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Public Law Library Mission Statements (with a side of “Portlandia” and a failed Mission Alignment)

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Most organizations and corporations have mission statements in one form or another. (A good business plan will always include one.)

Mission statements are often aspirational but also restrictive, by which I mean they can save the organization from the dreaded “mission creep.” (For a funny “Portlandia” (the TV show) based example of averted mission creep, see below.*)

First, here is a list of 50 county (or public) law library mission statements, courtesy of the 3 Geeks and a Law Blog.

*Portlandia story: Many years ago I received a call from a “Portlandia” location scout who asked if the TV show could film in my Law Library (then the Washington County (Oregon) Law Library). I controlled my urge to say, “yes!” and referred the question to our county’s public affairs director. The answer was, no – the filming would not pass the “mission alignment” test, a response that we all agreed was very “Portlandia.” (The formal response to the location scout was: “… the private purpose of the production falls outside the scope of the County’s mission of public service.” which is not to say that if left to my own devices I might have said “yes!” and called it Outreach, which all public law libraries do. Alas.)

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