Libraries provide access to collections sufficient in quality, depth, diversity, format, and currency to support the research and teaching mission of the institution.
Performance Indicator 5.1
The Library provides access to collections aligned with areas of research, curricular foci, or institutional strengths.
During the review period, the SCC Library conducted an extensive assessment through which we studied how faculty use the library collection in their instruction and the collection's strengths and weaknesses in fulfilling faculty needs (SPA 2016-17 Collections: An Analysis of Faculty Perception and Curricular Integration of Library Resources). A collection team of SCC/SFCC librarians was then formed to develop strategies and procedures which address the Collections SPA findings. During 2017-18, the team focused on the following action items and guiding questions:
Guiding questions:
1. What measures are being used to evaluate library collections in terms of purchasing, weeding, and balancing among curricular areas?
Action/Findings: One of the measures utilized to evaluate library collections is guided by the CCS Libraries' collection development policy. The collection team reviewed the current policy and noted that it is consistent with industry standards, and the policies of libraries with similar user populations. However, no procedures or specific metrics were in place regarding decision-making and communication to constituents. Additionally, there were no systems established for acquiring data needed to make meaningful decisions. Without a cohesive way of conveying or measuring what the libraries have, it is difficult to solicit meaningful feedback or make budgetary decisions or goals.
2. How is CCS Libraries communicating information about library collections to faculty and soliciting feedback?
Action/Findings: Although conversations between librarians and the discipline faculty in their liaison areas were taking place, feedback was often informal and inconsistent across all disciplines. A plan for consistent communication with liaison areas is in development through the collection team’s current work. Standardized forms for collecting regular feedback from departments are being developed in order to formalize the evaluation process for trial electronic library resources and existing database subscriptions (e.g., Faculty Database Evaluation Form).
3. How can the library effectively support the accreditation and program review process of academic departments and programs at their respective campuses?
Action/Findings: The collection team created a long-term plan to map the collection to college departments/programs using a controlled vocabulary of abbreviated subject tags. Once in place, this tagging system will enable library faculty to tailor and communicate information regarding the collection in a meaningful way to departments/programs.
Actions and findings from these questions resulted in a proposed system comprised of a five-step process of collection development which accommodates departments and programs and supports program review and accreditation, as well as day-to-day information needs of faculty and students (CCS Library Collection Cycle diagram).
Additional assessments were implemented during the migration of our integrated library system, Alma, to a new platform. Using the analytics tools in Alma, librarians and staff created information dashboards that are continually updated to meet the collection data needs of librarians and administration. Through these efforts, library faculty and library administrators can communicate value, facilitate discussion, and create avenues for collection input and involvement by discipline faculty. Such actions will enable the SCC Library to make better-informed decisions based on the college's needs.
In order to develop and manage the library resources in support of the curriculum and college needs, we will recommend that the SCC Library creates a tenure-track position for a faculty librarian who will take the lead in collection development. This librarian would be responsible for overseeing and developing procedures and policies related to the impact of library resources which support the curriculum and would provide holistic oversight and coordination of the entire collection, complementing the work of current liaison librarians.
Decision making about the collection would rely heavily on the collection development librarian’s use of data through Alma analytics, library budgeting procedures, licensing agreements, vendor relations, and current scholarship. Their expertise would be useful for departments/programs undergoing review and accreditation. A collection development librarian would act as the primary point-person for communicating information about the collection to stakeholders across the college.
It is also essential that SCC Library has an experienced cataloger on staff to provide consistent and timely processing of resources and their records. The cataloger would be crucial in the implementation of the planned mapping system and in ensuring that collection development procedures are consistently followed. Without a qualified cataloger, the accuracy of resource records, accessibility of resources, and their relationship to curriculum/departments/programs is threatened.
Performance Indicator 5.2
The Library provides collections that incorporate resources in a variety of formats, accessible virtually and physically.
Physical resources
The SCC Library houses 48,267 books, 1,610 media items, and 112 periodicals. Additional collection items are housed at Rural Centers. This year in Newport, at the request of faculty and staff, we began implementing a rotating sub-collection where 30 new books from the Spokane campus library are sent to Newport each quarter. Additional new sub-collections were created in collaboration with the TLC and with ABE/ESL with whom we are acquiring a collection of graded readers intended to rotate through SCC Extended Learning locations.
Through our interlibrary loan services, we partner with area libraries as well as those around the world to provide access to both physical and digital items outside of our CCS collection. Our local consortial network enables students to borrow items directly from libraries at Gonzaga U., North Idaho College, and Lewis Clark State College using their CCS identification card, or they may request that items be delivered to a CCS campus for them to pick-up. Our current consortium is facing a potential large-scale change as GU is planning to leave. Should this happen, it will significantly impact our services and the support upon which we rely for our digital infrastructure.
Digital resources
SCC Library subscribes to 66 electronic database packages which provide access to 23,512 e-journals, digital reference books, streaming media, and over 150,000 ebooks. Given the hybrid nature in which research is done, the number of classes using Canvas to deliver online course materials, and the need to serve students in remote locations, a large portion of our budget is dedicated to digital resources. Below are two charts illustrating the allocation of our budget toward different types of resources.
A. Digital vs. physical chart created using budget numbers for both SCC and SFCC combined for fiscal year 2017-2018 (Due to the combined budget and resources, it was not possible to determine specifics for each college.)
B. Pie chart illustrating a more detailed breakdown of resource types that make up our collection.
Budget constraints and administrative directives have significantly impacted spending on physical resources. In the past three years, librarians have been directed to cut spending or simply not purchase physical books. Lack of budgetary information has also limited librarians' ability to purchase resources. Budget is discussed more in section 7.4 of this document, however, the impact of the budgetary situation directly impacts the library collection; for example, the physical collection is aged due to years of diminished funding and lack of planning. Addressing problems created by a restrictions on collection development will take time, planning, and potential outside funding to remedy.
Performance Indicator 5.4
The Library has the infrastructure to collect, organize, provide access to, disseminate, and preserve collections needed by users.
Collect
The infrastructure to collect library resources requires a transparent budget, coordinated planning, and ability to acquire and process information resources. In the case of SCC library, each of these areas has been problematic over the past several years.
Although a library fee is paid by each student, library faculty have not been made aware of the amount of the library fee in our spending budget, and therefore have not been able to strategically plan materials purchases to equitably represent all areas of study at the college. Decisions regarding each resource are made out-of-context from the rest of the collection at the time of renewal or request to purchase. Compounding the issue, the librarian primarily responsible for collection development and coordinated planning of purchases retired in December 2016, and her tenured position was not filled. Instead, an annualized librarian was appointed, but was explicitly told that collection development was not the primary responsibility of the position. That position is now funded by the student fees, ultimately taking away from the collection budget. The quality of the library collection has also been affected by the loss of a cataloger staff person in 2018 who was never replaced. Not having a cataloger negatively impacts students' ability to discover and access of information resources.
Organize, preserve, and provide access
The ability to organize, preserve, and provide access to library resources is grounded in the library management system, Alma/Primo. Alma is a cloud-based, library services platform used for all collection operations including selection, acquisition, metadata, digitization, and fulfillment of items to CCS patrons and partner libraries with whom we cooperate to share resources. It also contains analytics tools. Primo is the patron-facing discovery tool which students use to search the collection, monitor their account, manage and store their searches, and request items from SCC and cooperative libraries. The inter-operability and functionality of Alma/Primo is supported by our membership with the Washington Idaho Network (WIN), a consortium which provides server hosting, technical support, and shared collections.
The number of WIN member libraries has severely declined since CCS libraries joined years ago. Gonzaga libraries, the WIN member which holds the largest collection, has plans to leave the consortium as early as 2021. Should this happen, SCC would lose both access to Gonzaga’s physical resources and technical support for the Alma/Primo system. Consortia agreements are costly; and making a move has broad impact. Planning for a potential shift in the future of WIN consortium is critical, as any shift would significantly impact student and faculty access to needed library resources and will have significant budgetary and technological ramifications.
Supporting Documents