Murray Library

Vision Statement

Murray Library works to be at the heart of the educational enterprise at Messiah College.

Mission Statement

The purpose of Murray Library is, first, to participate creatively and responsibly in the larger enterprise of librarianship-to select, acquire, catalog, preserve, circulate, provide access to, instruct in the use of, and selectively deaccession-that portion of the accumulated knowledge of humankind appropriate to our institution (as outlined in the Library's Collection Development Policy) and within the constraints of our financial resources. Second, we exist to share significantly in meeting Messiah College's College-Wide Educational Objectives by providing appropriate collections, services, and instruction, and by maintaining a facility and environment conducive to learning. We also endeavor to meet responsibly the information needs of college administration, faculty, staff, and community readers.

Although Murray Library supports all the College-Wide Educational Objectives to some degree, its contributions to developing those abilities which are common to liberal education are especially apparent. Learning to use library resources effectively assists logical, creative, analytical, and synthetic thinking, both concrete and abstract. Beyond that, information literacy aids in an awareness of and commitment to the ethical use of information in the lifelong pursuit of learning.

As students mature as scholars, Murray Library covets its role in helping them to attain specialized knowledge and abilities in at least one area of study and to engage in scholarship in a selected, specialized discipline. These library-related themes permeate all seven College-Wide Educational Objectives. Any common-sense consideration of the dialectic between these educational commitments and the everyday activities of Murray Library yields rich realization of the centrality of the library to Messiah College's success.

Further, Murray Library's mission is to collaborate with institutional administration in achieving exemplary, intentional institutional support-both conceptually, through an integrated presence in the institution's defining documents and financially, through strong fiscal undergirding. Such support will enable Murray Library to maintain a place at the heart of the educational enterprise, to fulfill the College's educational objectives, and to bring honorable visibility to Messiah College through contributions to the larger scholarly community.