OLA Vision and Values Framework

The Oregon Library Association is a professional organization with members living in and serving Oregon's diverse communities. All support the concept of libraries as important community components whether in a municipality, a school, a university or other settings.

VALUES	VISION	ACTIONS
Intellectual freedom	The Oregon Library Association is a strong Oregon library network empowered locally and engaged nationally.	Advocate
Literacy & learning	We envision Oregon as a place where everyone has equitable access to the information resources and expertise they need to make informed decisions, enhance their lives, and thrive in our communities.	Educate
Equitable access		Collaborate
Social responsibility	MISSION	Serve
Professionalism	OLA provides advocacy, education, leadership and collaboration to continually strengthen Oregon's libraries and the communities we serve.	Inform
Individual privacy		Defend
Stewardship of public resources		Engage
Diversity		Lead

Definitions/Explanations

Intellectual freedom	We uphold the principles of intellectual freedom and resist all efforts to censor library resources. We uphold the Library Bill of Rights, http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill
Literacy & learning	We promote the creation, maintenance, and enhancement of a learning society, encouraging its members to work with educators, government officials, and organizations in coalitions to initiate and support comprehensive efforts to ensure that school, public, academic, and special libraries in every community cooperate to provide lifelong learning services to all.
Equitable access	We believe that all information resources that are provided directly or indirectly by the library, regardless of technology, format, or methods of delivery, should be readily, equally, and equitably accessible to all library users.
Social responsibility	We recognize that librarianship can help ameliorate or solve the critical problems of society. We support efforts to help inform and educate the people of Oregon on these problems and to encourage them to examine the many views on and the facts regarding each problem. We are willing to take a position on current critical issues with the relationship to libraries and library service set forth in the position statement.
Professionalism	We provide the highest level of service to all library users. This requires qualified and trained personnel including professionals who have been educated in graduate programs within institutions of higher education. We strive for excellence in the profession by maintaining and enhancing our own knowledge and skills, by encouraging the professional development of co-workers, and by fostering the aspirations of potential members of the profession.
Individual privacy	We protect user privacy and confidentiality as a necessity for intellectual freedom and fundamental to the ethics and practice of librarianship. In a library (physical or virtual), the right to privacy is the right to open inquiry without having the subject of one’s interest examined or scrutinized by others. Confidentiality exists when a library is in possession of personally identifiable information about users and keeps that information private on their behalf. Protecting user privacy and confidentiality is necessary for intellectual freedom and fundamental to the ethics and practice of librarianship.
Stewardship of public resources	We strive to be good stewards of the public's resources through responsible policy development, planning, and management.
Diversity	We value Oregon's diversity and strive to reflect that diversity by providing a full spectrum of resources and services to the communities we serve.