ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

ACRL Guidelines: Guidelines for Extended Academic Library Services: A draft

Library resources and services in institutions of higher education must meet the needs of all the faculty, students, and academic support staff, wherever these individuals are located, whether on main campuses, off campus, in distance education or extended campus programs, or in the absence of a campus at all, in courses taken for credit or noncredit, in continuing education programs, in courses attended in person or by means of electronic transmission, or any other means of distance education. The Guidelines delineate the elements necessary to achieve these ends.

The audience for the Guidelines includes library staff planning for and managing these extended academic services, other library staff working with extended program staff, faculty, administrators at all levels within the educational institution, and sponsors of academic programs, as well as accrediting and licensure agencies.

The decision to revise the 1990 Guidelines was made first by the ECLSS Guidelines Committee, then the official mandate came from the ECLSS Executive Board at its final 1996 Midwinter Meeting. The 1990 Guidelines resulted from the first revision of the original 1981 Guidelines. As in that initial revision, the current decision to revise was based on the following identical, though increasingly critical, factors: nontraditional study becoming a more commonplace element in higher education; an increase in diversity of educational opportunities; an increase in the number of unique environments where educational opportunities are offered; an increased recognition of the need for library resources and services at locations other than main campuses; an increased concern and demand for equitable services for all students in higher education, no matter where the “classroom” may be; a greater demand for library resources and services by faculty and staff at extended academic sites; and an increase in technological innovations in the transmittal of information and the delivery of courses. To these may be added the appearance and rapid development of the virtual or all-electronic university, having no physical campus of its own.

Definitions

Extended academic library servicesrefers to those services in support of college or university courses and programs offered away from the main campus, or in the absence of a traditional campus. These courses may be taught in traditional or nontraditional formats or media, and may or may not involve live interaction of teachers and students. This definition includes all programs designated as off-campus or distance learning. Also included are services to individuals who are involved in extended academic programs, regardless of where credit is given.

Extended academic communitycovers all those individuals and agencies directly involved with academic programs or extension services offered away from the traditional academic campus, or in the absence of a traditional academic campus, including students, faculty, researchers, administrators, sponsors, and staff.

Parent institutionrefers to the entity, or overall organization, responsible for the offering or marketing of extended academic courses and programs—the credit-granting body.

Librarydenotes the library operation directly associated with the parent institution.

Philosophy

The Guidelines assume the following precepts: the parent institution is responsible for funding and appropriately meeting the information needs of its extended academic programs in support of their teaching and learning, and when applicable, research. This support should provide ready and equitable library service and learning resources to all its students regardless of location.

The parent institution recognizes the need for service, management, and technical linkages between the library and other complementary resource bases such as computing facilities, instructional media, and telecommunication centers.

The parent institution is responsible for assuring that its extended academic library programs meet or exceed national and regional accreditation standards and professional association standards and guidelines.

The parent institution is responsible for involving the library in the detailed analysis of planning, developing, adding, or changing the extended academic program from the earliest stages onward.

The library has primary responsibility for identifying, developing, coordinating, and providing library resources and services which meet both the standard and the unique information needs of the extended academic community. A librarian-coordinator, either centrally located or at an appropriate site, should be responsible for ensuring that all requirements are met.

Effective and appropriate services for extended academic communities may differ from those services offered on the traditional campus. The requirements of academic programs should guide the library’s responses to defined needs. Innovative approaches to the design of special procedures or systems to meet these needs are encouraged.

When resources and services of unaffiliated local libraries are to be used to support information needs of the extended academic community, the library or, when appropriate, the parent institution, is responsible for the development and periodic review of formal, documented, written agreements with those local libraries. Such resources are not to be used simply as substitutes for supplying adequate materials by the parent institution.

The extended academic library program shall have goals and objectives that support the provision of resources and services consistent with the broader institutional mission.

Management

It is the responsibility of the library management to fund, staff, and supervise library services and resources in support of extended academic programs. The librarian-coordinator, who may or may not have an extended site assignment, should:

1) assess, on an ongoing basis, the needs of the extended academic community for library resources, both electronic and traditional, and services, including instruction, and facilities;

2) prepare a written profile of the extended community’s information needs;

3) develop a written statement of immediate and long-range goals and objectives which addresses the needs and outline the methods by which progress can be measured;

4) involve extended academic community representatives, including administrators, faculty, and students, in the formation of the objectives and the regular evaluation of their achievement;

5) using the written profile of needs, assess the existing library support, its availability and appropriateness;

6) participate with administrators and teaching faculty in the curriculum development process and in course planning to ensure that appropriate library resources and services are available;

7) promote library support services to the extended academic community;

8) pursue, implement, and maintain all the preceding.

Additional areas of management responsibility are covered in sections on Finances, Personnel, Facilities, Resources, and Services.

Finances

The parent institution should provide continuing, optimum financial support for addressing the library needs of the extended academic community. This financing should be:

1) related to the formally defined needs and demands of the extended academic program;

2) allocated on a schedule matching the parent institution’s budgeting cycle;

3) identified within the parent institution’s budget and expenditure reporting statements;

4) accommodated to arrangements involving external agencies, including affiliated but independently supported libraries;

5) sufficient to allow for initiating innovative new approaches to meeting needs.

Personnel

Personnel involved in the management and coordination of extended academic library services may include institutional and library administration, the librarian-coordinator managing the services, additional professional staff in the institution, support staff from a variety of departments, and the administrator(s), librarian(s), and staff from the extended site(s).

The library should provide professional and support personnel with clearly defined responsibilities at the appropriate location(s) and in the number and quality necessary to attain the goals and objectives for library services to the extended academic program including:

1) a librarian-coordinator to plan, implement, coordinate, and evaluate library resources and services addressing the information needs of the extended academic community;

2) additional professional and/or paraprofessional staff to interact directly with library users with the capacity and skills to identify information needs and respond to them competently and appropriately;

3) classification, status, and salary scales for extended academic library staff that are equivalent to those provided for other comparable library employees and reflecting the compensation levels and cost of living for those residing at extended sites;

4) opportunities for continuing growth and development for extended academic library staff.

Facilities

The library should provide facilities, equipment, and communication links sufficient in size, number, and scope, and current enough to attain the objectives of the extended academic programs. Arrangements may vary and should be appropriate to programs offered. Examples of suitable arrangements include but are not limited to:

1) access to facilities through agreements with a nonaffiliated library;

2) designated space for consultations, ready reference collections, reserve collections, electronic transmission of information, computerized database searching, and interlibrary loan services;

3) a branch or satellite library.

Resources

The parent institution is responsible for providing or securing direct physical or electronic access to library materials in sufficient quality, depth, number, scope, currentness, and formats to:

1) support the students’ needs in fulfilling course assignments (e.g., required and supplemental readings and research papers) and enrich the academic programs;

2) support teaching and research needs;

3) accommodate other information needs of the extended academic community as appropriate.

Programs granting associate degrees should provide access to collections which meet the ACRL “Standards for Community, Junior, and Technical Learning Resources Programs.” Programs granting baccalaureate or master’s degrees should provide access to collections which meet the standards defined by the ACRL “Standards for College Libraries.” Programs offering doctoral degrees should provide access to collections which meet the standards defined by the ACRL “Standards for University Libraries.”

Services

The library services offered the extended academic community should be designed to meet effectively a wide range of information, bibliographic, and user needs. The exact combination of central and site staffing will differ from institution to institution. Examples that may help meet these needs include:

1) reference assistance;

2) computer-based bibliographic and information services;

3) reliable, secure access to institutional and other networks including the Internet;

4) consultation services;

5) a program of library user instruction designed to instill independent and effective information literacy skills while specifically meeting the learner-support needs of the extended academic community;

6) assistance with nonprint media and equipment;

7) reciprocal borrowing, contractual borrowing, and interlibrary loan services in broadest application of fair use of copyrighted materials;

8) prompt document delivery such as a courier system or electronic transmission;

9) access to reserve materials;

10) adequate service hours for optimum access by users;

11) promotion of library services to the extended academic community, including documented and updated policies, regulations, and procedures for systematic development and management of information resources.

Documentation

The library should make available current copies of the following:

1) printed guides;

2) statements of mission and purpose, policies, regulations, and procedures;

3) statistics on library use;

4) statistics on collections;

5) facilities assessment measures;

6) collections assessment measures;

7) data on staff and work assignments;

8) institutional and internal organization charts;

9) comprehensive budget(s);

10) professional staff vitae;

11) formal, written agreements;

12) automation statistics;

13) guides to computing services;

14) library evaluation studies or documents.

Library education

Schools of library and information science should include in their curricula courses and course units in extended academic library services. ■