The mission of Soka University of America (SUA) is to foster a steady stream of global citizens* committed to living a contributive life. And the four guiding principles are
- Foster leaders of culture in the community
- Foster leaders of humanism in society
- Foster leaders of pacifism in the world
- Foster leaders for the creative coexistence of nature and humanity
The mission of Daisaku and Kaneko Ikeda Library is to support our students, faculty, and staff in their endeavors to meet their academic and personal goals as we all work together toward fulfilling the SUA mission. To that end, the library actively engages in teaching information literacy skills, facilitates access to information, and provides spaces for exploration and collaboration.
Our principles are the compass to guide our actions and decisions. We seek to:
- Empower students through research consultations and information literacy instructions, using the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education (1. Authority Is Constructed and Contextual; 2. Information Creation as a Process; 3. Information Has Value; 4. Research as Inquiry; 5. Scholarship as Conversation; 6. Searching as Strategic Exploration)
- Provide equitable, effective access to resources according to the patrons’ varied needs, interests, and abilities
- Take a partnership role, as information specialists, in endeavors of our community and individuals
- Create welcoming, comfortable space for exploration, contemplation, and collaboration
- Promote ethical use of information resources
- Support self-education and engage the community to develop deeper understanding of themselves and others through presenting diverse perspectives in our library collection
- Cultivate the culture of collaboration, engagement, transparency, and responsiveness
- Be flexible and open to new ideas and ways of serving our community
- Commit ourselves to human rights, racial justice, and social justice; Commit ourselves to embody the attributes of global citizens as defined by the University founder
- Engage in environmentally responsible practices
- Actively listen to the voices of our campus community members. Learn, understand, and respond with the attitude of flexibility and adaptability to meet their varied and changing needs by:
- Participating in campus workshops, conferences, lectures, and events hosted by academic affairs, student groups, and other constituencies
- Working collaboratively with campus event organizers in selecting and disseminating information, using Libguides on the library website, to enhance the participants’ learning experiences
- Reviewing annual surveys and responding to requests
- Initiating impromptu conversations on campus
- Building genuine relationships
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*Thoughts on Education for Global Citizenship delivered by the founder of Soka University of America Daisaku Ikeda at Teachers College, Columbia University on June 13, 1996 includes the following:
What then, are the conditions for global citizenship?
Over the past several decades, I have been privileged to meet and converse with many people from all walks of life, and I have given the matter some thought. Certainly, global citizenship is not determined merely by the number of languages one speaks, or the number of countries to which one has traveled.
I have many friends who could be considered quite ordinary citizens, but who possess an inner nobility; who have never traveled beyond their native place, yet who are genuinely concerned for the peace and prosperity of the world.
I think I can state with confidence that the following are essential elements of global citizenship.
- The wisdom to perceive the interconnectedness of all life and living.
- The courage not to fear or deny difference; but to respect and strive to understand people of different cultures, and to grow from encounters with them.
- The compassion to maintain an imaginative empathy that reaches beyond one's immediate surroundings and extends to those suffering in distant places.
