Metadata & Cataloging Department Vision Statement

Staff

The basis for all good service is staff who believe strongly in the value of their work and are motivated by a sense of mission.

Staff are critical to the accomplishment of our mission. We advocate designing jobs so that the tasks are meaningful to the people performing them. In a changing environment, we expect staff to show flexibility in job assignments. Because communication is essential, staff have the right to know the purpose and benefit of changes and are afforded the time to adjust. Staff have latitude in organizing and performing work since we recognize that individuals are efficient in different ways. We provide recognition for accomplishments. We pay special attention to quality training, believing that well-trained staff are competent staff.

Clients

Our clients are the Libraries' patrons as well as the Libraries' staff.

Resource description and analysis is a service we provide to all users of the Libraries resources. Clients have competing and sometimes conflicting needs, so we strive to balance those needs based on the Libraries mission and the national standards we follow. We have a responsibility to deliver information to our staff clients in a clear, concise way to facilitate the effective performance of their jobs. We have a responsibility to educate our clients so they understand both how our work contributes to the delivery of information as well as how they contribute to our overall efficiency.

Service

The Metadata and Cataloging Department provides quality access to information in a timely manner.

We process information resources as efficiently as possible to make information available quickly. We apply rules, standards, and sound judgment to provide a clear path to information. We look for opportunities to offer expanded access to information and work actively to implement them.

Resources

We organize and maintain information resources in all formats for our clients.

We are proactive in organizing new information formats for our clients as we anticipate their information-seeking behavior.

Partners

We cooperate with partners to provide quality service to our clients.

We join other Libraries staff as partners to provide information and expertise to our clients. We collaborate with people and organizations on a regional as well as a national level. Our partners provide us with staff development opportunities to enhance our abilities and promote better service.

Technology

We exploit current technologies and experiment with new ones.

We encourage staff to explore and investigate technology to improve the work of cataloging. We honor endings, realizing that technology causes change and change brings inevitable transitions. We take a proactive role in technological change. We seek training when it is needed, develop it when necessary, and provide it to others when appropriate.

Place

A comfortable, safe, efficient physical environment is critical for optimum performance.

Our physical environment exerts a strong effect on our ability to be efficient and productive. We organize our office space in a way that accommodates the flow of materials and promotes good communication, resource sharing, and teamwork. The environment allows for comfort in performing job tasks that are often repetitive. We organize our space in a way that provides for the necessary degree of privacy yet also ensures maximum safety for the employees. We give attention to the often ignored factors of light, heat, and air.