About Western Libraries
Our Mission
Western Libraries' Mission clarifies our purpose and serves as a benchmark against which we will judge our actions and decisions.
"As the academic commons of Western University, Western Libraries provides the library and archival expertise and infrastructure - information resources, technology, people, and spaces - required to cultivate and mobilize knowledge, and accelerate excellence in teaching, research, and scholarship."
Our Vision
Our Vision serves as the foundation for our Strategy Map. It represents our greatest aspirations for our work and for those we serve. It addresses the ways that Western Libraries must advance and transform over the next five years.
"We engage, inspire, and empower students, scholars, and researchers to achieve their full potential as global citizens and leaders."
Land Acknowledgement
Western Libraries acknowledges that Western University is located on the traditional territories of the Anishinaabek (Ah-nish-in-a-bek), Haudenosaunee (Ho-den-no-show-nee), Lūnaapéewak (Len-ahpay- wuk), and Chonnonton (Chun-ongk-ton) Nations, on lands connected with the London Township and Sombra Treaties of 1796 and the Dish with One Spoon Covenant Wampum.
With this, Western Libraries respects the longstanding relationships that Indigenous Nations have to this land, as they are the original caretakers. We acknowledge historical and ongoing injustices that Indigenous Peoples (First Nations, Métis, and Inuit) endure in Canada, and we accept responsibility as a public institution to contribute toward revealing and correcting miseducation as well as renewing respectful relationships with Indigenous communities through our teaching, research, and community service.
Inclusivity
Western Libraries strives to welcome all who we serve, embracing and celebrating the difference and diversity of our users. Western is committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion, and we acknowledge that academic libraries have a complicated past, and that we have a great deal of work to do. In acknowledgement of this work, we will:
- Seek out and work to better serve underrepresented populations in our community
- Invite comment from a diverse range of users to better serve their needs
- Improve the diversity of our organization through conscious recruitment
The intent of this statement is to serve both as a vision and as a benchmark by which we will hold ourselves accountable. We welcome comment and engagement.
