My motto
The tag line on my e-mail since I started this new job (Janyary 6, 2007!) has been a quote from Victor Hugo:
"A library is an act of faith."
I love that line. It sets the context for why I do what I do here. I'm not about "the business case." I'm not about efficiency. I'm about the value of commitment... commitment to an idea. The idea that the library may some day pay off in ways we cannot measure. Libraries for me are the only real safety net we have in our societies today. Anyone can use them and everyone benefits when they are putto good use.
For my institution, we manage the library to meet the current and future research needs not only of our 1,300 research-grade scientists but also all the research interests of the American people (within our areas of research). We have to provide for the current and future information needs of this institution and of the American people. It's a big goal and it requires faith... a lot of it.