Mission and Goals

DR. ARNOLD L. SEGEL LIBRARY CENTER:

JULIUS AND ROSA WATERMAN ADULT LIBRARY 
ELLEN AND HAROLD WALD CHILDREN’S LIBRARY
DR. DAVID AND LEONA F. KARP AUDIO-VISUAL CENTER

MISSION AND GOALS     

MISSION

The mission of the Dr. Arnold L. Segel Library Center is to be a place of Jewish learning for the Temple community.

GENERAL GOALS

To develop a collection which addresses the needs and interests of the clergy, faculty, staff and members, now and in the future.

To help the congregation keep up with advances in Jewish learning and literature.

To make the collection as accessible as possible to its users.

To support the current educational and social programs and activities of the synagogue, be they programs for adults or children.

COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT GOALS (apply to children's and adult collections)

To maintain and continue to develop a basic Judaic reference section.

To provide resources for rabbinical teaching, as well as a teachers resource center for all of the temple's faculty.

To include a popular collection of Jewish fiction and non-fiction.

To maintain and grow our media collection.

SERVICE GOALS

To provide courteous and efficient assistance to the library patrons, in person, on the telephone, via email, and in any other setting or via any other media.

To work closely with clergy, faculty and staff in providing their informational needs.

MANAGEMENT GOALS

To recruit competent, reliable, responsible volunteers and paid staff.

To train volunteers and paid staff to competently perform basic library functions. Particular attention is given to "our kids," that is, the students who wish to, or are referred to work in the library for a variety of reason; and members who wish to volunteer as a way to "give back" to the temple. The employing (as volunteers or paid staff) of library school students or recent graduates is also highly desired as a way to keep our library on the cutting edge of new innovations in the library world.

To house the library materials in adequate, modern, and attractive facilities.

To maintain and upgrade our media equipment.

To plan for physical expansion of the library collection, if needed.

To create a disaster plan for the library and archives, in collaboration with the archivist.

Supervision of the temple's part-time professional archivist.

PROGRAMS

In collaboration with the library committee, coordinate the annual Joy Ungerleider Jewish Book Month Program.

In collaboration with the library committee and the family educator, coordinate the annual Book Fair.

OBJECTIVES

DEVELOPING AND MAINTAINING NEW SERVICES OR PROGRAMS

Providing support for and coordination with the various temple-sponsored book groups, Me'ah classes, Introduction to Judaism classes, TILLI* and other Adult Learning programs.

Raise the temple's leadership's consciousness of the library through specific invitations to library programs.

Develop ways to better serve those members who may be homebound, visually impaired, or otherwise disabled.

Provide book shelf donors with annual list of materials purchased with funds of their particular shelf, and in general, be attentive to donors.

Serve as a guide and teacher concerning electronic resources.

Created by the Temple Israel Library Committee 10/13/92; updated, July, 2009.

*Temple Israel Lifelong Learning Institute