University Library Mission & Goals

University Library Mission

The Santa Clara University Library promotes excellence in teaching, learning, scholarship, and integrated education in the Jesuit tradition by providing access to, and facilitating the use of, a broad array of information resources. The Library is committed to outstanding service and open inquiry in an environment of academic freedom.

Goals

The University Library's goals are to:

  1. Provide consistently high quality and timely service in support of the University's Vision, Mission, Strategic Priorities and Goals.
  2. Develop, maintain, and provide easy access to a wide range of balanced information resources that foster academic excellence; promote critical analysis of various viewpoints; integrate rigorous inquiry and scholarship, creative imagination, and reflective engagement with society; and support the University's commitments to inclusive excellence and to fashioning a more humane, just, and sustainable world.
  3. Provide instruction in library and information literacy skills aimed at developing an individual's ability to select, evaluate, and use information resources now and in the future.
  4. Provide training in the use of information resources and technology to enhance teaching, learning, and scholarship and to improve productivity and service quality.
  5. Use technology to improve the delivery of programs, resources, and services.
  6. Engage SCU faculty, students, staff, alumni, and the larger Silicon Valley community in programs that enhance the co-curricular life of the University and build long-term support for the Library.
  7. Recruit, develop, retain, and reward an excellent, creative, and diverse staff, with a variety of academic backgrounds, experience, and training, who are committed to continued growth and learning, and supportive of innovation in a changing information environment.
  8. Mentor and prepare the Library's student employees for their eventual careers in the workforce of Silicon Valley and beyond.
  9. Allocate resources in accordance with strategic priorities; evaluate and assess programs, resources, and services on a regular basis, using the evaluation as a basis for continuous improvement; strive for responsible decision making, and fiscal responsibility at every level.
  10. Provide facilities that promote effective study and research; ensure appropriate storage, maintenance, and preservation of information resources; enhance Library and other Information Services' staff productivity and collaboration; and serve as a community gathering place for the exchange of ideas.

Working Draft June 8, 2011