Central Public Services Division
About Us:
Mission Statement:
Central Public Services facilitates access to information resources for students, faculty
members, and staff in all academic programs and disciplines at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign, as well as constituents of affiliated institutions, Illinois residents, and the
global community in all its diversity. It offers innovative, high-quality reference, instruction,
and interlibrary loan services; develops and manages interdisciplinary collections and web
resources; and trains and supports contributors to the Library web site.
Details:
The Central Public Services Division provides services used throughout the library system and
the campus environment, including:
- Inter-Library Loan and Document Delivery services
-
General research assistance - in
person, by telephone, email, and chat/IM.
- Management of the online "Ask A Librarian" chat service
- Government information research assistance
-
Instructional Services,
includes tours/ orientation services for undergraduate and graduate students, course
integrated instruction, online learning assistance, and more.
- Extensive Individual and Group Collaboration Spaces and lengthy hours of service
The CPS Division also houses a number of unique and high use collections, including:
- The official depository for United Nations, Canadian, United States and State of Illinois
publications and information
- Main Stacks collection of 2 million plus volumes
- Media collection for the University Library (videos, video games)
- Loanable technology (laptops, mp3 players, digital video cameras, etc.)
- Retrospective Reference Collection
- University High School materials
- Oak Street Remote storage facility collections
CPS Principles:
- To simplify access to the Library’s services and collections
- To increase user competence.
- To increase use of the Library, both onsite and remote.
- To increase collaboration within and across divisions for improvements in access, service,
efficiency, and productivity.
- To provide stewardship for the Library’s collections in all formats.
- To maintain core central services to offset the decline in decentralized services ... across
the board cuts are no longer viable; central service points must be adequately staffed if they are
to meet user demands that were previously met elsewhere.
