The five members of the International Alliance of Research Libraries (IARLA):
The newly released values statement is designed for all research libraries and is intended to ‘start conversations’ about why libraries are best placed to host a range of services that benefit research and scholarship.
Extracts from the new values statement below:
Research libraries: our values
Research libraries – including national, academic, and research institute libraries – are integral to advancing research excellence, and student and faculty success in this increasingly complex networked world. We recognise that research is global, crosses all borders and disciplines, and that research libraries are active partners in ensuring new knowledge from research produced in our institutions is available to the world.
Research libraries collaborate globally, regionally and nationally to advance the infrastructure, networks, standards, and best practices that enable research today and for future generations.
Research libraries enable discovery and access to knowledge through our collections, professional expertise, and infrastructure which in turn foster creativity, research, scholarship, and innovation through the flow of knowledge in our communities.
We are a public good, providing:
- essential information and knowledge infrastructure, thereby underpinning inquiry, creativity, and innovation for the benefit of society
- access to significant collections of scholarly content, cultural heritage, and creative works
- long term preservation of the knowledge by means of which our global society is developed and sustained
- services that enable excellence in research and learning.
As organisations that support research, cultural heritage, learning and inquiry, we uphold as our core values:
- The primacy of global access to information for learning and scholarship
- The importance of stewardship, production and preservation of information resources as a public good
- The principles of academic and intellectual freedom
- The importance of diversity and inclusion
- Commitment to professional and ethical standards and practice
The full statement is available here.