The value of values
Abstract
Purpose
The paper's aim is to provide insights into issues encountered in maintaining library technologies and electronic collections on a limited budget and with limited personnel.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses real‐world experiences and evidence from the body of literature to provide commentary on the importance of clearly defined missions and goals in an era of shrinking budgets and changing user expectations.
Findings
Having a clearly defined library mission statement with underlying goals and outcomes is vital in this time of accountability and assessment in higher education. Librarians must be mindful of the need to connect the goals and outcomes to the overall institutional goals in order to provide measurable and meaningful value.
Originality/value
The paper examines one library's struggle to establish an identity in an era where traditional methods of determining value are no longer suitable. The article uses dialogue from departmental meetings coupled with evidence from the library literature to state the importance of finding and communicating value in an era of accountability.
Keywords
Citation
McMullen, A. (2013), "The value of values", The Bottom Line, Vol. 26 No. 1, pp. 4-6. https://doi.org/10.1108/08880451311321519
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2013, Emerald Group Publishing Limited