff members; and

Operated with a total fiscal 2017 appropriation 

of $631.95 million, including the authority to 

spend $52.07 million in offsetting receipts.

In fiscal year 2017, 

The Library of 

Congress...

Responded to more than 1 million reference 

requests from Congress, the public, and 

other federal agencies;

Registered more than 450,000 claims to 

copyright through the U.S. Copyright Office;

Circulated more than 20.9 million copies of 

braille and audio books and magazines to 

more than 470,000 blind and physically 

handicapped reader accounts;

Circulated more than 1 million items for use 

inside and outside the Library;

Performed nearly 10 million preservation 

actions on items in the Library’s physical 

collections;

Received over 110 million visits to our website, 

with over 503 million page views and 2.7 

million downloads;

Recorded a total of 167,000,738 items in the 

collections:

– 24,356,449 cataloged books in the 

Library of Congress classification system

– 14,933,799 items in the non-classified 

print collections, including books in large 

type and raised characters, incunabula 

(books printed before 1501), monographs 

and serials, music, bound newspapers, 

pamphlets, technical reports, and other 

print material
101 Independence Ave, SE

Washington, DC 20540

www.loc.gov