Welcome Guide for International Students and Scholars: Mission and Values

VISION

Our vision is to be a library of the 21st century, operating as a trusted and essential academic partner, building community and transforming scholarly communication and access at Carnegie Mellon University and beyond.

MISSION

The mission of the Carnegie Mellon University Libraries is to build, steward, and enhance the information environment of the university. Through a commitment to enriching the CMU student experience and an unwavering support of teaching, learning and research efforts at the university, we strengthen the work of our academic community to ensure its transformative impact on our campus and beyond.

The University Libraries lies at the heart of the work of Carnegie Mellon University. Just as Andrew Carnegie defined the library of the twentieth century through his philanthropy, the university that bears his name will define the library of the future. As the center of the academic enterprise, University Libraries upholds the values of the university through a commitment to excellence in three core areas:

• Expertise – Cultivate and empower an innovative workforce who can deliver visionary approaches to serve emerging models of research and teaching and curate the evolving scholarly record, ensuring that core services are sustained and enriched.  
• Services -– Ensure that the services and physical spaces of the Libraries enhance the quality of the student experience, allowing the community to interact with new technologies; to access collections; to engage with and learn from librarians; and to do their work, alone or in groups.  
• Collections – Support the changing needs of researchers through the creation of systems to discover and implement partnerships, guaranteeing access to the most relevant scholarly content.  

VALUES

• Innovation
• Accessibility
• Collaboration

ELEVATOR PITCH

The language of the elevator pitch is more direct than the vision or mission statement. It's an easy way to answer the question, "In two sentences or less, can you tell me what the University Libraries does?" 

The University Libraries is an essential academic partner, whose services, expertise, and collections are at the heart of the work of CMU. We strengthen the work of our academic community to ensure its transformative impact on our campus and beyond.