COMPLIANCE AUDIT REPORTS

Section 3: Comprehensive Standard 3.8.1
The institution provides facilities, services, and learning/information resources that are appropriate to support its teaching, research, and service mission. 

Statement of Compliance: Dyersburg State Community College is in compliance with Comprehensive Standard 3.8.1. 

Rationale for Judgment of Compliance:

Dyersburg State Community College (DSCC) provides excellent facilities, services and learning/information resources that are appropriate to its courses and programs and are adequate to support its teaching and service mission.

The Vice President for the College is the administrator primarily responsible for Comprehensive Standard 3.8.1 [Ref 1]. The Dean of the Learning Resource Center, an instructional administrative staff person reporting to the Vice President for the College, is also responsible for this standard [Ref 2].

The Learning Resource Center (LRC) is primarily responsible for the college's learning/information resources. The new 25,000 square foot LRC provides a state-of-the-art information gateway. This portal features easy access and assistance to both physical and digital information resources and services. The LRC houses the latest information technology and DSCC's learning/information resources which include books, periodicals, videotapes and CD/DVDs. The new Dyersburg LRC facility features six study rooms, a Nursing/Allied Health Learning Lab, an Online Testing Center, DSCC Open Computer Lab, Information Skills Lab, Technology Resource Lab, Instructional Development Center (IDC), and an Instructional Technology Center (ITC) with a TV production studio [Ref 3]. The new Jimmy Naifeh Center at Tipton County (JNC) provides four study rooms, an online testing room, open computer area, an instructional development/instructional technology workstation [Ref 4].

The LRC provides access to all of the electronically-formatted learning/information resources that the college owns or to which it subscribes. Finally, the LRC is responsible for providing the services that make these resources accessible to students, faculty, and staff and provides assistance and instruction in their use [Ref 5]. In addition to the professional staff, two help desks are staffed to assist online and on-ground students with the use of technology in their learning at the Dyersburg Campus [Ref 6]. The Librarian/Computer Technician and staff provide this assistance at the JNC LRC.

LEARNING RESOURCE CENTER MISSION

DSCC’s LRC mission begins with its vision to “empower students, faculty, staff, and community with access to learning and information resources to enhance the quality of their lives.”  To accomplish this, the LRC provides information resources, information personnel, an information gateway, an information skills program, and instructional technology centers that support the learning mission of the college and serve the information needs of the community. As its name suggests, learning is the focus with information resources and information skills as critical support [Ref 7].

STANDARDS

With a full-time equivalent (FTE) enrollment of 1,856 in 2005-2006, DSCC evaluates the adequacy of its facilities and services according to the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) standards for Community, Junior and Technical College Learning Resource Programs for institutions with an FTE enrollment between 1,000-2,999. The DSCC LRC meets the standard for an excellent collection with 94,000 plus learning resources [Ref 8].

FACILITIES

Recognizing the need for a larger LRC in 1985, DSCC requested state capital funds to construct a new facility from 1985 to 2003 [Ref 9]. In July 2004, the State of Tennessee funded DSCC’s capital project for the new LRC [Ref 10]. In April 2007, the new LRC opened its doors to students, faculty, staff, and community.

This new facility enabled the college to greatly expand its library square footage from 10,500 square feet in 1985 to 25,000 square feet in the new facility. According to ACRL standard 7.1, student seating should exceed the minimum of 10 percent of the FTE enrollment which was 1,856 FTE in 2005-2006. Seating is available in the new facility for 263 students, well above the ACRL standard for student seating [Ref 11]. In the new facility are six study rooms, compared to no study rooms in the old facility. The new facility has a spacious lobby with seating in a relaxed atmosphere, compared to a lobby used as offices in the old facility. A specialized classroom seating 36 patrons is available at the new learning resource center. Information skills sessions for both faculty and students are conducted there, as well as other information technology-related training sessions.

The new facility also includes the Instructional Technology Center (ITC) [Ref 12] where faculty and students can go to receive assistance in the production of audio/visual/digital instructional materials and/or to request delivery of audio/visual/digital instructional equipment to their classrooms.

The Instructional Development Center (IDC) [Ref 13] in the new LRC provides assistance to faculty in the development of instructional resources and programs. The Instructional Design Specialist [Ref 14] assists faculty with development of online and hybrid classes and supplemental online resources for on-ground classes. He also provides support for adjunct faculty.  He has developed a Faculty Lounge in WebCT for full-time and adjunct faculty to obtain information about and discuss instructional technology and strategies. Laptop and tablet computers are also available for check out.

DSCC operates three off-campus centers, the Jimmy Naifeh Center at Tipton County (JNC) in Covington, TN, the Gibson County Center (GCC) in Trenton, TN and the Obion County Center (OCC) in Union City, TN.

The JNC has a 3,000 square foot LRC in its new classroom building. The facility has an area that is used as both the open computer lab and information skill lab, several study/tutoring rooms, and an online testing room. It has 45 computer workstations available to students and houses a small collection of print materials and newspapers. Because this Center is connected to the college network, students, faculty, and staff have direct access to all DSCC online resources and services. Print materials from the main library can be couriered or faxed to the Center. The Center LRC is staffed by a professional librarian, support staff and student assistants. The professional librarian provides reference and resource assistance as well as information skills instruction [Ref 15]. She also provides assistance with the instructional technology and instructional design workstation in the LRC.

The GCC has a 1,000 square foot LRC that contains 20 computers and a small collection of print materials and newspapers. Because this Center is connected to the college network, students, faculty, and staff have direct access to all DSCC online resources and services. Print materials from the main library can be couriered or faxed to the Center. This is a self-service LRC supervised by the Center staff. However, the LRC has real-time video-conferencing to the Help Desk and the main campus LRC. In this way the main campus librarian and help desk assistants provide assistance to users. The main campus librarian provides on-demand information skills instruction for this Center [Ref 16].

The OCC has recently been converted from a training site for the Goodyear Company to a training and education center with training for 15 certificate students. At present limited credit-bearing courses are offered at OCC.  Most students take their general education courses on the main campus.  DSCC is pursuing an Agreement with the Union City Public Library to provide services to DSCC OCC students. In the future we hope to provide LRC services at the Center.

LEARNING RESOURCE CENTER SERVICES

While proud of the new facilities, the College recognizes that facilities do not ensure adequacy. Of more importance are quality, relevance, accessibility, availability and delivery of resources and services, and their actual use by students, regardless of location.

Patron usage of the LRCs is high as shown in the table below. In a typical week when the college is in session, approximately 66,852 patrons visit the Dyersburg LRC yearly, 14,183 at JNC and 9,689 at GCC as recorded by the counter and reported in the FY 2005-2006 Annual Library Report [Ref 17]. An increase is expected with the opening of the new facilities.

The information gateway Web page has become an increasingly important point of access for LRC resources and services complementing on-ground services. As shown in the table below, Web page hits have increased from 16,387 in 2000-2001 to 63,888 in 2005-2006.

In 2005-2006, 59 percent of these hits came from off-campus demonstrating the importance of online access to resources and services. As a matter of fact, this online service contributes to increased on-ground use of the LRC facilities by making students aware of the resources, services and technology it offers. [Ref 18]

The LRC offers its on-ground and online patrons a full range of services [Ref 19] appropriate for its mission as summarized below.

Collection of Learning/Information Resources. DSCC meets and exceeds the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) standards of a minimum of 40,000 volumes for a college with an FTE enrollment between 1,000 and 2,999. At the end of FY 2005-2006, the collection was at 44,335 volumes in print and access to 49,101 e-books for a total of 93,286 volumes available. This meets and exceeds even the standard for an excellent collection of 60,000 volumes [Ref 20].

DSCC provides access to the periodical collection based in the Thompson Gale InfoTrac, Lexis Nexis Academic Universe, EBSCO, and Wilson databases. These are supplemented by a small collection of print trade and professional journals not available in the databases [Ref 21]. These databases provide access to over 5,000 newspapers, magazines and journals again well exceeding the standard for an excellent collection [Ref 22]. These collections are supplemented by access to a substantial collection of 36 online databases [Ref 23].

Inter-Library Loan and Access. DSCC LRC services are enhanced through Interlibrary Loans [Ref 24]. The LRC uses the World Cataloging database through Online Computer Library Center to find and obtain book materials from other libraries. For periodical articles the LRC uses the ARIEL system that provides electronic transfer of documents between libraries. Use of this service has decreased because of the significant increase of available resources through the periodical databases and the e-book collection.

LRC Computer Labs. The LRC offers fully equipped, state-of-the-art computer labs as a service to students [Ref 25]. Student Technology Access Fees are used to replace these computers on a three-year cycle [Ref 26].The Dyersburg new LRC provides a 40 station Open Computer Lab, a 36 station Information Skills Lab and a 24 station Technology Resource Lab I in addition to and open area with 30 stations and 24 wireless check-out laptop computers that are available to LRC patrons. The JNC new LRC has a 30 station open area, 15 individual workstations and 24 wireless check-out laptop computers. GCC LRC has 20 individual workstations. Computer Services places program-specific software on LRC computers that students may need to complete assignments and research projects. In the Dyersburg LRC Help Desk Assistance is available at all times to help students access and use various software programs and LRC databases. The Librarian/Computer Technician provides this assistance at the JNC.  The GCC LRC has video teleconferencing to the Help Desk in Dyersburg.

Location, Hours of Operation, Staffing. The location of the new LRCs in Dyersburg and JNC greatly improves accessibility to students. The Dyersburg LRC is located on the main traffic way between the two academic buildings. It is connected to the renovated old LRC that houses five classrooms and eight faculty offices. Hours of operations are Monday-Thursday 8:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m., Friday 7:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m., and Saturday 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. The JNC LRC is located in the new academic building.  Hours of operation are Monday-Thursday 8:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m., Friday 9:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.  The GCC LRC is located next to the commons area. Hours of operation are Monday-Thursday 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m., Friday 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. [Ref 27].

Information Skills Program. DSCC faculty, staff and students are provided instruction in the use of learning resources and online services. Faculty and staff in-service sessions are provided periodically, and the faculty is encouraged to bring their classes to the LRC for information skills instruction. The Instructional Librarian provides information skills instruction at the Dyersburg LRC and GCC LRC.  The Librarian/Computer Lab Technician provides information skills instruction at the JNC LRC.

The information skills program offers four levels of skills development: basic searching skills, information searching skills, researching skills, and discipline specific researching skills. Within these four levels, the LRC tailors sessions to meet the needs of a specific class as requested by a faculty member [Ref 28].

On-line Accessibility/Distance Learning Services. DSCC is dedicated to providing online LRC services for its distance learning students and those on-campus students studying at home or at other locations. The information gateway Web page provides easy access to DSCC’s extensive online resources and the services of the Help Desk. The Web page is hosted on one of the College servers with 50 percent of its use from off-campus [Ref 29]. Faculty, staff and students may utilize the electronic databases, books, and materials located on the information gateway Web page from any computer with an Internet connection [Ref 30]. An LRC server hosts the proxy server for off-campus access to DSCC subscription databases, the LRC Automation System and Online Public Access Catalog, and Oak Tree, the College intranet Web page. Reference assistance for remote users is available during normal library hours of operation through the use of a help desk online form [Ref 31], as well as by telephone. The online learning CD contains an information skills tutorial to orient online LRC patrons to available resources and services [Ref 32].

ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING RESOURCE CENTER FACILITIES AND SERVICES 

Student Review. On the LRC Student Satisfaction Survey, 95 percent of student responses are “agree to strongly agree” on quality statements for services, resources, and helpfulness/approachability of staff [Ref 33].

Faculty Review. On the LRC Faculty Satisfaction Survey, 95 percent of student responses are “agree to strongly agree” on quality statements for services, resources, and helpfulness/approachability of staff [Ref 34].

Internal and External Review. The Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) mandates a five-year review of all college programs and support services [Ref 35]. In addition, each year, as part of DSCC’s Institutional Effectiveness Tracking System (IETS), the LRC develops and submits goals and objectives for the ensuing year and details the accomplishment of the goals and objectives for the current year and need for further action. All these reports are reviewed by the LRC committee. The committee also evaluates the library's services, collection, staffing, purpose statement, and goals and objectives each year in order to determine its success in meeting the needs of students, faculty, and staff.  The LRC Committee consists of representatives from the student body, three instructional areas (arts and sciences, business and technology, and nursing and allied health), distance education faculty, and continuing education. The LRC goals and objectives, results, and need for further action that are part of the IETS are evaluated by the Vice President for the College and the President.

Institutional Effectiveness

The LRC Statistical Analysis clearly demonstrates that the LRC staff collects data, evaluates resources and services. This analysis is used to modify, redesign, improve and discontinue services and resources. Several examples of this are the information skills program, information gateway Web page, information databases and searches, materials and “circulation”, CD-ROM/DVD production, help desk, RODP program, and off-campus use of online databases [Ref 36].  

Authored by Mr. Bob Lhota in coordination with the SACS Leadership Team 

Documentation: