Looking Forward - A Vision for the Grinnell College Libraries
We see the library as the campus gateway to an increasingly busy and evolving world of texts, images, and sounds. We see ourselves, our collections, and our facilities as a vital academic resource—every department, every staff member working together to meet the ever more complex needs of the campus community.
The best ways to meet the needs of this community are through education (developing information skills); collections; and organization.
Such education is our most basic responsibility, and it is also the most effective way to deliver our services. To this end, we see two active, on-going, formalized plans: one for user education, including preservation and shared access, and one for publicizing our services, capabilities, and accomplishments.
We envision user education as closely integrated with the college curriculum. Librarians work with faculty and students in the classroom as well as in the library, tailoring their efforts to fit specific situations. Librarians also offer opportunities for other faculty and staff to develop and hone their research and information skills. In these ways, the library and its staff are a focal point of information-related activity for the entire campus.
The library's acquisitions budget is generous, and support for library needs is incorporated in the college's ongoing development activities. Allocation of funds is flexible so as to meet changing curricular and research demands. Collection development is a proactive, planned, and regularly evaluated process carried out in partnership with faculty and administrators. The library has authority over the scope and character of its collections. We aim for well-rounded collections and consider such aspects as aesthetics, patterns of use, format choices, and preservation actions.
Special Collections and Archives collects, preserves, and makes available for research and study rare and unique materials, particularly those that document the history of Grinnell College and its cultural and natural surroundings in Iowa, including the prairie setting of which it is a part.
To connect the myriad library resources with the diverse needs of our campus community, we provide state-of-the-art, single-networked electronic access through a system of intelligent workstations. The library cooperates with other departments and offices on campus, such as the Audio-Visual Center and the Computer Center, to deliver a variety of information services (print, electronic, audio, etc.), integrating them with our networked access plan.
The physical collections are arranged for clarity and ease of access while meeting the preservation and conservation needs of the materials themselves.
The library has visionary leadership that facilitates the mission and goals of the library. There is a commitment to providing excellent customer service; the seeking of new technologies and facilitation of their use; seeking partnerships that strengthen the libraries’ position within the community; promoting the value of the library; and creating opportunities for the libraries, the staff, and the campus community.
The library staff is a dedicated, enthusiastic team, focused on users' needs. Staff positions are flexible to serve changing priorities and to allow for an even distribution of work. Staff-development programs, continuing education, and compensation commensurate with our contributions serve to enhance our efforts and to reflect our professionalism.
Good communication is vital to the staff's teamwork and the library's role on campus. Open communication exists among all levels of staff. Whenever appropriate, staff members participate in decision making and work together to establish policies and priorities. We have implemented a formal system for the dissemination of non-confidential information to ensure the inclusion and to encourage the participation of the entire staff. We also pursue an external communications plan that creates community awareness of library activities and issues and solidifies relationships with other campus constituencies.
Library facilities are sufficiently roomy and flexible to allow for all of our materials, office spaces, study spaces, teaching spaces, storage, and programs. The buildings accommodate and welcome a variety of users and their special needs. The layout is well organized; offices and services are easy to locate. Technology is integrated to facilitate research and individual and group projects.
In sum, we see our library of the future as a flexible and unified organization. As our many opportunities, challenges, and priorities change and develop, we have the capability to adjust our responses. Within the library, we work as a team to identify our priorities and to deliver the best service possible. Within the college, we reach out to and interact with other departments in service to our common mission, education. We envision ourselves, our colleagues and our users engaged in the mutually supportive, successful pursuit of this goal.
The content of this page created July 18, 1995/ revised9/2005
