Northwestern University Library Mission:

The mission of Northwestern University Library is to provide information resources and services of the highest quality to sustain and enhance the University’s teaching, research, professional, and performance programs. The Library provides a setting conductive to independent learning and a resource for users both within the Library and throughout the University and broader scholarly communities. The Library is committed to meeting the needs of users by taking a leadership role in linking the University to information in a rapidly changing environment. The Library develops innovative strategies to educate users and to select, organize, provide access to, and preserve information resources. It forges effective partnerships outside the Library to connect users with the resources they need.

To achieve this mission, the Library will:

Maintain, develop, and preserve a collection of information resources that meets the needs of the University community and is responsive to changes in curriculum and research. This collection consists of materials in many formats and includes items held locally as well as those accessed from remote sources;

Acquire library materials and provide effective bibliographic access to them. In addition, provide access to remote information the Library considers of primary importance to its users;

Provide appropriate space, environmental conditions, facilities, and equipment for the Library’s collections, users, and staff;

Provide access to Library services and to information resources located within and beyond the Library;

Assist users, individually and through formal education programs, in finding the information they need.