The Department’s vision arose out of the ideas of our community members, who proposed innovative ways the department could achieve our founding purpose of promoting the welfare of people everywhere.

DLIS-NBU has always been a wellspring of new ideas and innovative solutions, where curious people come to make a difference. But the scale and urgency of challenges facing us today require that the department amplify what has made us successful in the past and define new ways of making a difference. We are expanding avenues of discovery across all fields while creating new pathways for applying knowledge where it is needed in the world. At the same time, we are ensuring that new ideas are grounded in ethics and solutions benefit from diverse perspectives.

Our vision guides our approach to research, education and impact and includes new initiatives that accelerate the creation and application of knowledge, anchor research and education in ethics and civic responsibility and promote access and inclusion across our activities. And it recognizes the need to forge deeper partnerships in our community and in the world to move ideas into action.