Purpose and Mission

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General Statement of Purpose

Special Collections and Archives (Spec) is a distinct unit within the University of Idaho Library and has been for many decades. Beginning in the early 20th century, university librarians recognized the need for concentrated care and curation of rare, unique, and locally significant material. Nearly 100 years of collecting history are represented in the university’s archives.

Today, Spec exists to serve its stakeholders, including the University of Idaho, student and faculty researchers, Idahoans, and those researching regional history. The primary activities of Spec are to acquire unique and significant materials, preserve those items for ongoing use, and assist stakeholders in accessing collection items. This work is undertaken with the twin goals of furthering historical research and enriching the lives of patrons through access to historical knowledge and learning.

As the institutional archives for Idaho’s land grant university, Spec is ideally situated to be a repository for regional history that encompasses both the university’s record and materials related to political, social, and economic life in north Idaho and the greater Inland Northwest. The primary source material preserved by Spec represents history that is often lacking from scholarly secondary sources. Without preservation in Spec, much of the region’s historical record could disappear.

Archival collections under the care of Spec have been treated as separate from the library’s general catalogue since at least 1956¹. The variety of record formats, non-circulating nature of the material, and unique value of archival items have informed this policy of separation. In recent years the university’s Integrated Library System (ILS) has allowed patrons to search across internal catalogues more easily. Internal workflows, however, remain distinct.

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Mission and Vision

Special Collections and Archives relies on the Mission and Vision of the Library to guide its work. The Library’s Core Values of community, access and stewardship, and intellectual freedom are evident in the polices adopted by Spec.

• Mission of University of Idaho Library (as of Fall 2022): As Idaho’s flagship research library, the University of Idaho Library connects our users with information, ideas, tools, and spaces; enriches formal and informal learning opportunities; supports and advances research, scholarly, and creative activity; builds partnerships through regional and national outreach; and preserves university, state, and regional historical archives.

• Vision of University of Idaho Library (as of Fall 2022): The University of Idaho Library will develop and expand our capacity and skills to provide our users with the resources, training, and expertise of a world-class research library. We champion the transformative power of ideas and learning, inspire our students to engage in a lifelong pursuit of intellectual development, and provide an essential foundation for innovation, research, and scholarship.

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Objectives

• Support discovery by preparing materials and creating access points for researchers
• Ensure longevity of analog and digital assets by following procedures that meet current standards
• Gain intellectual control over materials and identify scope of materials for research
• Empower staff members to make decisions about accepting and curating physical, born-digital, and hybrid collections

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Footnotes