Leipzig University Library’s guiding values
Leipzig University Library bases its actions on the following values. These values were developed and described in the summer of 2025 with the participation of LUL employees.
We tailor our services and facilities to the needs of our target groups. To this end, we continuously assess requirements and evaluate our services. We strive to identify needs at an early stage and offer innovative solutions before a gap arises.
Respectful, supportive and constructive cooperation – within teams, departments, and the entire library system – is an important foundation of our work. We treat each other with openness, trust and appreciation, share knowledge and experiences, and support each other in order to achieve the best possible results together. We cultivate a culture in which criticism can be expressed constructively. Collegiality also includes creating a working environment that promotes the physical and mental health of employees and enables a work-life balance. Work tasks and processes are geared towards the skills of the employees.
We cultivate strategic partnerships and cooperation across institutional and geographical boundaries. We pool our expertise with public and commercial institutions as well as civil society actors in Germany and abroad to jointly develop and design library-related services, projects and products. By actively establishing and maintaining networks, we create a cooperative environment that strengthens all partners, promotes scientific progress, fosters dialogue at eye-level, and establishes the university library as an open, networked space of knowledge.
LUL plans and structures its tasks in such a way that they can be carried out consistently, fairly and in a resource-efficient manner. In doing so, we are guided by the UN's sustainability goals.
We stand for tolerance, equality and diversity and oppose all forms of hatred and discrimination. We embrace an open work culture in which decision-making processes are transparent, participation is encouraged, and self-critical culture of error is practiced. Our self-image as a library is characterized by openness and curiosity towards change. We implement openness at many levels through our services: we are actively committed to implementing open science at the university, ensuring comprehensive physical and digital accessibility to our collections, consciously focusing on active participation in open source developments, and designing our locations as inviting spaces.