Our Mission,
Guiding Principles,
Initiatives, and Values
Our Mission
“We celebrate our communities and dedicate our passion and expertise to help you create your own story."
- The San Diego County Library Staff
Our Guiding Principles
Learn. We promote learning, exploration, and discovery for fulfillment and personal growth.
◉ Foster achievement and build bright futures through the Library High School program, which confers accredited high school diplomas to adults whose education was interrupted.
◉ Cultivate school readiness and encourage a growth mindset for children ages 4-5 and their caregivers by expanding the Kindergarten Gear Up program.
◉ Leverage our broadband connection to the California Research and Education Network to increase and expand learning opportunities for our local communities.
Energize. We champion civic engagement and support individuals in shaping the future of their communities.
◉ Provide citizenship training classes and citizenship application support to permanent legal residents in partnership with US Citizenship Immigration Services and Jewish Family Service.
◉ Support the mission of the Library Friends of San Diego County and the Library Foundation of San Diego County and their resolve to advocate and raise funds for the Library.
◉ Support voting and democracy by making every library branch a polling location and/or a mail ballot drop-off location.
Read. We encourage reading in every way: to develop skills, nurture hope, and motivate a love of reading.
◉ Curate the library’s eBook collection to increase readership, ease of use, and discoverability. Innovate our marketing strategy to attract new readers and keep them engaged with the eBook
collection.
◉ Enhance our storytime classes with early literacy skills building based on research findings in neuroscience and early childhood development.
◉ Encourage individual and community conversations about books by engaging customers and staff to explore and discover literature.
Create. We design opportunities to experience and enjoy culture and the arts as a creator and participant.
◉ Assess current program offerings through community feedback and partnerships to develop programming that reflects the diverse cultures that we serve.
◉ Support and enhance the mindset of creation and innovation in our library branches through the process
developed in Design Thinking for Libraries.
Our Values
Inclusion
Everyone is welcome. We celebrate the diversity of our communities and staff and actively affirm the dignity of all the people we serve.
Compassionate Service
Through a lens of compassion, we seek to recognize and advocate for the unique needs of our communities. We provide each library user with the tools for individual success.
Innovation
We approach opportunities and challenges with creative thinking and bold solutions.
Trust
We maintain high standards of integrity, expertise, and reliability to build authentic relationships with our communities and with you.
Teamwork
SDCL is an outstanding team. We take care of each other. We encourage personal growth and it shows in our service.
Serving the communities of:
4S Ranch
Alpine
Bonita-Sunnyside
Borrego Springs
Campo-Morena Village
Casa De Oro
Crest
Descanso
Fallbrook
Jacumba
Julian
Lakeside
Lincoln Acres
Potrero
Pine Valley
Ramona
Rancho San Diego
Rancho Santa Fe
Spring Valley
Valley Center
Serving the cities of:
Del Mar
El Cajon (including Fletcher Hills)
Encinitas (including Cardiff-by-the-Sea)
Imperial Beach
La Mesa
Lemon Grove
Poway
Solana Beach
San Marcos
Santee
Vista
With mobile libraries, Little Free Libraries,
and 24/7 kiosks throughout San Diego County
