Dear Colleague,

We've heard your comments about the future of the Welch Library and, in response, will take time for a careful review of the future of this treasure on our campus. To ensure we capture thoughts and ideas from across the schools of public health, nursing and medicine, and the hospital, the deans of each school will join in appointing a broad-based, representative committee to look at our opportunities.

On the university side, members of the committee will be identified from the elected faculty and student senates, and from associations in each of the schools, while health system members will be chosen by the hospital administration. The committee will research and reflect on our investments in physical and digital materials, in centralized and distributed library services, and in the best use of the library building.

The library will maintain its current status, with both physical and electronic resources available, until the review period is complete and a new plan is put in place. We will keep you updated about this work and the committee's recommendations through the Welch website, emails, and print matter in the schools.

We look forward to working together to move the library forward while preserving the treasure that is the Welch Library building.

Sincerely,

David G. Nichols, M.D.
Chair of the Welch Library Advisory Committee
Mary Wallace Stanton Professor of Education
Professor of Anesthesiology, Critical Care Medicine and Pediatrics
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

PREMISE:

The Johns Hopkins community is world-renowned for innovative research, knowledge generation, scholarship and practice. Outstanding library services have provided vital academic resources for the acquisition, storage, retrieval and management of information. To best meet the needs of its patrons, the delivery of library services has migrated to digital and virtual methods. At the same time the aging of the Welch Library's physical space, the declining traffic to the building, the explosion the electronic collection and cost constraints have combined to necessitate careful re-examination of the future of the Welch Library services and building. The purpose of this re-examination is to ensure that the library continues to support the academic and patient care activities of Johns Hopkins faculty, students and staff to the fullest extent possible, while retaining a national and international leadership role in defining an academic medical library for the 21st century.

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