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MIT Libraries Enduring Vision

Adopted, April 2023

“The MIT community is driven by a shared purpose: to make a better world through education, research, and innovation”.

The MIT Libraries embrace and advance MIT’s purpose through the steadfast pursuit of our vision — a world where enduring, abundant, equitable, and meaningful access to information serves to empower and inspire humanity. The challenges facing humankind require new understandings, new knowledge, and new ways of thinking, inspired and supported by new kinds of libraries. The MIT Libraries are committed to accelerating the transformation of libraries into platforms for the creation, discovery, use, dissemination, and preservation of knowledge that is fully open and equitably accessible. This vision guides our work now – and will long into the future – as we align our priorities with the Institute and keep a laser-sharp focus on collections, services, and technology with maximum and inclusive impact.

In defining our priorities and identifying strategic opportunities, we lead with the following principles:

  • We are a digital-first library committed to maximizing and expediting digital access to content and services.
  • We are relentless in our pursuit of a more open and equitable scholarly landscape that prioritizes inclusion and reduces the marginalization of scholars and scholarship from disadvantaged communities.
  • We democratize access to data, and provide expertise and advocacy to advance socially responsible computational research and learning.
  • We focus our physical collections, services, and spaces on an essential core whose value cannot be meaningfully replicated in a digital or online context.
  • We center equity, diversity, inclusivity, accessibility, and social justice through our work and within our organization.
  • We exercise bold leadership in defining new models for research libraries and new roles for library staff.

The MIT Libraries draws strength from our diversity and the passion, expertise, and contributions of every member of our organization. We support, equip, and inspire each other – and the MIT community – to solve complex problems in the service of humankind.