About Us: About Rasmuson Library

Welcome to Elmer E. Rasmuson Library at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

At Rasmuson Library, we can assist you with using library resources and provide guidance on how to best locate research articles and other types of  information. Seeking assistance from librarians early in the research process can save you many hours of frustrating work!

Rasmuson Library has one of the world's finest collections of Alaska and Polar Regions materials including books, periodicals, photography, manuscripts, films, oral histories, rare books and maps. The collections are centered on Alaska but include many items about the circumpolar North and Antarctica. Subject bibliographers, archivists, anthropologists and historians on the Alaska and Polar Regions Collections & Archives staff are available for reference and research assistance.

​The University of Alaska Fairbanks libraries advance the university’s mission through education and the creation, acquisition, curation, preservation and dissemination of information resources.

Our vision is to:

• Promote information literacy
• Maximize information access and delivery to the UAF community, Alaska and others
• Be the library of choice for researchers on Alaska and the circumpolar North

Rasmuson Library Strategic Plan with Envisioned Future (2025) and Strategic Priorities (2019 – 2020)

Core Purpose: Connecting People to Information – Supporting Education, Research, and Lifelong Learning

Core Values: Quality ♦ Access ♦ Inclusivity ♦ Collaboration ♦ Service ♦ Communication ♦ Respect

Envisioned Future: By 2025, the Rasmuson Library is filled with the buzz of human activity, widely recognized by students, faculty, and administration as the “Hub of the UAF Campus.” The Library:

1. Is 100% Patron Focused: Students spend time at the library, in-person and online, because they feel welcomed, appreciated, and inspired to learn, and faculty know the Library has access to the information they need to enhance their instruction and further their research interests
2. Is the Premier Storehouse of Arctic/Polar Information: The library continues to build upon its strong reputation in the state and internationally as the premier source of information on the Arctic and polar issues and peoples
3. Is Actively Engaged with its Communities: Through outreach, the library has strong partnerships with patrons, the campus, and other UA Libraries and stakeholders across the state and worldwide
4. Is Maximizing Existing Space: As a result of a facility improvement plan, the library is using its space efficiently, and has become a gathering place for students and faculty to interact outside the classroom
5. Is Ensuring Sustainable Digital Access: Through a solid technology and digital preservation plan, the library is well on its way to meeting the digital information needs of all patrons, now and into the future
6. Has a Highly Committed, Professional, Collaborative Staff: The library has built up staff’s capacity to be highly effective and cohesive, including staff development and improving internal communication

Strategic Priorities (2019-2020)

Priority: 100% Patron Focused

• Assess and evaluate what students and faculty want and need from the Elmer E. Rasmuson Library
• Ensure policies and practices reflect a UAF library that wants to meet student and researcher needs

Priority: 100% Premier Repository of Arctic/Polar Regions Information

• Ensure policies and practices are in place to ensure that the Arctic/Polar Regions Collection is a long-term priority, for instance making sure there is a plan in place to construct a new media vault

Priority: Actively Engaged with its Communities

• Begin developing a comprehensive outreach and marketing plan that builds awareness of the library as an essential part of a UAF education and as a resource for researchers
  • Significant improvements to the web presence, enhanced social media efforts, and full utilization of other outreach techniques, including better incorporation into existing UAF outreach efforts

Priority: Maximize Existing Space

• Complete a space study and develop a five-year building improvement plan – make the most of existing space by pursuing efforts to establish the library as a gathering place to support student success

Priority: Ensure Sustainable Digital Access

• Develop an archives rescue plan, including a comprehensive, five-year improvement plan that fully supports digital collections and improving access to unique resources

Priority: Highly Committed and Collaborative Staff

• Assess and make necessary changes to internal communications policies/practices, to ensure there is a culture of healthy communication, and practices that support it, including a regular informal all-staff gathering with the director
• Develop professional development and cross-training opportunities so staff better understand the duties of co-workers, to enable more staff to provide assistance to patrons
• Actively work to capture the valuable “institutional knowledge” in long-time staff
• Begin to hold a staff retreat at least once a year, with training, team building, strategic plan review
  • Invite experts to share information on trends and best practices