Our mission:

The Grinnell College Libraries--Burling Library, the Curriculum Library, and the Kistle Science Library--serve the instructional, research, and general information needs of the campus community. The libraries fulfill their mission through (1) on-site provision of books, periodicals, microforms, sound recordings, electronic resources, and other library materials; (2) mediated access to off-campus information sources; and (3) active programs of information literacy: teaching the concepts needed to navigate the profusion of available sources and to evaluate critically the information, texts, and images discovered therein. As depositories for federal and state government publications, the libraries make such documents available to residents of Iowa and promote the use of these resources. The libraries serve as the archives for the official and unofficial records of Grinnell College; through the Department of Special Collections and Archives they seek to collect, preserve, and make available for research, sources that document the history of Grinnell College and its cultural and natural surroundings in Iowa, including the prairie setting of which it is a part.