Mission/Vision

MISSION STATEMENT

The mission of the Libraries of the University of Jamestown is to support the curricular and research needs of the students, faculty, and staff on each campus and to serve as the intellectual/knowledge center preparing students for the future.

VISION STATEMENT

The staff of the Libraries recognizes and enhances the potential of each student to become a well-rounded person, living a life of integrity and dedicated to life-long learning and the development of his or her own special gifts and talents.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE OF RAUGUST LIBRARY

from the Collection Development Policy of Raugust Library

(2nd paragraph): “The primary objective of Raugust Library is to support the undergraduate curriculum. This requires a broad subject coverage rather than an especially deep one. Depth can be attempted only in those fields where a large number of upperclassmen place more than entry-level demands upon the collection. Even this degree of depth will not encompass the research materials required by graduate level study or faculty research; certainly a comprehensive collection, containing everything available upon a given topic, is beyond the scope of this library. For faculty and upper-division research, the library will gladly make use of its extensive series of networks to locate and retrieve extramural materials.

“The library also attempts to provide a variety of points of view on the subjects taught at the college. A collection that is skewed to one interpretation will not help students learn to analyze positions or synthesize arguments.”

THE MISSION OF THE UNIVERSITY

from the University of Jamestown Academic Catalog

“We are a community dedicated to the development of wholeness in our students. We adhere to a curriculum of academic excellence which balances the ideals of the liberals arts tradition and sound professional preparation. Our Christian tradition encourages an atmosphere of self-discipline, responsibility, and concern for the continuing growth of individual.”

 

The Board has identified seven goals that support this mission statement. The library administration and staff share these goals and meet them in the following ways:

1. To offer an environment that recognizes the distinctiveness of each student, and in which teaching and scholarship lead to an encounter with the Christian faith.

Raugust Library…

• offers individual help and consultation for research needs
• recognizes that different people learn in different ways, and so provides information in a variety of formats
• treats every question and every questioner with respect
• provides a safe and pleasant atmosphere in which to pursue research
• provides access to the collections regardless of physical disability

 

2. To encourage the development of creative and critical thinking through intelligent contact with the accumulated resources of human thought and experience.

Raugust Library…

• provides resources in all subjects taught in the curriculum to a degree described in the Collection Development Policy
• provides resources to subjects outside the curriculum to enable students to follow their own interests
• takes care to develop multiple points of view on different topics within the collection so that students learn to exercise critical judgement
• provides access to materials outside the walls of the library through a series of electronic databases, library networks, and an extensive interlibrary loan network

 

3. To provide a curriculum of academic excellence for professional preparation or advanced study.

Raugust Library…

• provides primary resources for original study
• provides secondary and critical resources for the explanation and development of issues and subject areas
• supports the research of Senior Seminars, Honors Papers, and advanced research through the provision of complex research materials, electronic databases, library networks, and interlibrary loan
• builds special collections for particular subject areas, such as the Curriculum Library for teacher education, targeted language materials for the international business major, or medical resources for nursing students
• works with the faculty to develop course-integrated instructional programs and current collections

 

4. To promote individual self-worth, self-direction, and wholeness.

Raugust Library…

• provides the means by which students may pursue their own particular interests outside the curriculum and find resources for individual study
• provides a competent, service-oriented staff which encourages and helps students with their research problems and provides efficient and courteous service

 

5. To promote in students a desire for life-long learning and self development.

Raugust Library…

• provides instruction in information seeking strategies which the students will be able to use throughout their lives
• provides instruction on evaluating the content and validity of the information once it has been found
• provides instruction in the resources specific to the student’s discipline

 

6. To impart knowledge of the world and promote the responsible engagement in it through unselfish service to others.

Raugust Library…

• provides resources on other countries, cultures, and times
• provides a staff which is willing to go to great lengths to help students research and find needed materials
• recognizes the need to provide on-going training and learning opportunities to the library staff
• maintains and communicates an awareness of the legal and ethical uses of information as exemplified in copyright, licensing, and other restrictions

 

7. To build character as exemplified by the following traits: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, citizenship, courage, and caring.

Raugust Library…

• provides resources dealing with religious and philosophic beliefs
• provides biographies and autobiographies of persons who exemplify these traits
• provides current materials on social/political/economic problems and varied responses to them
• provides a staff which exemplifies these character traits in its treatment of the students

 

In order to make sure that the library is meeting its goals and the goals of the college, the library administration will conduct periodic user satisfaction and other surveys, will compare the library to the ACRL STANDARDS FOR COLLEGE LIBRARIES at set intervals, and will study its effectiveness by other means as necessary.

Published: March, 2001