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UNC University Library Advisory Council: Mission & Vision

ULAC is composed of the directors of the 17 University Libraries and a representative from the UNC System Office. This guide covers ULAC's mission, vision, committees, roster, etc.

ULAC Mission and Vision

ULAC Mission - Commitment to Collaboration Runs Deep [adopted June 5, 2015]

The University Library Advisory Council, composed of the 17 UNC libraries and a representative from the UNC System Office, holds a deep commitment to system-wide sharing, collaboration, and leadership. ULAC leverages its combined resources and expertise to advise the UNC System Office on critical issues and to provide excellent and cost-effective collections, services, and technologies that stimulate creativity, learning, and scholarship.

ULAC Vision - Achieve More Together [adopted June 5, 2015]

The members of ULAC envision a future where the University of North Carolina retains its preeminence as a state-supported system of higher education and enjoys the most valued, sustainable, and innovative libraries in the world. ULAC is the most resourceful collaborative in the state, one that is widely consulted and emulated because it achieves consistent cost savings, efficiencies that scale, and enduring results for each and every UNC campus.

Our values are inseparable from our vision. The values of mutual trust and commitment permeate our individual libraries’ decisions, goals, and actions. We recognize and celebrate the diversity of our libraries and what each contributes to the whole. Together we amplify our unique strengths and build common capacity for meeting new challenges. The UNC libraries engage in strategic deployment of technology, value-guided negotiations, and building critical relationships to accomplish our mission and vision.

In keeping with long-standing values of librarianship and emerging goals of scholars worldwide, ULAC is driven by a belief in shared and universal access to knowledge that is underpinned by an environment of open scholarship and shared creativity. Sharing expands access to publicly funded research by taxpayers and others seeking credible research results, advances scholarship and practice in all disciplines, and benefits a global community of scholars and learners. The belief in the value of an open environment compels us to invest jointly in long term stewardship of the data, scholarship, research results, and artistic endeavors generated at our institutions, and we collaborate to expose them to the world and preserve them for the future. Our efforts propel the research from North Carolina into the forefront of openly accessible resources, creating an environment where scholarship is easy to pursue and far reaching in its impact.

Applying collaborative approaches and cutting edge methodologies, UNC libraries elevate learning, scholarship, and academic achievement, as well as the cultural and financial welfare of the state. Imparting essential skills, knowledge, and ways of thinking that promote fruitful engagement with information and the creation of new knowledge is at our core. Our intense focus on user outcomes, coupled with the cultivation of critical partnerships, advances the preparation of students for a life of innovation, learning, leadership, and global citizenship. By this means we contribute to developing a pool of talent prepared for the information economy and ready to engage in economic development for the state.

The ULAC member libraries exemplify the best of libraries, as well as the highest standards of the profession and higher education. By adhering to our values, looking ever forward and creating new opportunities together, the UNC libraries empower individuals, communities, and citizens of the state to realize their goals and their passions, which in turn contribute to the improvement of the world.