Standard Five is broken down into five elements (A. Purpose and Scope; B. Information Resources and Services; C. Facilities and Access; D. Personnel and Management; and E. Planning and Evaluation.) Each element has between two and six indicators, resulting in a total of nineteen indicators. We will begin with Element C, Facilities and Access. Here is our first indicator. Use what you have observed to comment on how the library does or does not meet this indicator, including any suggestions for improvement or any questions you would like to ask.
ELEMENT STATEMENT: The institution provides adequate facilities for library and information resources, equipment, and personnel. These resources, including collections, are readily available for use by the institution’s students, faculty, and staff on the primary campus and where required off-campus.
Indicator: 5.C.1 Library and information resources are readily accessible to all students and faculty. These resources and services are sufficient in quality, level, breadth, quantity, and currency to meet the requirements of the educational program.
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Okay, I will get this one rolling with some thoughts.
Strengths:
• New facility – seating and study area, aesthetically pleasing and functional
• New facility – room for growth of collection
• Accessibility of catalog, on and off campus
• Accessibility of electronic resources, on and off campus
• Extensive full-text journal and book collection
Weaknesses:
• Small book collection in print format
• Slow/old computers
• Limited space for group study
• Lack of weekend hours
• Lack of service at airport campus – newspapers, magazine displays, etc.
• No AV resources for students
Suggestions for improvement:
• Could have more avenues for students to request items – online ILL request; mailing books to online students; courier service to students at airport; online reference service (Ask a Librarian)
I agree with Janice's list. Would like to see one or two computers that serve primarily for the catalog in the Library proper and one in what ever satelite set-up we have for the Airport Campus that is a "full" library station.
New topic: How does the Library collaborate with the Access Center for providing access to special needs items like large print books, audio book, etc.? Is this issue even relevant to 5.C?
I too think Janice's observations are good.
I am still puzzling over the use of the words "primary campus" in the original post. Is Donaldson primary, AP secondary?
I had a question similar to Mike's about accessibility for the sight impaired. Suzanne
Mike and Suzanne both bring up some very relevant points. I will address the “Primary campus” issue first. Yes, I would say that Donaldson is our primary campus – that is the campus where we offer our full services, including bookstore, food service, cashier, Learning Center, etc. That being said, I think the phrase does absolve us from the omission of services from other campuses, in our case Airport.
As for access to resources for special needs students. To me this has three dimensions: our physical space, our virtual library (our website), and our resources. 1)Physical Space - We have furnished and done the new library layout with access in mind – adequate clearance between shelving stacks; wheelchair accessible seating at tables, computer stations, and circulation desk; signage at front door indicating back door is the handicap accessible entrance, etc. 2) Virtual library – most of our library webpages are ADA compliant. There are a few pictures that probably need to be relabeled. We should take another look at this. 3) Materials – we work with Disability Services in the Access Center to coordinate access to materials for people with documented disabilities. The library’s responsibility is to have the resources, the Access Center’s responsibility is to provide the means to translate the needed resources into an accessible format. (We have attempted to get audiobooks on ILL or by purchase, but usually our attempts have been unsuccessful.) We should probably add a page on the library’s webpages that addresses this, such as “If the library resources you need are not available in a format you can access, please see the Librarian or Disability Services.” As for sight impaired, Cindy informs me that we could improve access to our online catalog and online databases if the library computers were running Vista. Apparently it has an ease of access control that provides both magnification and screen reader software. Of course the library would need new computers to provide this capability.
And Mike’s suggestion for a dedicated OPAC (online public access catalog) station is a great idea, but again we would need more computers from IT.
Here is a page I added to the library’s web pages in response to your suggestions:
Library . . . . Current Students . . . .Services for Students . . . .Resources in Alternative Formats
http://umhelena.edu/CurrentStudents/Library/ServicesforStudents/ResourcesinAlternativeFormats/tabid/835/Default.aspx
"adequate equipment" : who defines that? Your discussion refers to expansion of services that would include more equipment (computers). Are there definintions for standards/terms somewhere? It probably refers to enough equipment to meet the needs of the students/faculty/staff. Does Noel Levitz cover any data to assess that answer?
I will make two points in response to Candace's comments. 1) As to the term "adequate"; a few decades ago there were prescriptive standards for libraries, i.e. so many books per FTE, etc. But standards have shifted from an input to an output paradigm and as I see it, "adequate" is defined by what we say we are doing. Do we have enough resource/equipment/staff to do what we say we are doing.
2) As for Noel Levitz, there are just two questions on Noel Levitz that pertain to the library and its services: a: Satisfaction with helpfullness of library staff and b: Satisfaction with library resources and services. On both questions, the library has improved in meeting expectations of students, closing the gap between importance to students and satisfaction since 2001. For staff helpfulness, the gap dropped from .73 (2001) to .25 (2004) to .25 (2007). And for resources and services the gap dropped from 1.01 (2001) to .71 (2004) to .50 (2007. And in raw satisfaction scores, library indicators ranked third (helpfulness) and eleventh (resources/services)highest out of ninety five indicators.
Hi,
I think my A&P and Biology students would do well to spend more time in the library; specifically searching the scientific periodicals. I think the main reason these students don’t utilize the library more is due to ignorance on their part – what is available, how to use it … I think Janice mentioned this when I first arrived, but I would really like to follow through and have an orientation session for my students each semester to familiarize them with what the library has to offer.
On another note, I would like to “inventory” what the library offers in the way of scientific literature and perhaps make some suggestions if needed?
Is this type of “stuff” appropriate for this discussion? …
This is all stuff that is appropriate, and needs to be, discussed. I think we are already identifying that the library has lots of valuable resources and services, but that we need to do a better job of getting that message out to students and faculty – especially faculty, since they are here for more than 2 years and often are the agent for getting students into the library with assignments.
As for library orientation/instruction, we do have a webpage for faculty outlining the library instruction we can offer http://umhelena.edu/CurrentStudents/Library/ServicesforFaculty/LibraryInstruction/tabid/240/Default.aspx and the page includes a link to a form for requesting instruction (though a phone call or conversation works just as well) To date, this service has been frequently used by instructors in the English, Psychology, History, College Success, Nursing, and various science classes. Our statistics vary but some semesters we have instructed as many as 271 students in a semester, ranging anywhere from 15% to 37% of FTE per semester. It is our strong preference that any instructional session be tied to an assignment or project, and not just a general tour. Integrating the instruction into the curriculum is our goal to enhance student learning.
As for an inventory of the library science resources, Mike makes a good suggestion. Also, I would like to point out that each semester the library targets one program and has a “party” with the faculty and instructors in that program to review the library collection in that subject area, using the faculty expertise to remove outdated materials and to suggest additional items to be added to the collection. It also has the added effect of creating faculty awareness of what we actually do have in our library. Last spring we met with the Nursing Department in preparation for their BON visit, and this semester we are meeting with the Accounting and Business Program. I think the science programs would be a good area to target in the spring of 2009.
Oh, and one more thing that Joella brought up. Faculty and instructors are welcome at ANY time to suggest items to be added to our collection. We always consider this our highest priority in purchasing items for the collection. Our better sections (LIterature, History, Nursing) are those areas where faculty have been actively involved in making suggestions. We solicit suggestions for purchase several times a year, by email, but take suggestions any time!
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