3.8.1 Learning/ Information Resources

The institution provides facilities and other learning / informational resources that are appropriate to support its teaching, research, and service mission.

Judgment of Compliance:

Compliance

Narrative:

The University Library and Learning Resources, Levi Watkins Learning Center provides resources and services to faculty, students, staff, and the community through a centrally located facility in the heart of the Alabama State University campus. Occupied in 1977, the University Library covers 100,000 square feet and has the capacity to seat 600 persons. This facility is currently closed for major renovatlon and expansion that will  take approximately eighteen months to complete and will provide approximately fifty percent of additional space for library purposes.  During the renovation period, library services are being provided through a temporary facility on the university campus [1]. The library's resources and services assist the university in achieving its teaching, learning, research, and service mission. The library is a learning resources center that includes Special Collections and University Archives, the National Center for the Study of Civil Rights and African-American Culture, two computer laboratories, electronic resource centers, the Curriculum Materials Center, a distance learning laboratory, and the Library Media Center.

The University Library and Learning Resources

Facilities

The Alabama State University Library was opened in 1977 with 100,000 square feet of library space and a seating capacity for approximately 600 patrons. This space has become inadequate over time due to the steady acquisition of resources, a need for more stations for computers, recent changes in workspace and workspace needs for students, as well as the overall need for changes in library layout. To alleviate the afore-mentioned conditions, major renovation of existing space and construction of a new 46,000 square foot library wing has begun.

The Reference Department houses the reference desk which contains ready reference materials and the main reference collection of approximately 29,883 volumes. The ready reference collections include a variety of resources including dictionaries, handbooks, manuals, directories, bibliographies, biographical, statistical resources, citation manuals, and a binder containing newspaper articles, brochures and descriptions about various aspects of Alabama State University. These binders were completed in 2006 by the reference staff and are of great assistance for the orientation courses required for all ASU freshmen and sophomores. The general reference collection includes a broader scope of resources representing all major Library of Congress subject headings.

The Special Collections Department and University Archives contain a multimedia collection of approximately 20,000 volumes of African-American history and culture materials, particularly related to the modern Civil Rights Movement. One of the leaders, E.D. Nixon, has donated his collection which is housed in a special room named in his honor. University theses and dissertations are housed in special collections as well.

The Curriculum Materials Center on the second floor provides a circulating collection of approximately 16,861 multimedia educational materials consisting of curriculum/juvenile (primarily children’s literature featuring many Caldecott, Newbery, and Coretta Scott King winners), curriculum/media, curriculum/stacks, and curriculum/textbooks.

The third floor is home to the Serials/Periodicals Department where current issues of journals and newspapers are kept (African-American-related newspapers and journals are kept in Special Collections). Microforms, especially the ERIC Documents file, are also kept on this floor. Bound volumes and periodical indexes reside on one-third of the shelves, which are primarily compact shelving. The Serials/Periodicals Department’s collection contains approximately 1,536 current print serial subscriptions, 127,368 bound serial volumes, and 2,673,222 microforms. The first part of the mainstacks (call numbers A-HE; circulating book collection) is also located on the third floor.

The remainder of the main stacks (call numbers HF-Z) is on the fourth floor. The main desk houses the health reference collection, which supports the College of Health Sciences. An Electronic Resource Center (ERC), consisting of twelve personal computers, is also on this floor. The ERC is the primary location for information literacy sessions. A self-guided library tour [2] is available on the library’s webpage to assist patrons in locating various service areas on each floor. Tours are scheduled, but students may also request information literacy services upon demand.

To address facility limitations for resources, users, and staff, a 46,000 square foot addition [3] and renovation was approved for construction. This space will house material resources and provide office spaces for library staff. The addition will be a state-of-the-art facility featuring archives and exhibit space, a computer lab, faculty research room, group study rooms, an information commons area, an information literacy classroom, Internet café, and media production lab. A combination of compact shelving and regular shelving with additional staff work space and student study areas is included. Currently, a total of $20 million dollars has been budgeted for the construction [4].

Resources

As of September 30, 2008, the library provides access to print materials with approximately 298,768 book volumes and 127,368 bound serial volumes for a grand total of 426,136 volumes. A collection of over 57,905 electronic books is available via NetLibrary, one of 158 electronic resources accessible to both on- and off-campus patrons. The periodicals collection consists of 1,586 print titles, 572 electronic titles, and 2,673,222 microforms. The library also holds 44,280 items in various formats, primarily slides, audiocassettes, filmstrips, and videocassettes. DVD’s and CD’s are currently purchased as these are the most current audio-visual formats, but videocassettes are also accepted as gifts if they are relevant and/or supportive of multiple disciplines. The following table presents a ten-year comparison of library holdings and shows the percentage of increase over the ten-year period.

Table 3.8.1-1 Ten Year Comparison of University Library Holdings

TEN YEAR COMPARISON OF UNIVERSITY LIBRARY HOLDINGS
 

FY1998

FY2008

PERCENTAGE INCREASE

Book Volumes

258,769

298,768

15%

Periodical (print)

1,270

1,586

24%

Microforms

2,477,604

2,673,222

8%

Audio-Visuals

42,047

44,280

5%

E-books

0

57,905

Over 100%

E-journals

0

572

Over 100%

Electronic Database Resources

70

158

125%

TOTALS

2,779,760

3,076,491

  

Materials are housed in six locations per the Library’s online catalog: HORNetCat. An item may be in reference, special collections/archives, circulating audio/video room, the Curriculum Materials Center, periodicals, main stacks, or the eBook collection. More than one copy for a particular title is available due to the nature of the subject ( for example, many African-American-related books are ordered so that one copy is in main stacks for check out and the other is in Special Collections) or curriculum need.

As Alabama State University was founded as a teacher’s college in 1867, education-related majors are the most common disciplines, forming 40% of the student population. As a result, many of library materials support majors within this discipline. Approximately 60,000 items directly support the education program, not counting all the remaining audiovisual items, serials, and individual ERIC microfiche sheets. One major reason the number of education-related materials has increased is due to the implementation of the Doctorate in Educational Leadership, Policy, and Law (Ed.D.) in late 2002. The program began offering courses in January 2003. The Ed.D. program is funded by Title VI. This new program (Alabama State University’s first doctoral level program) joined our already-existing Title VI College of Health Sciences (Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Health Information Management) and College of Business Administration (Master’s in Accountancy) programs, all of which were implemented in FY1997 and FY1998. These new programs resulted from the Knight v. Alabama court case. All new programs are supported by library resources appropriate for their accreditation.

Access to Electronic Resources

For all degree programs, the University Library continues to provide electronic Internet access to information. This is most prevalent in the growth of the electronic resources collection. By the end of academic year 2000, the Library subscribed to 75 electronic resources and began to switch from CD-ROM, single-user format to web, multi-user format. The conversion was completed by 2007 when only three CD-ROM resources (all located in Special Collections) remained along with one single-user electronic resource (CCH Perform Plus II, later III). At the beginning of academic year 2009, the library subscribed to 158 electronic resources, 84 which were subscription based and 74 which are freely accessible. One of the 158 is netLibrary which contains seven shared collections, allowing access to 57,905 electronic books. The electronic books are also in HORNetCat (the online public access catalog), so they are treated as part of the collection. Beginning in 2002, electronic journals were counted as individual titles within the library’s holdings. The number has grown from 270 titles in 2 electronic resources (JSTOR, Emerald) to 572 in 4 online resources (Emerald, JSTOR, Oxford Journals Online, and YourJournals @Ovid).

Collection Assessment and Evaluation

Overall, the funding levels have remained stable over the last few years. However, prices for databases and serials have increased tremendously. It is estimated that the cost for online databases will increase an average of 5-10% per year and the cost for print serials will increase 6-13% per year. In response, materials have been evaluated to determine which resources either duplicate or do not completely serve patrons’ needs. While usage statistics are a good indicator, they are only one factor in the overall evaluation of a resource. A database maintenance formula [5] and a serials maintenance formula [6] were created to evaluate electronic databases and serial titles. During FY2005, a total of five databases were selected for cancellation due to duplication, low usage, high cost, and low curriculum support. The electronic resources that were cancelled included: America History and Life ($4,400.50), Historical Abstracts ($4,400.50), Cambridge Scientific Abstracts ($23,405.33), Engineering Village 2 ($3,500.00), ERIC CD-ROM (1,139.00), and Lexis Nexis Educational Contract ($1,800.00). The online database cancellations resulted in a total savings of over $38,645.33.

Also during FY2005, the serials maintenance formula was used to evaluate a total of 64 serial titles according to fourteen various criteria including price and full-text availability. A total of nine serial titles were cancellations, resulting in a total savings of $60,497.00. These cost cutting measures helped the library to acquire more essential monograph titles for faculty and students. During FY2006, the library continued to use the serials maintenance formula to evaluate serial titles for cancellation due to skyrocketing costs. A total of 119 titles were evaluated according to fourteen various criteria including price and full-text availability. Based on the results of the serials formula, a total of ten serial titles were cancelled. The serial cancellations resulted in a total savings of $4,808.34. These cost cutting measures helped the library to acquire needed materials to support the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education’s (NCATE) accreditation review in fall FY2007.

Also, special emphasis was placed on acquiring materials to support the accreditation self-studies of the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) and the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) in the spring semester FY2008. The library received outstanding evaluations in all assessments for reaffirmation of accreditation. During FY2007, the library continued to use the serials maintenance formula to evaluate serial titles for cancellation due to continued high price increases. A total of fifty-seven serial titles were evaluated according to fourteen various criteria including price and full-text availability. Based on the results of the serials formula, a total of 40 serial titles ($74,767.00) were cancelled in order to allow the library to retain essential database subscriptions. From a total of 253 serial titles evaluated in FY2008, 188 titles were cancelled resulting in a savings of $47,996.31. Although the library used the serials maintenance formula to cancel several serial titles, it also added serial titles [7] requested by patrons during each year of collection assessment.

The University Library’s collections were thoroughly evaluated to determine strengths and weaknesses in preparation of proposals for new Ph.D. academic degree programs in Microbiology and Educational Leadership, Policy, and Law. The following methods were used in the assessment: actual volume counts, in-house statistics, faculty consultation, and comparison of collection assessment checklists. A list checking survey was conducted as a qualitative assessment of the monograph titles currently held in relevant subject areas. Also, a qualitative assessment was conducted by comparingserials holdings against a standard checklist of recommended serials titles and a serials core list. Both proposals included information on development of resource sharing, document delivery services, electronic databases, multi-media instructional resources, and library staff. The proposal for the microbiology Ph.D. degree program [8] was prepared in FY2002 and funding for the program was provided to the library in October 2008, following the program's implementation in fall 2007. The proposal for an educational leadership, policy, and law doctorate [9] was prepared in FY2001, and funding for the program was provided to the library in May 2002. The health sciences and master’s of accountancy new academic degree proposals were included in the SACS documentation in FY2000. These proposals were instrumental in building collections needed to support the academic programs and their accreditation.

The University Library continues to conduct collection development surveys as a means to assess and evaluate the collection. Also, LibQUAL+ survey was used in fall semester 2007 to assess student, faculty, and staff feedback on library resources and services. The collection development surveys and LibQUAL+ are discussed in the narrative for SACS Standard 2.9.

Inventory Control and Collection Development

From FY2001-FY2006, the library embarked on an inventory control project [10]. Circulation, cataloging, and collection development units teamed together to assess the collection after more than twenty years. Results of the inventory assessment project included barcoding of reference and special collections items as well as the reclassification of curriculum books. Weeding was done to evaluate items which were outdated, worn, or damaged. During this time, a total of 9,951 material items were identified as lost. A total of 3,945 of the lost items were later found on the shelves.The other 6,006 lost items were replaced after assessing their value. The inventory control project ‘s policies and procedures [11] provided a systematic means for assessment and evaluation of the library’s collection in all formats. The inventory control project process is currently maintained through the library’s missing items procedures policy [12]. This policy requires the Circulation Department to complete a missing items form [13] for each book reported missing and to make two shelf checks over a specified period of time to locate the missing book. If the book is not found, the missing items form is given to the Collection Development Department for review and evaluation for re-ordering. The Circulation Department also retrieves damaged books from the shelves and submits them for review and evaluation by the Collection Development Librarian.

In early 2001, the State of Alabama imposed a 6% proration budget cut for higher education state-wide. Proration limited the ability of the library to acquire adequate print, non-print, and electronic materials during this time. The rising cost of serials and electronic resources has greatly impacted the library’s purchasing power.

The University Library has established a collection development policy [14] to provide guidance on evaluating, selecting, and ordering materials to support teaching and research in all academic areas. All faculty, staff, and students are encouraged to make requests for library materials on a regular and on-going basis. An electronic library materials purchase request form [15] is made available on the library’s webpage to allow faculty, staff, and students to request materials conveniently. Each request is honored if the request supports instruction and research, satisfies the criteria stipulated in the collection development policy, and if sufficient funding is available at the time of the request. The Collection Development Department sends new acquisitions notices [16] to the requestors on a monthly basis to notify them that the materials they have requested have been received and shelved in the collection. New library materials are also advertised in the library’s newsletter, The Libretto [17] and on the library’s webpage under “What’s New” [18].

Overall, the library has been very successful in acquiring materials to support the teaching and research activities for each academic department. Also, the library has been able to increase the holdings [19] for materials in all formats, especially electronic resources. Further, the library has been very successful in increasing the overall percentage rate [20] per year for library holdings. The library continues to request an increase in funding for each of the library budgets [21] to sustain its holdings. The library’s budget for the educational leadership, policy, and law doctoral program was granted an increase of $11,981.00 in FY2007 and an increase of $35,541.00 in FY2008. Furthermore, the Title III program provided $27,856.00 in FY2007 to purchase electronic database resources to support accreditation for the Department of Music.

The Collection Development Department formulates budget allocations [22] on an annual basis for each academic department. The budget allocations are used for the general fund budget to acquire print, non-print, and electronic resources. The budget allocations are determined by a formula that calculates the number of faculty, students, and majors in each academic field divided by the total number of majors, faculty, and students at Alabama State University. While the budget allocations have been used to acquire materials for all curriculum areas, special emphasis was placed on acquiring new materials to support several departmental accreditation reviews in FY2008 including the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE, the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM), and the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE).

Digital Collections

A major thrust for the library will be to digitize archival materials to make them readily accessible for patron use. The digitalization team has been very active in planning and implementing the library’s digitalization initiatives. The digitalization initiatives are also outlined in the library’s Five-Year Plan For Library Advancement [23]. The five-year plan includes goals and objectives for staff, services, collections, outreach, facilities, technology, and equipment. The library dean was a co-founder of the Historically Black College and University (HBCU) Library Alliance which established the HBCU digital collections [24]. Funding was made available through the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in collaboration with the Cornell University Library. HBCU Digital Collections include over 1,000 scanned pages contributed from member libraries of the HBCU Library Alliance. Alabama State University Library contributed twenty images that reflect the people, institutions, and structures important to the early history of the school. The digital collections project was created using CONTENTdm software. The University Library purchased the CONTENTdm digitalization software in FY2007, and the digitalization team is currently working on several projects to add archival digital resources to the library’s collection.

Peer Library Analysis

The library has conducted a peer analysis comparison of resources and services using the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Peer Analysis: ACRL Input Measures, Output Measures and Outcomes [25]. These comparison measures are based on the guidelines of the Standards for Libraries in Higher Education [26] which were approved by the Association of College and Research Libraries in 2004. The peer analysis revealed very favorable results for Alabama State University in relation to its peers especially with the number of electronic resources and print holdings. The library also compiled Peer Analysis ACRL Points of Comparison Ratio [27] data which showed very good results in comparison to peer libraries. For example, for ratio of volumes to combined total student and faculty FTE, the University Library had 82 volumes per FTE compared to 73 volumes per FTE for selected peer libraries. Furthermore, the library also conducted a comparative analysis using the Peer Analysis: National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)[28] statistical data system. The NCES Peer Evaluation Survey also yielded very favorable results for the library.

Supporting Documentation: