Guiding Principles

Personal Responsibility

• We shall strive to maintain pleasantness and good humor even on our bad days.
• We shall not take ourselves too seriously and not take everything personally.
• We shall be accountable and responsible for our own attitudes, actions, and behaviors.
• We shall be active and positive participants in Library and departmental efforts.
  
  
  

Communication

• We shall include affected parties in our decision making.
• We shall communicate clearly to others our expectations of them; we shall give them the opportunity to tell us whether our expectations are realistic based on their understanding of their role and responsibilities.
• We shall listen attentively and empathetically.
• We shall provide feedback as we listen to assure full understanding.
• If we are supposed to tell someone something we shall tell them promptly.

Respect

• We shall respect confidentiality.
• We shall be considerate of others' needs and concerns.
• We shall accept others' words and actions in the most positive (nonjudgmental) light.
• We shall treat others with respect.
• We shall be respectful of others' opinions and ideas.
• We shall be respectful of others' ethnicity, ideological associations, gender and sexuality, and socioeconomic status.
  

Disagreement/Conflict

• We shall seek win/win solutions.
• We shall address concerns to the person involved and not bring uninvolved persons into our disputes.
• We will not bring up other gripes when working through a dispute.
• We shall be assertive without being aggressive.
• We shall be honest and open without being intentionally hurtful.
• We shall take responsibility for offering positive alternatives when presenting a problem.
  

Support

• We shall encourage personal and professional growth in ourselves and in others.
• We shall permit failure and try to turn it into an opportunity.
• We shall acknowledge the accomplishments of others.
• We shall provide more positive feedback than negative.
• We shall defend our fellow workers and resist gossip.
• We shall promote each others' strengths.
• We shall respect and support each others' personal and professional commitments.

Shared Goals

• We shall strive for commonly shared purposes.
• We shall seek to be constantly aware of changes in our customer's needs and in the means available to meet them.
• We shall seek to meet our customer's needs as efficiently and immediately as possible.
• We shall be open to change and continuously seek ways that we can improve.