Mission
Temple University Libraries build, organize, interpret, and provide access to rich collections of information resources that spark curiosity, deepen understanding, and open the record of research and the world of knowledge and discovery to the University's student and faculty scholars, the surrounding neighborhood, and the larger scholarly community. We foster lifelong learning skills and provide a welcoming environment for research, study, and reflection.Vision
Inspired by Russell Conwell's commitment to educational opportunity and diversity, the Libraries will contribute to the advancement of knowledge and promote and enhance the intellectual, cultural, and communal life of the University by building and preserving research collections, by deploying leading edge technologies, and through staff with the skills and creativity to manage the challenges of a dynamic information environment. We are committed to making our collections and services ever more widely available to each new generation of students.Goals
- Fully support Temple's teaching, research interests, and information needs with rich discipline-based collections and access to information resources
- Strengthen, build, and expand collections by
- Selecting and purchasing materials based on the teaching and research goals of the individual schools and colleges and in consultation with faculty
- Preferring electronic holdings where appropriate while building print book collections at the median annual rate of peer ARL institutions
- Purchasing retrospective collections in targeted areas of program strength and for new programs
- Acquiring and preserving special collections based on current strengths or targeted areas of new interest.
- Continually manage collections to optimize relevancy, ease of discovery, and space for study and service areas; select appropriate volumes for storage.
- Use evaluative tools to analyze and measure collection strengths, use, and needs and to adjust continually collection decisions accordingly.
- Develop our relationships with consortia and other potential partners to strengthen our ability to provide the widest possible array of resources to the Temple community.
- Provide consistent, streamlined access to the research, cultural, and historical record, regardless of location or ownership
- Provide integrated information discovery mechanisms so users identify and access all relevant information resources held or licensed by Temple Libraries.
- Coordinate policies and services across locations in order to more efficiently, quickly, and consistently deliver information resources to all users.
- Preserve, maintain, and/or reformat collections so content is protected from deterioration or obsolescent technology.
- Ensure that Temple's graduates are information literate by providing a foundation for lifelong learning and an understanding of the information environment
- Promote the integration of information literacy into the curriculum beyond the General Education courses.
- In partnership with faculty, provide effective, high-quality instruction and student learning assessment mechanisms.
- Provide information mentoring and assistance when, where, and how it is needed.
- Operate convenient, comfortable, well-equipped facilities that enhance the educational, intellectual, and cultural experience of the University community
- Construct a storage facility to enable better collection and space management within the Libraries.
- Determine the optimal number of facilities in consultation with the University community.
- Reconfigure and renovate facilities in order to
- provide an inviting, comfortable environment that better integrates the Libraries' services, physical space, and technology into the individual and collaborative learning experience at Temple.
- Provide suitable accommodations for staff, technology, and collections.
- Raise the visibility of the Libraries and our collections and services within and beyond the University community
- Effectively communicate with the University community about library services, resources, and research practices.
- Contribute to intellectual life on campus and in the community by offering exhibits, lectures, readings, and other special cultural opportunities.
- Digitize special and unique "hidden" collections, to make them accessible beyond the Libraries' walls.
- Establish a network of strategic partnerships, including library donors and friends, to generate additional resources in support of the Libraries' mission.
- Establish an institutional repository to store university documents and data, including those of the teaching and research faculty, as a service within the University and to promote the University to the larger scholarly community.
- As an organization, emphasize flexibility, teamwork, and collaboration, while anticipating change and responding with innovation
- Analyze and modify the current processes, workflows, staffing levels, and organizational structure to meet the University's needs and position ourselves strategically in relation to peer institutions.
- Improve communications and collaborative efforts within the Libraries and across campus.
- Foster skills needed for innovation by training and recruiting.
- Foster diversity throughout the workplace by recruiting and hiring talented individuals whose variety of experience and backgrounds will continually invigorate the organizational culture.
- Develop and support an organizational culture where the individual is valued, and where everyone understands the Libraries' goals and is empowered to contribute to their achievement.
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In partnership with faculty and the General Education Executive Committee, ensure that first-year students have the basic information skills to be successful in their majors.
January 2006