21st Century Library Strategic Plan – Values and Guiding Principles

The value statement, which often includes guiding principles, along with mission and vision statements, will define and shape the organization’s culture and climate, and establishes the standards upon which it operates. It also establishes for every employee those values against which their performance should be measured, along with the organization’s performance as well as some standards for measuring the library’s success. The values statement is about who you are – your character, as compared to the mission statement that declares why you exist, and your vision statement that declares what you want to be.

Every organization should be guided by a set of values.
• They provide an underlying framework for making decisions – part of the organization’s culture.
• Values are often rooted in ethical themes, such as equality, honesty, trust, integrity, respect, fairness, and social and environmental consciousness.
• Values should be applicable across the entire organization.
• Values express who you are as an organization.

Examples:

The Robert B. Greenblatt, M.D. Library staff are committed to the following values which frame its organizational culture and shape its actions:
• Service – … We embrace academic freedom and equality of access.
• Excellence – We strive for quality in all of our services and programs. …
• Integrity – We foster an open communication environment to uphold honesty, professional ethics and accountability, and to maintain courtesy and respect in all of our working relationships.
• Diversity – We value diversity of cultures, thinking and learning styles. …
• Collaboration – We cultivate collaboration with our internal and external customers, including global partners.
• Change – We respond to and anticipate rapidly changing technological, economic, political and social environments. We encourage taking the risks necessary to provide leadership and innovation.
(Nicely succinct, specific and understandable, and addresses some significant core values.)

Farmington (MI) Community Library guiding principles:
• Connection of people to ideas
• Assurance of free and open access to recorded knowledge, information, and creative works
• Commitment to literacy and learning
• Respect for the individuality and the diversity of all people
• Freedom for all people to form, to hold, and to express their own beliefs
• Preservation of the human record
• Excellence in professional service to our communities
• Formation of partnerships to advance these values
(Even though I omitted their brief but useful explanation of these guiding principles, it also addresses some fairly significant core values, and uses good action words.)

Hennessey (OK) Public Library is guided by the following principles:
1. Knowledge provides the foundation of any existent civilization, ….
2. Free access to uncensored information is necessary for the development of knowledge.
3. Individuals in a free society have the right and the responsibility of assessing for themselves the truth, value, and usefulness of information.
4. It is the purpose of a library to be the repository of information, both present and arcane; and in a free society, it is the purpose of a library to be an accessible repository for uncensored information in forms usable to the broadest spectrum of patrons.
5. No library will have the facilities necessary to maintain all existent information, but every library has the responsibility to preserve information unique to the society it serves and for whose purposes it exists.
(I like this example because it demonstrates some fundamental guiding principles for a public library, and it links them together very comprehensively. They are not just a list or random principles. It is also a preamble to their mission statement, which is simply “It is the mission of the Hennessey Public Library to acquire, preserve, and maintain free access to information for patrons in the Hennessey service area.” No frills, no fluff, just straight forward library principles for a straight forward library mission, both of which are easily understandable and unequivocal.)

Duluth (MN) Public Library guiding principles:
• ALA Code of Ethics -
• Communication -
• Community Partnerships -
• Customer Education -
• Customer Feedback -
• Customer Service -
• Diversity -
• Fair and Equal Access –
• Formats -
• Innovation -
• Life-long Library Use -
• Materials Access -
• Partners -
• Regional Collections -
• Resource Management -
• Safety -
• Staff Development -
• Teamwork -
• Technology -
(I intentionally omitted their verbose explanation of these guiding principles, many of which seem overly broad and too all-inclusive to be of practical use, such as Resource Management that simply states “We manage our resources efficiently and effectively.” Could that go without saying, or is someone afraid the public or staff will think they intentionally squander resources? It appears to lack focus on significant core values and principles, and lacks good action words. But, as I try to recognize, if it works for them – it works. Not everything is always perfect or elegant, but as long as it works that is the important test.)

From the corporate world, to give the “business” perspective, which 21st Century libraries should be adopting, here are two strong examples.

Google: “…these core principles guide our actions.”
1. Focus on the user and all else will follow.
2. It’s best to do one thing really, really well.
3. Fast is better than slow.
4. Democracy on the web works.
5. You don’t need to be at your desk to need an answer.
6. You can make money without doing evil.
7. There’s always more information out there.
8. The need for information crosses all borders.
9. You can be serious without a suit.
10. Great just isn’t good enough.

Starbucks mission and values:
• It has always been, and will always be, about quality;
• We’re called partners, because it’s not just a job, it’s our passion;
• We always treat each other with respect and dignity.
• Apply the highest standards of excellence to the purchasing, roasting and fresh delivery of our coffee;
• When we are fully engaged, we connect with, laugh with, and uplift the lives of our customers – even if just for a few moments;
• Every store is part of a community, and we take our responsibility to be good neighbors seriously; and
• The world is looking to Starbucks to set the new standard, yet again. We will lead.

Values and guiding principal descriptors:
Accountable, Achieve, Best, Commit(ted)(ment), Contribute, Customer, Develop, Divers(e)(ity), Ethical, Embrace, Excel(lence), Fair(ness), Focus, Give, Honesty, Individual(ity), Integrity, Meaningful, Offer, Provide, Recognize, Satisfaction, Serv(e)(ice), Share, Strive, Support, Team(work), Us, Value, We.

A Sample Values Statement:

Sample Guiding Principles:
• We serve every patron’s information needs with courteous, knowledgeable and superior staff interactions, and intelligent collection design.
• We recognize every adult’s right to uncensored information within the bounds of established laws, and strive to provide requested access in as many formats as practical.
• We strive for superior quality in all library services and programs.
• We recognize and respect diversity of cultures, thinking, literacy, learning styles, age, background and talents.
• We foster an open communication work environment to embrace honesty, integrity, professional ethics and accountability.
• We strive to achieve courtesy and respect in all of our working relationships, both internal and external.
• We recognize the value of rapidly changing technological, economic, political and social environments and strive to incorporate them as much as possible and appropriate into our library culture and operations.

Conclusions:
Having cited and provided a basis for values statements, most of the examples do not address anything specifically 21st Century. But, should they? Is the definition of values and principles a timeless thing? Has integrity or honesty or excellence changed in some way because of 21st Century influences? In my estimation – NO.

However, having said that, you can see that I have incorporated some 21st Century elements into the Guiding Principles, because that is an appropriate place to establish that your library does recognize the importance of “rapidly changing technological, economic, political and social environments” and their impact on the library, as well as the library’s commitment to address them and “strive to incorporate as much as possible and appropriate into our library culture.” We can not be oblivious to these 21st Century influences in our libraries, and we must try to embrace them as library services evolve to meet the 21st Century information consumers’ needs.

If you think otherwise or have any thoughts about the subject, as always – Please Share!

More to come…………………
Next up: Forcast