As a result of the State Library Advisory Council's retreat and other information gathering activities, a set of core values and roles emerged as did agreement on the overall mission of libraries in this new era of enhanced electronic resources and greater access to information.
Libraries represent social capital that makes people's lives better.
They are non-secular service oriented institutions for all age groups. They are a safe place fostering intellectual freedom and inventiveness. The Library mission of providing recreational reading and promoting and making reading and information accessible to all segments of the population may be enhanced by the new information technologies, but these traditional missions must also reflect the cultural diversity of the state and nation. The Library mission as well as this plan need to take into account that not all library users will physically be served in a library. A number of weaknesses and threats to libraries were identified in the course of the retreat and in other information gathering activities with the library community.