Mission Statement A mission statement is a clear and concise summary of your library’s unique contribution to your organization’s success. The mission statement, tailored to your particular clientele, establishes your library’s purpose, values, and beliefs. The mission is why you exist. A well-designed mission statement will: Ø guide your choices and help you set priorities, Ø make plain where you fit within your company, Ø spotlight the impact of your operation on the overall success of your organization, Ø unify your department, Ø establish the library as a valuable asset to your organization. The trend is for the mission statement to be short, sincere, and simple. Employees and staff must believe in and be able to support the values expressed in the mission statement; they must be able to repeat it enthusiastically. A mission statement is the foundation on which your department can build and grow in step with your company. First, establish what is important to your department in relation to the company; then complement those principles and ideals with library values, strategies, beliefs, standards, and tactics that will propel you forward with focus and commitment. A well-crafted mission statement may be relevant for years, but should be reviewed periodically. Libraries, Mission, & Marketing by Linda K. Wallace (see bibliography) is an invaluable resource for librarians tasked with creating, evaluating, or revising a mission statement. This title covers the often elusive definition of mission statements, provides a context for mission statements in libraries, and includes actual mission statements from a variety of libraries all over the country. One important distinction made in the text is the difference between a mission statement and a vision statement. The vision statement is closely related to the mission statement. The mission statement is why you exist while the vision statement is your view for the future – where you want to go. Few law firm library or corporate library mission statements are available publicly. However, Cindy Chick’s LLRX Appendix in “Jumpstart: Writing an Annual Report for a Law Firm Library” includes several law firm mission statements provided by Laura Olsen Dugan. Timothy Von Dulm’s bibliography provides additional in-depth resources. The Toolkit Bibliography provides many sources rich in examples of law, public, and special libraries as well as many excellent mission statements from other organizations. Following are a variety of mission statements from libraries and other organizations. These examples and the resources in the Toolkit Bibliography should be useful for inspiration and guidance in writing your library mission statement.
Library Mission Statement (Yale Law School) In support of Yale Law School's outstanding legal scholarship and lawyer training, Lillian Goldman Law Library is dedicated to acquiring and preserving a superb collection of resources in all formats, furnishing access to information wherever it exists, providing the most highly competent assistance to use information resources and maintaining a welcoming, comfortable facility. Lillian Goldman Law Library provides services which exceed the expectations of users by its leadership in the innovative use of technology and the continuing development of its most highly valued asset, its staff. Guiding Principles Understand the changes and trends in legal education and the legal profession. Understand the changing and diverse needs of our patrons, both local and remote. Flexibility and adaptability in response to rapidly changing needs and technologies for service. Promote and use the best resources. Recruit and promote the best-qualified people to support excellent service to the Yale Law School and University communities. Represent the Library's ethic of honesty, integrity and trust. Mission Statement (Baltimore County Circuit Court Law Library) The primary obligation of the Baltimore County Circuit Court Law Library is to provide legal information and information services to the judges, attorneys, paralegals, government officials, and citizens representing themselves in legal matters who reside or practice in Baltimore County, Maryland. This mission is founded on the central importance of knowledge and information to the practice of law. Secondarily, the library shall provide access to county residents of the laws that affect them and provide public service to assist these library users in locating materials held in the collection. Limited service will be available for students doing research in connection with course work as it is the obligation of their educational institutions to provide such training. Mission Statement (Kathrine R. Everett Law Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) (http://library.law.unc.edu/about_the_law_library/mission_statement.html) The Kathrine R. Everett Law Library supports the education of Carolina Law students, acts as a research partner with faculty and students, and serves the legal information needs of University students and faculty, the legal community, and the residents of North Carolina. To that end, the Law Library's mission is: 1. To research, develop and implement innovative services, instruction and creative uses of technology to access, manage and communicate knowledge; 2. To collect, organize and preserve legal resources, and provide access to information to enhance and support legal and law related research and scholarship;
3. To teach formal courses in law, legal research and law related subjects in the Law School and the University; 4. To maintain a physical environment conducive to study, research and scholarship; and 5. To foster research, scholarship, education, and leadership in law librarianship, legal research, law, and information and library science. (Approved June 1990; Amended January 1995; Amended January 2002; Amended December 2004) Mission Statement (Fraser Trebilcock Davis & Dunlap, P.C.) (http://www.fraserlawfirm.com/facts.html#5) The mission of Fraser Trebilcock Davis & Dunlap, P.C. is to provide superior legal services which meet or exceed client expectations for the resolution of their legal matters while operating a profitable business entity and offering a stimulating work environment. This will require ongoing training, a team effort by attorneys and staff members, and the effective use of technology. Mission Statement (Special Libraries Association, Legal Division) The Legal Division intends to play a leading role in the SLA as it becomes the premier association of the library world. Our profession is our central focus, and our activities will promote professional development and competence. Mission statements from large national/regional law firm libraries: Ø “Providing service to attorneys and firm members quickly and accurately.” Ø “Making your life easier.” Ø “The mission of the library team is to provide the best connections to information needed by attorneys and staff, making a vital contribution to the quality of legal services delivered by the Firm.” Ø “The mission of the library is to offer access to and training in the use of the information resources necessary to support our attorneys and staff in providing superior legal service in a cost-effective and timely manner.” One Sentence/Line Mission Statements 3M Electro and Communications Business: We turn 3M technology into solutions for customers in electrical, electronics and communications markets around the world. Merck: The mission of Merck is to provide society with superior products and services by developing innovations and solutions that improve the quality of life and satisfy customer needs, and to provide employees with meaningful work and advancement opportunities, and investors with a superior rate of return. Merck Values: Our business is preserving and improving human life. (http://www.merck.com/about/mission.html) Law Library of Congress: The mission of the Law Library of Congress is to provide research and legal information to the U.S. Congress as well as to U.S. Federal Courts and Executive Agencies, and to offer reference services to the public. (http://www.loc.gov/law/public/law-about.html)
PLL SIS: “The Voice of the Private Law Librarian.” The object is “to improve the quality and service of private law libraries by emphasizing their goals, needs and special interests and to represent its members' interests and concerns within AALL.” (http://www.aallnet.org/sis/pllsis/) Chicago Public Library: “Read, Learn, Discover!” (http://www.chipublib.org/003cpl/mission.html) Orange County Library System (Florida): “Information, Imagination, Inspiration.” (http://www.ocls.info/About/mission.asp?bhcp=1) Daly City Public Library (California): “Preserving Yesterday, Informing Today, Inspiring Tomorrow.” (http://www.dalycitylibrary.org/) Hennepin County Library (Minnesota): “Promotes full and equal access to information and ideas, the love of reading, the joy of learning, and engagement with the arts, sciences, and humanities.” (http://www.hclib.org/pub/info/MissionVisionGoals.pdf)
Denver Public Library (Colorado): “To help the people of our community to achieve their full potential.” (http://www.denver.lib.co.us/about/mission.html)