The Technion Library formation (“the Library”) includes:​

• Central library
• Faculty libraries

The library statues are based on the vision, the mission and the values that guide the libraries.

The Vision

The libraries’ vision agrees with and advances the Technion’s vision- to be one of the leading academic libraries in the world in the fields of science, engineering and technology and to create a study environment that supports and encourages study and research, creativity and excellence.

The Mission

• To support research and teaching at the Technion, provide researchers, lecturers and students with access to information and professional assistance in order to promote academic excellence in accordance with the Technion’s mission and library rules.
• To serve as the national library of technology providing information services in that subject to the country/Israeli public.

Values

• Professional, dedicated services
• Appreciation of the importance of excellent customer service
• Innovation and creativity
• Honesty, respect and patience
• Guarantee of academic and intellectual freedom
• Professional ethics
• Responsibility and efficiency
• Transparency/ sharing knowledge

• The Technion Central Library and the faculty libraries function as one institution, all adhering to the same standards and a constant, high level of service.
• A staff that is professional, updated and creative.
• Constantly in touch with the changing needs of the patrons: mapping the patron population, determining their needs and synchronizing resources and services offered to them.
• Organization and preservation of the resource collection and its development according to research, teaching and studying needs.
• A guarantee of timely access and distribution of information.
• Promotion of efficient and smart use of library resources through ever-developing library instruction and professional reference services.
• Making optimal use of the physical areas of the libraries.

• To support the research and teaching that takes place in the Technion by providing professional information services to the researchers, lecturers and students in order to advance academic excellence.
• To supply information services and physical learning spaces to the academic, technical and management staff and to the students for their work and studies in all fields of activity in the Technion.
• To provide a collection of books and other information sources that deal with all areas of activity in the Technion that reflects the scientific developments of the institution and their connection with general scientific progress.
• To preserve all Technion publications (books, articles, and other valuable documents) in all fields of activity for use by the government, education and research institutes, industry, alumnae and the general public in accordance with copyright laws and agreements with publishers.

To provide physical learning centers:

• Open to all members of the Technion community; in some areas, preference is given to students during exam periods.
• That are suited to the requirements of students (updated technological facilities) and are accessible to people with disabilities.
• That include current academic and research resources.
• That provide a physical environment that stimulates inspiration and creativity.

Functions of the Central Library

To supply the technological, technical and professional infrastructure used by the central library staff as well as the faculty library staffs:

• collection organization, preservation and development according to the research, teaching and learning needs.
• Centralized acquisition of print and electronic resources and managing the library catalog.
• Archival preservation of print and digital materials.
• Administration and preservation of the Technion Historical Archives, with emphasis on Technion publications.
• Development and administration of all Technion electronic resources within the institutional repository.
• To develop systems that make electronic and educational electronic materials accessible.
• Development and administration of the information systems within the libraries’ portal.
• To adapt library services to the needs of the Technion population and to changing circumstances, customizing them to the requirements of the faculty libraries.
• To train and update the Technion librarians.
• To produce reports, instruction manuals and other assistive materials needed for learning, teaching and research.
• To provide technologic systems for organizing materials.
• To provide legal knowledge and services as needed regarding copyright laws.
• To research subjects important for the administration of the Technion and to provide necessary information.

To act as a center of culture within the Technion:

• To shape education through the resource collection.
• To distribute library resources to as many people as possible while at the same time, taking care of the physical items and insuring their return to the collection.
• To initiate changing, attractive exhibits in the entrance to the library that reflect Technion activities.
• To hold cultural events suited to the times and the populations.

Functions of the Faculty Libraries

• To develop and preserve a resource collection specific to the subject areas studied and researched in the faculties, making them quickly and easily accessible to the faculty population (the resources are in the faculty building).
• The staff must be proficient in the resources specific to the subjects studied and researched in the faculty in order to provide expert reference services.
• To liaise between the faculty and the Central Library, in order to announce and disseminate information coming from the Central Library and to modify it when necessary to suit faculty needs.
• To provide professional and up-to-date library services for researchers as detailed below.
• To support remote teaching and learning: production of educational materials, electronic documents.
• Set up the library website on the library portal according to faculty needs.
• To order books and articles for faculty members.
• Collection development, organization in the catalog, arrangement in the library and preservation as detailed below.
• To implement projects specific to the nature of the faculty in accordance with the available human resources.

Reference services are provided through all existing channels (personal meetings, telephone, email, the library website, social networks, etc.)

Circulation and Interlibrary-Loan Services:

• Managing a patrons file that includes the entire Technion community.
• Lending library collections to the entire Technion community throughout the Technion Library Formation.
• Publishing unified and updated circulation regulations for the entire Library Formation.
• Determining policies for handling late returns and lost materials.
• Ordering academic items that are not available at the Technion for research, teaching and study from other libraries in Israel and abroad.

Professional Reference Services

Reference services, document delivery services, literature searches for individuals and groups, assistance with research: retrieval and organization of material, assistance and guidance with reference management tools, establishing a personal internet portal, setting up a professional profile, and advice regarding publishing options including open access publishing.

Reference Services in the Central Library

• Reference service for the administrative and academic Technion community.
• Bibliometric and evaluation services for the Technion administration.
• Reference services to all those who request them.
• Production of instruction and guidance manuals and educational materials, provision of instruction sessions on various platforms and systems for the entire Technion community to support research, teaching and learning.
• To arrange seminars on topics relevant to library work and activities.
• To update the Technion population regarding new technologies and information resources.

Reference Services provided in the Faculty Libraries

Librarians are well acquainted with the specific topics studied and researched in their faculties and can provide appropriate reference services:

• Instruction sessions, literature searches.
• Instruction sessions requested by a lecturer that are customized for specific courses.
• Creating a Citation Report for the Tenure Committee and the Dean’s Office.
• Providing information about similar academic programs in other universities in Israel and abroad.

Library collections are the basis of the scientific work in the institution and support research, teaching and learning. The library strives to be the leading library in the country in the fields of science, technology and engineering in accordance with its vision.

Central Library Collection

• Databases in all fields studied and researched at the Technion, including educational and research materials that have been digitalized.
• Textbooks in all fields studied and researched at the Technion.
• Books and journals, specific and multi-field, including subjects which may become more important in the future.
• Technological and scientific materials that are important for research or have archival significance.
• Popular literature, popular non-fiction and Humanities research sources.
• Institutional Depository that contains Technion publications, including graduate theses, research reports and articles.
• The Technion Historical Archive.
• Technion publications (that are published by the Technion).

Books that have not been used for at least 5 years will be evaluated and where appropriate, will be moved from the reading rooms to the book storage in the Central Library.

Faculty Library Collections

• Educational materials (books, printouts, and other publications).
• Materials specific to the research projects in the faculties that are used regularly.

Books that have not been used for at least 5 years will be evaluated and where appropriate, they will be moved from the faculty libraries to the central book storage in the Central Library. The same is true for old journals, after their usage has been determined. Items that are no longer used and do not have to be saved (according to Technion library stipulations) will be weeded.

Guidelines for the use and care of the print collection

This refers to collections that were purchased from Technion literature budgets and are the property of the Technion, valuable books and old journal volumes that are not available electronically.

Library responsibilities:

• To supervise and care for the collections and to make them available to the Technion community.
• To lend them using the library’s Alma computer program.
• To store them in the appropriate conditions (temperature, humidity, light, pest control) as outlined in the Israeli and international regulations.

Remote Access to Library Collections

• Journal articles are scanned and sent by email (according to copyright laws).
• Patrons order books via the library website or application; if the patron requests, books are sent to the patron’s faculty library or office.
• Technion faculty members and graduate students may return books to any Technion library regardless of where they were borrowed.

Evaluation, weeding and storage

• Library collections are handled according to the Technion Library Procedures for Collection Evaluation (approved by The Library Committee and the Technion Administration in January 2015). The main points:
• Library collections should be appropriate for the learning and research needs of the university. The collections will be evaluated systematically on a regular basis.
• The collections are Technion property and will be regulated and administered via the library computer system.
• The Library Committee gives the library authority to determine relevant policies for itself.
• As agreed with The Library Committee, the Central Library determines the policies regarding collection management and determines work procedures for the librarians in all the Technion libraries.
• Print journal volumes will be withdrawn from the collection when they can be replaced with electronic ones (excluding exceptional cases).
• Books and journals that are withdrawn from the library collection but should be saved, are transferred to the Central Library Storage. These items may not be stored in the faculties in areas outside the library property.

*This regulation, number 15-0103, (online version on the Technion website) must be followed by all the Technion libraries.

The Library Budget

• The library director will present a budget request for library resource acquisitions to the Technion Library Committee. After receiving its approval, the request will be submitted to the Budget Division.
• The request will be detailed, specifying the cost of each resource.
• The budget will be determined by the administration.
• It is possible to move monies to the library budget from other budgets; however, monies may not be moved from the library budget to other budgets.

Budget decisions

Tracking usage and checking acquisition feasibility

Once a year the collections will be examined to determine their continued relevance. This information will assist when making decisions regarding resource acquisitions.

Ascertaining library needs

• The faculty deans will convey the needs of their libraries to the Technion Library Committee.
• These requests must include prices for the requested materials (textbooks, reference books, journals, databases, etc.).
• Based on the faculties’ needs, the Library Committee will prepare a budget and present it to the administration.

The General Technion Library Committee (herewith called The Library Committee)

Composition of the Library Committee:

• The library director.
• Senior executive vice-president, or a replacement he has chosen, who presides as the Head of the Library Committee.
• Three faculty members who are at least full-time, tenured, associate professors and who were appointed by The Central Committee and approved by the Senate (category- 2 appointments by the Central Committee).

Length of the appointment term

• The Library Committee member serves for approximately 2 academic years; i.e., from the day a he/she fills an empty spot (because another committee member completed his term, began a Sabbatical, etc.) until Dec. 31st 2 years later.
• A committee member may serve for 2 consecutive terms.
• A member who has completed his terms may serve again after a year hiatus from the culmination of his service.

Advice to the Management

• The Library Committee will deal with all issues relating to the management of the central and faculty libraries.
• The Committee will advise the Technion administration about general library development policies, acquisition budgets and the number of staff positions needed.

Faculty Library Committees

• Each faculty will appoint someone to act as a liaison between the library and the faculty dean.
• When a faculty library serves multiple faculties, decisions will be made cooperatively.
• If faculty deans disagree, the head of The Library Committee will make the final decision.

General Discussion

The Library Committee and the faculty deans, or their replacements, will meet once a year for a general discussion.

Library Committee reports will be delivered to the Senate.