Aspiring to excellence: maximising data to sustain, shift and reshape a library for the future

Perhaps more than ever before, libraries face the challenge of excelling during uncertain times. As library leaders, we have a responsibility to ensure our libraries are reputed as relevant, visible, valued and contemporary. It is imperative that we seek out new methods for maximizing the data that we are invested in and make it more readily accessible and comprehensible to key stakeholders: the senior leadership teams of the library and those of the institution. Yet where does the persuasive evidence lay to demonstrate outcomes aligned to the institution's aims? It is unlikely that library data on its own will be sufficient for future assessment, evaluation and reporting requirements. It is necessary and vital that we rethink the indicators that are markers of a healthy, thriving library as well as extend our competency and capacity to leverage enterprise and third party data platforms for both library and institutional impact.