Academic Library Mission Statements, Web Sites, and Communicating Purpose

Continual changes in information technologies over the past three decades have wrought substantial changes in library services and in information-seeking behavior among the general public. Thus the necessity for libraries to utilize the internet to communicate with stakeholders is even more important for academic libraries, as the rate of internet usage among those with college degrees continues to outpace that of the general population. The online availability of a well-crafted mission statement is therefore crucial. This analysis of the web sites of 113 ARL academic libraries—an update of Kuchi's (2006) study—considers the inclusion (availability) and placement (accessibility) of mission statements on library web sites and provides insights into the academic library's use of such statements for communicating mission and purpose to different stakeholders.