A New Framework May Help Academic Libraries Demonstrate Their Value

The Association of College and Research Libraries' Board of Directors approved in October a comprehensive revision of the association's Standards for Libraries in Higher Education (SLHE). The new standards aim to provide a roadmap that will assist academic libraries in responding effectively to the growing pressure they face to demonstrate their value.

"These standards differ from previous versions by articulating expectations for library contributions to institutional effectiveness," said University of Nevada-Las Vegas Dean of University Libraries Patricia Iannuzzi, who chaired the SLHE task force. "They also differ structurally from the previous version by providing a comprehensive framework using an outcomes-based approach, with evidence collected in ways most appropriate for each institution."

The standards were last revised in 2004, and the new version reminds academic librarians that they need to pay careful attention to trends in higher education that have a direct impact on the missions of their libraries:

Current concerns in higher education include increasing demands for accountability within the academy; expectation for outcomes-based assessment of learning and programs; efforts to increase graduation rates; greater emphasis on student success; the acknowledged connection between student engagement and academic achievement; and the importance of pedagogical practices such as research and inquiry-based learning.

ACRL defines outcomes as "the ways in which library users are changed as a result of their contact with the library's resources and programs." The new report goes on to emphasize: "Thus, outcomes are user-centered, whereas performance indicators are library-centered."

The standards are based on nine principles which were distilled from "relevant higher education, accreditation, and professional documents":

Institutional Effectiveness: Libraries define, develop, and measure outcomes that contribute to institutional effectiveness and apply findings for purposes of continuous improvement.

Professional Values: Libraries advance professional values of intellectual freedom, intellectual property rights and values, user privacy and confidentiality, collaboration, and user-centered service.

Educational Role: Libraries partner in the educational mission of the institution to develop and support information-literate learners who can discover, access, and use information effectively for academic success, research, and lifelong learning.

Discovery: Libraries enable users to discover information in all formats through effective use of technology and organization of knowledge.

Collections: Libraries provide access to collections sufficient in quality, depth, diversity, format, and currency to support the research and teaching missions of the institution.

Space: Libraries are the intellectual commons where users interact with ideas in both physical and virtual environments to expand learning and facilitate the creation of new knowledge.

Management/Administration: Libraries engage in continuous planning and assessment to inform resource allocation and to meet their mission effectively and efficiently.

Personnel: Libraries provide sufficient number and quality of personnel to ensure excellence and to function successfully in an environment of continuous change.

External Relations: Libraries engage the campus and broader community through multiple strategies in order to advocate, educate, and promote their value.

The standards then offer detailed performance indicators for each principle. For example, a performance indicator for professional values is that the library resists all efforts to censor library resources.

"We look forward to providing ongoing learning opportunities for libraries to implement these important standards at their institutions," said ACRL President Joyce L. Ogburn, dean of the University of Utah J. Willard Marriott Library.

ACRL is offering a free introductory webcast on the standards, presented by Iannuzzi, at 2 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, November 9, 2011.