Our Values

The ECU Libraries will build a sustainable model of scholarship based on the principles established by the University of North Carolina University Library Advisory Council (ULAC). These principles will shape how the libraries steward academic research produced by our researchers and acquire information in a manner that is accessible openly and widely to the community of scholars at ECU.

Additionally, a model of sustainable scholarship aligns with ECU’s mission “to be a national model for student success, public service and regional transformation” by supporting mechanisms for new knowledge to be shared leading to a greater impact in Eastern North Carolina and beyond.

In order to support a model of sustainable scholarship, the ECU Libraries commit to:

• Engaging with information vendors that emphasize open access, transparency in pricing, and financially viable business models
• Prioritizing agreements that include preservation and continued accessibility of the content
• Leveraging the collective bargaining power of consortia to enter deals that are in our best interest and achieve a common good for our peers in the state and region
• Educating researchers on best practices in making research openly available
• Supporting those practices by investing in systems that foster open scholarship and information sharing

The ECU Libraries will facilitate open, continuous dialogue with ECU researchers, faculty, and students so that there is a mutual understanding about values and needs. We believe this approach can provide ECU with a more sustainable model of scholarship while continuing to support our researchers in their pursuit of discovery and innovation.