Library Mission Statement

The mission of the Levin Library at Curry College is to build services and collections which support the College's mission. This extends to support both of a dynamically evolving curriculum, and the needs of students, faculty and staff for personal growth opportunities beyond the classroom. The Library brings the following major values to bear on its mission: a high public service ideal, respect for different cognitive styles, professionalism in both faculty and staff, and a commitment to collaborative decision-making in the Library, the College, and beyond.

THE LIBRARY AND THE COLLEGE'S EDUCATIONAL GOALS

In 1991, the College formally adopted a statement of seven major goals, regarded as essential to achieving the institution's mission. The Levin Library's policies and practices are pertinent to these goals. Examples of these relationships follow. It should be emphasized that the policies and practices described by no means constitute an exhaustive list.

• Thinking Critically: Teaching students and faculty to evaluate learning resources, based on the information's relevance, authority, timeliness and efficiency.
• Communicating Effectively: Working with individuals to help them communicate their information needs and the final product of their research in a useful and meaningful way.
• Understanding Context: Providing instruction that clarifies the relationship between individual resources and larger bodies of knowledge, as well as the relationships among disparate materials in the context of the research process.
• Appreciating Aesthetic Experience: Providing materials in an increasing variety of media, leading to a broader exposure to different forms of creative expression.
• Defining a Personal Identity: Extending the College's metacognitive approach to individuation, to include recognition of the approaches to research and scholarship most appropriate to each person; assisting students in appreciating a variety of learning styles and methods.
• Examining Value Systems: Emphasizing the need to value research materials with divergent or opposing points of view.
• Adapting and Innovating: Working with the entire College community to become aware of, and skilled with, new forms of knowledge resources, both physical and digital.