The mission of the reference services department of the Phillips Memorial Library at Providence College is to connect users to information resources, and to develop collections and services in support of the college's current and future needs in reference, library instruction, and outreach.

The reference services department will:

Reference:

• Primarily, provide professional reference service to members of the college community regardless of their location on- or off-campus.
• Secondarily, provide professional reference service to member of the local academic religious, and civic communities.
• Select, manage, and provide access to print and electronic reference resources in support of the college's academic programs.

Library Instruction:

• Provide library instruction programs that enable users to become skilled in identifying information needs and in locating, evaluating, and using that information effectively.

Outreach:

• Engage in outreach activities and form partnerships with faculty, students, and administrators, in pursuit of common goals.  Examples include liaison work with faculty and providing professional reference assistance to students outside on campus, outside of the library building.

Draft revised 2 July 2004