ACRL Survey

Standards and Guidelines up for Review-Feedback Needed!

In 2000, the ACRL University Libraries Section appointed a committee to review and update the Standards for University Libraries, last revised in 1989, and the Guidelines for Branch Libraries in Colleges and Universities, last revised in 1990. ACRL ULS Standards/Guidelines Review Committee members are:

Lori Goetsch (chair), University of Maryland

Nicholas Burckel, Marquette University

David Lewis, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis

Louise Sherby, Hunter College, City University of New York

Paula Walker, University of Washington

Mark Watson, Southern Illinois University

We need your help! In order to evaluate these documents, the committee needs to know how/if they are used and how they could be made more up-to-date and valuable to university libraries.

Standards for University Libraries can be found on the ACRL Web page at www.ala.org/acrl/guides/univer.html and were also published in the September 1989 issue of C&RL News:

ALA/ACRL "Standards for University Libraries: Evaluation of Performance." College and Research Libraries News 50, no. 8 (September 1989): 679-91.

Guidelines for Branch Libraries in Colleges and Universities can be found on the ACRL Web page http://www.ala.org/acrl/guides/branches.html and were also published in the March 1991 issue of C&RL News:

"ACRL Guidelines for Branch Libraries in Colleges and Universities." College and Research Libraries News 52, no. 3 (March 1991): 171-174.

Please review each document, then copy and fill out our brief survey below. Send it to Lori A. Goetsch, Public Services, 3115 McKeldin Library, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742. Alternatively, you can take the survey on the web and submit it electronically at:

http://www.lib.umd.edu/PUB/acrlserv.html

At the upcoming ALA Conference in San Francisco, the committee will hold an open discussion of the Standards and Guidelines and report on the responses to our survey. Please mark this date on your calendars: Saturday, June 16th, 11:30 a.m. (location will be listed in the conference program under ACRL/ULS Standards/Guidelines Review Committee). If you have questions or comments and are unable to be at the discussion in San Francisco, please feel free to contact any of the committee members.

 

ULS Standards/Guidelines Survey

1. Please indicate your institution's Carnegie Classification (check one): www.carnegiefoundation.org/Classification/

    Doctoral/research University - extensive

    Doctoral/research University - intensive

    Master's Colleges and Universities I

    Master's Colleges and Universities II

    Baccalaureate Colleges - Liberal Arts

    Baccalaureate Colleges - General

    Baccalaureate/Associate's Colleges

    Associate's Colleges

    Specialized Institutions

    Tribal colleges and Universities

2. Is your library a member of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL)?

    Yes

    No

3. Have you/your institution ever used the ACRL Standards for University Libraries?

    Yes (proceed to questions 4)

    No (proceed to questions 5)

4. If yes, please rank the reasons for your use, with "1" being the most important:

    to support resource/budget requests

    as a guide/benchmark for library planning

    required by our institution

    accreditation/external review

    campus/internal review

    other-please specify

5. If no, please rank the reasons for your non-use, with "1" being the most important:

    didn’t know they were available

    standards not appropriate/useful for my institution

    library/institution uses other criteria

    other-please specify

6. Have you/your institution ever used the Guidelines for Branch Libraries in Colleges and Universities?

    Yes (proceed to question 7)

    No (proceed to question 8)

7. If yes, please rank the reasons for your use, with "1" being the most important:

    to support resource/budget requests

    as a guide/benchmark for library planning

    required by our institution

    accreditation/external review

    campus/internal review

    other-please specify

8. If no, please rank the reasons for your non-use, with "1" being the most important:

    didn’t know they were available

    standards not appropriate/useful for my institution

    institution uses other criteria

    other-please specify

9. Given the availability of statistical data from ACRL and ARL, what other quantitative or qualitative measures would be useful to your institution that the standards might be able to provide?

10. What one change would you make to the Standards for University Librariesto make them more useful/valuable to you?

11. What one change would you make to the Guidelines for Branch Libraries in Colleges and Universities to make them more useful/valuable to you?