SFSU WASC Self-Study CH 24- University Library

Chapter 24:

University Library

INTRODUCTION

The mission of the J. Paul Leonard Library (JPLL) is to empower its university constituency with lifelong learning skills to identify, find, evaluate, use, and communicate information in promotion of excellence in scholarship, knowledge, and understanding. To fulfill its mission within the context of the missions of San Francisco State University and the California State University system, the Library has a fuller statement of goals that is included in its mission statement [www.library.sfsu.edu/general/mission.html].

Strategic Planning

The Library completed a strategic plan for the period 1996-99 in the Spring of 1996 and a revised plan for the period 1998-2001 in the Spring of 1998. Both plans are included in the supplemental materials available in the Library and on the Library’s web site [www.library.sfsu.edu]. Many of the changes in the Library’s collections, services, and facilities since Spring 1992 are reflective of goals and objectives within the 1996 plan. The four broad goals within that plan were:

• Goal I: Maximize Responsiveness of On-site Collections, Services, and Facilities to User Needs

• Goal II: Maximize Remote Access to Collections and Services

• Goal III: Provide Library Education to All University Constituencies, Consistent with Their Information Needs and Educational Goals

• Goal IV: Maximize Internal Efficiencies in Operations and Make the Best Use of the Current Building

This section outlines activities between 1992 and 1998 within the four strategic planning goals, emphasizing the primary areas of focus within those goals. To facilitate moving ahead in these areas, a new Library organizational structure with a new lead faculty position was implemented in July 1997; a department co-chair structure for Library faculty was implemented for Spring semester 1998; and the lead staff position was converted to an MPP position effective July 1, 1998. The two Library faculty co-chairs and the MPP position constitute the three division heads and leadership team for the Library, along with the university librarian.

Goal I: Maximize Responsiveness of On-Site Collections,

Services, and Facilities To User Needs

Primary Area of Focus: Collection Development and Management

The 1992 WASC Visiting Team raised concerns regarding the effect of the 1991 budget cuts on the Library’s acquisition budget and the resulting significant reduction in quality of holdings. Since then, the university has augmented the Library’s collections budget to over $2.6 million, restoring the purchasing power of 1989-90. The following chart tracks the university’s commitment to augmenting the Library collections budget.

Year	Augmentation	Total
1991/92	$62,857	$1,400,000
1992/93	(-$400,000)	$1,000,000
1993/94	$700,000	$1,700,000
1994/95	$300,000	$2,000,000
1995/96	$489,000	$2,489,000
1996/97	$76,000	$2,565,000
1997/98	$42,711	$2,607,711
1998/99	$50,000	$2,657,711
1999/00	$63,703	$2,721,414
2000/01	$178,067	$2,899,481

This commitment to restoration of and ongoing additions to the Library’s collections budget also addresses another concern, raised by the 1992 Visiting Team, that resources were not allocated to reflect institutional priorities. Rebuilding and maintaining the Library’s collections budget was included as one of the president’s ten academic priorities in his Fall 1998 address at the annual faculty meeting that opens the semester and is overtly tracked as one of the special allocations from the General Fund by the University Budget Committee.

As a result of SFSU's augmented collections budget, the Library has sustained and added to the journal collection; done retrospective purchasing of monographs missed during the worst years of the budget cuts when virtually no books were purchased; and significantly increased purchasing of electronic resources, including access to full-text electronic journals. While physical volume counts are no longer an adequate measure of available content due to the increasing proportion of information available electronically, it is worth noting that, over this period, the number of volumes of print material added annually has increased from fewer than 20,000 to over 30,000, and the collection has reached one million physical volumes.

Alternative methods for selecting, ordering, and processing materials that enhance timeliness of availability and currency of collections include end-processing of books ordered through primary vendors, so that books arrive "shelf-ready" with call number labels and security strips already applied and cataloging records available; direct purchase from area bookstores; and electronic ordering. In addition to on-site collections, the Library works actively with CSU libraries, other library partners, and commercial services to provide timely delivery of materials not owned by J. Paul Leonard Library. These services include faxing journal articles directly to the desktop from the CARL UnCover service and Link+, a shared union catalog with eleven other CSU and non-CSU libraries through which users can request books for two- to four-day delivery.

Goal II: Maximize Remote Access to Collections and Services

Primary Area of Focus: Information Technology

InvestiGator, a next generation, web-based, integrated library system based on the Innovative system, was available to the campus community on the opening day of Fall semester 1997, replacing the previous Geac-based system. The new system offered enhanced features for both public use and internal operations and enhanced reliability of system access. The Library’s web site offers web connectivity to electronic databases, and has led to an integration of the former Electronic Resources Area (a CD-ROM network) with web-based catalog access. New services to the campus include on-line reserve listings by course and instructor, as well as individual items. InvestiGator offers users the ability to check their circulation records, renew books, initiate document delivery services and Link+ requests, and submit suggestions and acquisition requests on-line.

A wide and increasing range of services and collections is available through the Library’s web site. Most electronic databases are available for remote access, and reserve readings requests and reference inquiries can be submitted online. Computing Services is key to remote access to Library services through its management of free campus Internet accounts and modem pools. A complete electrical rewiring and enhancement to the building’s cabling infrastructure was one of the university’s Information Technology Enhancement Initiatives for 1996-97. A combination of instructional equipment and Information Technology Enhancement Initiatives funding has supported the initial installation, upgrades, and expansion of staff and public workstations necessary to support use of the Innovative system and web-based resources. The Library faculty were a part of both the initial Faculty Computing Resources Initiative in 1995-96, which provided each tenured and tenure-track faculty member with a current technology computer workstation, and the recent refresh program. Every Library faculty and staff member has either his/her own workstation or ready access to one.

Expansion of public workstations for InvestiGator and web access is ongoing and responsive to user demand for more access to the increasing array of electronic resources. There were dramatic increases in connection with the implementation of the new integrated library system, from 78 student workstations in June 1996, to 183 in June 1998, exclusive of classroom facilities, resulting in a ratio of one workstation for every 275 student FTE. Laptop Links offers connectivity in one of the group study rooms for student use of laptops with dial-in network access. In 1997-98, room 426A was refurbished as an electronic classroom dedicated to the Library’s instructional programs; and a university-wide electronic class lab, maintained by Computing Services, is now available in room 433.

The CD-ROM network, originally implemented for Fall 1992, was upgraded to a Windows NT network. The Media Access Center computer lab, originally expanded to encompass the previous faculty/staff training area, was upgraded to an NT network with new workstations for Spring 1998.

Goal III: Provide Library Education to All University Constituencies, Consistent with Their Information Needs and Educational Goals

Primary Area of Focus: Information Competence

The Library has developed an Information Competence web page, with links to recommended resources [www.library.sfsu.edu/instruction/infocomp.html]. The Academic Senate Library Advisory Committee revised and updated the Academic Senate policy related to the Library Requirement, a graduation requirement for undergraduate students, which was reviewed by the Academic Policies Committee and passed by the Academic Senate [www.sfsu.edu/~senate/S99-207.htm]. This requirement constitutes the basic information competence level, framed by the broader context of information competence integration in the curriculum consistent with the SFSU strategic plan and the Statewide Academic Senate resolution on information competence [http://www.calstate.edu/tier3/acadsen/actions/1997-98/2409.html]. (Please see the Information Competence section in Chapter 3 for a further discussion of the information competence requirement.)

In support of information competence throughout the curriculum, SFSU offers the highest number of professional reference service hours/week among its peer CSU institutions, based on 1998-99 CSU Library Statistics; and 50% of our FTE students participated in some form of the Library’s instructional program. The program includes a wide range of offerings, including credit courses, course-integrated presentations, drop-in workshops, web-based guides and tutorials, and the Library Requirement. All aspects of the program contribute to students acquiring and using information competence skills.

Computing Services, the Center for the Enhancement of Teaching, and the Library all offer a variety of technology training sessions. The Library initiated drop-in sessions on electronic resources focused by discipline during the Spring 1996 semester. For more substantive instruction in this area, the Library offers a credit course on The Internet and Electronic Research.

Goal IV: Maximize Internal Efficiencies In Operations

And Make the Best Use of the Current Building

Primary Area of Focus: Building and Facilities

Library hours were restored to the mean for the CSU, 81 hours/week, in Fall 1996. In addition, as a part of a joint project with Computing Services completed for Fall semester 1996, the Library offers a 24-hour student computing lab and quiet study space on the first floor of the Library, securing access to the rest of the Library building during hours when the rest of the Library is not open to the public. That space is also used to provide extended hours when the rest of the Library building is closed during summer sessions.

A new roof was installed in Summer 1996. All Library faculty and staff now have ergonomically appropriate chairs and workstation furniture in the context of increasing work with computers and a number of Library faculty and staff who have suffered repetitive stress injuries. The Friends of the Library (FOL) replaced 100 chairs in the popular first floor study area as one of their funded proposals for 1996-97 and completed replacing the remaining older chairs in 1997-98, along with funding new study tables and other replacement furniture needs. New sprinkler and alarm systems and a new public address system were installed in the building during 1994-95. Inadequate ventilation and erratic heating and cooling, old elevators that frequently malfunction, and other infrastructure issues continue to challenge delivery of contemporary service in an older, inadequate building. There is a plan, but no reliable funding source, for replacement of furniture and other facilities. Capital Planning conducted an air quality assessment in 1998-99, with an outcome of no significantly elevated health risk to normal healthy working individuals during normal operations and activities from sampled and measured substances. A major retrofit of the building’s HVAC system is planned either in conjunction with or following the planned seismic/programmatic retrofit of the current building.

The 1992 WASC Visiting Team made a number of observations about the heavy use of the library building; high level of occupancy of available seats; the need for maintenance commensurate with its heavy use and replacement of floor coverings and furniture; the limited space available for library users, particularly given occupancy of some space by tenants; and the difficulty of using the building for library purposes due to its fixed interior walls and current layout. The team recommended a comprehensive architectural study and remodeling. Plans for a library expansion and renovation are addressed within the section of this chapter on the status in 2000 of Outcome V of the 1998-2001 strategic plan, and also in Chapter 29. The observations of the 1992 Team about the library building and facilities are currently still valid.

1998 BENCHMARKING

The Library uses both formal and informal methods of obtaining user feedback, and analyzes data collected on its collections, services, and facilities. All forms of feedback and assessment/performance measures are used to guide program improvement and considered for changes in policies, procedures, and services to be responsive to user needs. The Library solicits ongoing faculty feedback from the Academic Senate Library Advisory Committee (ASLAC) and the Educational Technology Advisory Committee (ETAC), both of which serve as focus groups that include representatives of each college. A mailed faculty user survey was conducted in the Spring 1997 semester; results are briefly summarized below. ASLAC conducted two pilot faculty focus group discussions on the future of the Library during the Spring 1998 semester and offered the opportunity for faculty to participate in focus groups during 1998-99. Students provide feedback through the suggestion box, an on-line suggestion capability through InvestiGator; and a student focus group was conducted in late 1998. Questions relating to the Library are included in university-wide surveys of faculty, staff, students, and alumni.

The Spring 1997 Faculty User Survey had an overall response rate of 13.65%. The response rate was twice as high for tenured and tenure-track faculty as for lecturers, typical for surveys at SFSU; but the distribution of responses was largely representative of faculty across colleges. 75% of respondents used the Library on-site at least once/month, and almost 60% used it that often remotely. SFSU faculty are also active users of other area libraries; 56% use UC Berkeley, 24% use San Francisco Public, 23% use Stanford, 18% use UC San Francisco, and 28% use a variety of other libraries. Their reasons for using other libraries are superior collections and/or convenience to home. Over 80% considered 48 hours to a week a satisfactory turnaround time for receipt of items obtained from other libraries through document delivery services; this response set the standard for our turnaround time for this service. Faculty reported familiarity with a variety of library collections and services and the importance of those collections and services to their teaching and to their professional achievement. As is typical of faculty user surveys, book and journal collections were rated high in importance and had the highest level of dissatisfaction. However, there was a surprising level of familiarity with some recently introduced services for remote users, such as the Library’s web site and direct ordering of faxed articles, reflecting the level of use of the Library by faculty from their homes and offices and a relatively high level of satisfaction with those services.

In the Fall 1998 Student Pulse Survey, two-thirds of the student respondents rated the Library as excellent or good. SFSU joined seven other CSU libraries in participating in a library benchmarking project; the relevant assessment measures and benchmarks are included in the annual CSU statistical comparisons for our peer institutions and provide a means of identifying "best practices" among CSU libraries for us to emulate. These metrics, SFSU or CSU institutional measures, and other standards in the field, such as the revised Standards for College Libraries approved and issued by the Association of College & Research Libraries in January 2000, provide other means of assessing the J. Paul Leonard Library and how it compares to its peer institutions.

The Library works with pilot assessment projects in departments and colleges as appropriate to determine if and how assessment of information competence can be incorporated into those projects and how Library faculty could best contribute to that assessment. As a part of the CSU libraries strategic planning effort, the Library conducted focus group discussions with students and Library employees. Other opportunities, such as the CET reception for new faculty over the last several years, are very productive opportunities for faculty feedback on the Library.

Priorities for 1998-2000

The Library’s updated strategic plan for 1998-2001 reflects both CSU and SFSU strategic planning initiatives and priorities and has five outcomes, within which priorities and accomplishments for 1998-2000 are described below.

OUTCOME I: All SFSU Graduates Demonstrate a Defined Level of Information

Competence in Lifelong Learning that Positions Them for Success

The CSU has defined a common set of core information competencies. The definition states that students will be able to:

• Formulate and state a research question, problem, or issue, not only within the conceptual framework of a discipline but also in a manner in which others can easily understand and cooperatively engage in the search.

• Determine the information requirements for a research question, problem, or issue in order to formulate a search strategy that will use a variety of resources.

• Locate and retrieve relevant information, in all its various formats, using, when appropriate, technological tools.

• Organize information in a manner that permits analysis, evaluation, synthesis, and understanding.

• Create and communicate information effectively using various media.

• Understand the ethical, legal, and socio-political issues surrounding information.

• Understand the techniques, points of view, and practices employed in the presentation of information from all sources.

In its May 1998 resolution on information competence, the Academic Senate of the CSU endorsed a three-stage process for achieving integration of information competence in the curriculum. This three-stage process introduces the fundamentals of information competence in a freshman-orientation/transitions course, further develops the skills by embedding them in General Education courses, and reinforces and amplifies these skills in the major area. Of these three, the Library is directly responsible for the evolving Information Competence Requirement as the first stage in the process, and indirectly contributes to the achievement of the other two through a wide variety of modalities and methods of campus participation and integration into the curriculum.

The Information Competence Graduation Requirement addresses at a basic level the information competencies enumerated by the CSU Information Competence Work Group and endorsed by the CSU Academic Senate. Every SFSU undergraduate must successfully complete the requirement prior to graduation. The goal of the requirement is to provide incoming SFSU students with basic-level information competence skills early in their SFSU experience. Over 7,000 students annually complete the requirement. Effective Fall 2000, the print version of the Library Requirement became OASIS (On-line Advancement of Student Information Skills), a new web-based program that fulfills the Basic Information Competence Requirement. While other universities offer voluntary web-based information competence tutorials, or print-based requirements, we believe SFSU is the first to offer a web-based information competence requirement program that includes a testing/assessment component.

In partnership with disciplinary faculty and administrators, Library faculty work to integrate information competence into the curriculum and into learning outcomes defined within General Education and for each major. The outcome of these efforts is reflected in the learning outcomes defined for these programs. The Library’s programs in support of information competence include:

• One-on-one instruction/research advice, on-demand, in-person, at Library service points; consultations by appointment and through Library faculty office hours; and e-mail reference service.

• Course-integrated sessions on request from disciplinary faculty for upper division and graduate courses.

• Instructional web pages and research guides by subject on the Library’s web site.

• Information competence web page, a resource for academic departments working on incorporation of information competence in department learning outcomes.

• Library faculty collaboration with disciplinary faculty on development and/or evaluation of assignments requiring use of information competence skills for discipline-based projects.

• Electronic resources workshops, open to all SFSU students and faculty on a self-selected basis. Hands-on introduction on use of on-line catalog, electronic databases, and document delivery services/full-text options.

• Faculty workshops co-sponsored with Center for the Enhancement of Teaching in support of faculty research needs.

• Lower division and upper division credit courses offered fall and spring semesters focusing on research methods and use of print and electronic resources.

OUTCOME II: Access, Availability, and Use of Learning, Teaching, and Research Resources are Efficient, Cost-effective, and User-friendly; and the University

Community Expresses a High Level of Satisfaction with Library Resources, Services, and Facilities

Achieving this outcome involves implementing the CSU Pharos Unified Information Access System with shared union catalog and unmediated on-line borrowing requests at SFSU; exploring the possibilities for enhanced cooperation among Bay Area libraries (e.g., through expanded participation of non-CSU libraries in Link+ or through the developing Library of California Golden Gateway Regional Network); and identifying means of determining user satisfaction through library-related questions in university-administered surveys.

OUTCOME III: Teaching Effectiveness, Scholarly Productivity, Ongoing Professional Development, and Leadership in New Information Technologies and Formats Characterize Library Faculty and Staff

The department co-chairs are working with Library faculty on defining workload assignments, preferences, and interests, and developing their professional achievement objectives and goals, using the Annual Librarian Assessment & Planning Process developed and endorsed by the Library faculty. The Library supports ongoing professional development for Library faculty and staff through both Library and Friends of the Library funds.

OUTCOME IV: Institutional Viability and Vitality are Enhanced by the Library’s Contribution to Campus Collaboration and Success in Obtaining External Funding

The Library is working with University Advancement on key fundraising initiatives, including supporting the costs of housing and processing the Kagel collection of the Labor Archives and Research Center and the Bay Area Television Archives; working with the Friends of the Library, including both individual donors and the long-range planning committee, on plans for use of the current reserve and an anticipated bequest; and framing naming opportunities and other fundraising initiatives related to the Library building project. The Library continues to explore the potential of sponsored research and other external funding sources to contribute to these and other Library projects. The Library contributed to the success of SFSU’s centennial celebration in 1999 through Library-sponsored exhibits and displays, programs in collaboration with Friends of the Library and other university units, and the work of Special Collections/Archives faculty and staff in identifying and locating historical information and materials about the university for centennial activities and programs.

OUTCOME V: The Library’s Infrastructure in Terms of Human Resources, Collections, and Equipment/Facilities Meets User Needs

The Library will continue to reconfigure collections and services within the current building to take advantage of space vacated by tenants and regain sufficient space to house collections until the construction of an automated storage/retrieval facility. The Library will work with Capital Planning and campus constituencies to develop a program plan for the seismic/programmatic retrofit of the current building and the addition.

STATUS IN 2000

OUTCOME I: All SFSU Graduates Demonstrate a Defined Level of Information Competence that Positions Them for Success in Lifelong Learning

Effective Fall 2000, OASIS is being integrated into the university's new first-year experience courses. As a result, incoming freshmen will acquire basic information competence skills during their first semester at the university, addressing a long-standing need to find a way to ensure early completion of this requirement, to enable them to benefit from the competencies gained in their future college course work, consistent with the revised SFSU Academic Senate policy on this requirement. The Library also expects to work with faculty teaching the first-year experience courses to incorporate concepts introduced by OASIS into course assignments as a way to integrate and reinforce information competence skills in the topics covered throughout the courses.

Library faculty liaisons are also working in partnership with college faculty in departments and programs on the integration of information competence skills into learning outcomes for majors, General Education, and basic skills initiatives, consistent with SFSU and CSU strategic planning and information competence initiatives. Guidelines for the Fifth Cycle of Academic Program Review [www.sfsu.edu/~senate/S99-161.htm] include information access competence among the basic skills to be promoted and assessed within the major program, consistent with the SFSU strategic plan.

OUTCOME II: Access, Availability, and Use of Learning, Teaching, and Research Resources are Efficient, Cost-effective, and User-friendly; and the University Community Expresses a High Level of Satisfaction with Library Resources, Services, and Facilities

Through the Link+ system, the Library has expanded access beyond its own collection of 750,000 titles and one million physical volumes to a database of almost four million titles and over ten million physical volumes. SFSU users request an average of 600 books/month on loan from other participating libraries, and virtually 100% are received within three days. The Library expects to introduce the CSU-developed Pharos Unified Information Access System during 2000-01. Through this system, the functionality of Link+ will be expanded to a union catalog of the library holdings of all 23 campus libraries of the CSU system, enabling expedited resource sharing throughout the system.

The Library began offering "anytime, anywhere" access to materials on course reserve through the introduction of electronic reserves in the Spring 2000 semester, providing scanning services, working with the Bookstore to obtain copyright permissions, and providing individual course web pages with links to other resources. In the first semester this service was available, 45 faculty members put 700 items on electronic reserve for 62 courses. The materials were accessed over 19,000 times. In addition to materials for courses offered, the Office of Academic Planning and Assessment and CET were among the university offices that used the electronic reserve service. Faculty reactions were enthusiastic, verging on effusive.

OUTCOME III: Teaching Effectiveness, Scholarly Productivity, Ongoing Professional Development, and Leadership in New Information Technologies and Formats Characterize Library Faculty and Staff

Faculty activity reports submitted for the Faculty Merit Increase process and portfolios of Library faculty reviewed for retention, tenure, and promotion document a wide array of scholarly productivity and ongoing professional development. Survey forms and instruments have been designed for different types of library instructional services and are used by faculty in obtaining student feedback to assess their teaching effectiveness; results are used for programmatic development and improvement. Various Library units have taken initiatives around new information technologies and formats. As noted above, one particularly successful example was the introduction of electronic reserves in Spring 2000, led by the staff member who heads the Reserve Book Room.

Among individual achievements, Lynn Bonfield, director of the Labor Archives and Research Center, was selected by the California Heritage Preservation Commission as one of two recipients of the 1998 Archivist Award of Excellence, recognizing exceptional performance in the California archival field. Another librarian, Helene Whitson, head of Special Collections/Archives, was awarded the Governors’ Citation for Life Achievement by the San Francisco/Northern California Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences at their "Silver Circle and 50th Gala," an event celebrating 50 years of television in Northern California in October 1999. The Governors’ Citation is "given to those who have made outstanding and unique accomplishments within our television industry." Whitson was interviewed by The Oakland Tribute for an October 19, 1999 article about her work preserving local television news and programming through SFSU’s Bay Area Television Archives.

OUTCOME IV: Institutional Viability and Vitality are Enhanced by the Library’s Contribution to Campus Collaboration and Success in Obtaining External Funding

The de Bellis Collection prepared a museum-quality exhibit and catalog of "Artifacts from Ancient Italy" from its collection that resulted in a positive cover story in the "Datebook" section of the San Francisco Chronicle and heightened visibility for the collection and library at SFSU.

The Labor Archives and Research Center achieved its highest level of fundraising to date, including over $30,000 toward preserving the Sam Kagel Collection, the establishment of an endowment fund that has reached a principal accumulation of $30,000, and the highest support in annual operating funds ever raised. David Selvin, chair of the Labor Archives Advisory Board, received an honorary Doctor of Laws at the May 2000 Commencement ceremonies.

The Bill Hillman Television Archives Fund, named for one of the key people involved in the renewed fundraising efforts in support of the Bay Area Television Archives, and begun with his personal contribution, has a balance of over $30,000, with continuing contributions in Bill Hillman’s memory. These funds are used for the processing of this unique collection. Fundraising efforts have also heightened the visibility of the collection as a catalyst for additional gifts of related materials.

Additionally, Library support has been included in externally funded projects in biomedical research and mathematics.

OUTCOME V: The Library’s Infrastructure in Terms of Human Resources, Collections, and Equipment/Facilities Meets User Needs

While the Center for the Enhancement of Teaching expanded into new space in the Library during the Summer of 1999, some of the other tenants were relocated to provide more space in the Library overall. In an effort to maximize the use of the current building and its available load-bearing space for collections, the Library continues to reconfigure services using the 4th floor spaces as they become available. (Most of this floor is not load-bearing and cannot accommodate book or bound periodical stacks.) Additional stacks were installed during Summer 1999, with additional reconfigurations of seating. There have been several reconfigurations of reference and electronic resources services on the first floor to reflect changes in formats for CD-ROM sources, many of which have migrated to web-based Internet access, and to provide additional space for user workstations. Both physical access and technological access in the Library conform to ADA requirements. Reaction to the changes in and relocation of the Faculty/Graduate Reading Room, to planned storage of bound periodicals, and to rumors about the Library retrofit project are indicative of the sensitivity and passion physical changes in the Library engender among faculty and student constituencies.

Plans for a Library addition, including an automated storage and retrieval facility adjacent to the current building, will address collection storage needs and allow for a reconfiguration of contemporary services in the current building. A program planning process during Spring 2000 has resulted in a plan for an expansion/renovation of the current J. Paul Leonard Library from the current 199,871 assignable square feet to 283,227 assignable square feet, accommodating an integrated facility housing the Library, AV/ITV, and the Center for the Enhancement of Teaching. The facility will be a joint library with the Sutro Library of the California State Library, which will add 19,505 assignable square feet to the project for a total of 302,732 assignable square feet.

ASSESSMENT

Assessment methods

In his Summer 1995 article in New Directions for Higher Education, "Using the Accreditation Process to Transform the Mission of the Library," Ralph Wolff, executive director of the Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, outlines indicators of library quality under four organizing principles: resources, research, students, and learning.

Four types of measures of success are being applied to the CSU Integrated Technology, including the initiative on library resources. Those measurements are:

• Extensiveness or the amount of usage of the services

• Effectiveness or the degree of success of objectives

• Efficiency or the cost of the service provided

• Service quality or the satisfaction of users

Within the context of these two approaches to indicators and measures, the J. Paul Leonard Library draws upon the following assessment methods:

1. National and CSU standards and guidelines

2. CSU libraries benchmarks and statistical comparisons

3. Faculty user survey (Spring 1997)

4. University surveys with library-related questions

• Undergraduate Exit Survey

• Graduate Exit Survey

• Student and Faculty/Staff/Administrator Pulse surveys

5. Reports from the InnoPAC system; e.g., circulation statistics, holdings statistics by call number, area, program. Indicators of collection quality as reflected in extensiveness of collections in subject areas and collection use.

6. J. Paul Leonard Library document delivery services on behalf of SFSU borrowers to obtain materials not owned at SFSU.

7. Loans of J. Paul Leonard Library material to other libraries through document delivery services, particularly loans to other CSU libraries

8. Program accreditation reviews that include assessment of Library collections, services, and facilities.

9. User satisfaction as reflected in feedback, including suggestions leading to changes and improvements, and lack of complaints. Feedback is gathered for all components of Library programs from the Library suggestion box, comments/suggestions on the Library web site, focus groups, and periodic faculty and student surveys. The Library solicits ongoing faculty feedback from the Academic Senate Library Advisory Committee (ASLAC) and the Educational Technology Advisory Committee (ETAC), both of which serve as focus groups that include representatives of each college.

10. CSU-wide surveys such as SNAPS and a current initiative to assess student information competence through a telephone survey instrument.

Criteria for Success

The following are "success" criteria that have been identified:

• The J. Paul Leonard Library meets or exceeds national and CSU standards and guidelines for collections, staffing, and facilities for its student body.

• The J. Paul Leonard Library compares favorably with its peer institutions within the CSU and nationally on measures of extensiveness, effectiveness, efficiency, and service quality or the satisfaction of users.

• User surveys indicate a high level of satisfaction with J. Paul Leonard Library collections, services, and facilities.

• Collection quality is reflected in high use and collections that meet accreditation and program review criteria.

• Document delivery services meet user expectations for turnaround time and fulfillment rates.

• The Library achieves productivity improvements that are reported annually to the CSU.

Results of Assessment

Extensiveness

Over 54,000 users come physically to the Library in a typical week. Over 100,000 visit the Library virtually; i.e., through accessing the Library’s web site.

Standards and Guidelines

Based on 1995 standards issued by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) and CSU guidelines, the J. Paul Leonard Library has an adequate collection size but only 65% of the employees and 70% of the facilities space it should have to serve 20,000 FTE students. The 2000 ACRL standards do not use a formula-driven approach, but do offer input and output measures as suggested points of comparison, some of which are used in the comparison of SFSU with its CSU peer institutions.

CSU Libraries Benchmarks and Statistical Comparisons

A comparison of SFSU with other peer libraries in the CSU based on annual CSU library statistics is prepared annually; copies of these comparisons using 1996-97, 1997-98, and 1998-99 statistics are available.

Comparing SFSU’s Library to the seven other CSU institutions that are most similar to SFSU in size (Fresno, Fullerton, Long Beach, Northridge, Sacramento, San Diego, and San Jose) using the most recent available statistics (1998-99 CSU Library Statistics), SFSU’s greatest strength relative to peer institutions within the CSU is our commitment to building current collections. SFSU continues to rank first in expenditures for materials per student. Annual materials expenditure by FTE Student Ratio for 1998-99 was almost $140, the highest among the comparable CSU institutions. Other SFSU rankings include:

• First in materials acquisitions as a percent of total Library expenditures

• Highest annual growth in books and periodicals added to collections

• Second in total expenditures for materials

• Second in number of periodical subscriptions and in number of periodical subscriptions per student

We are also high in use of our collection and of our facility:

• Second in circulation of materials per student

• Second in circulation of materials overall

• First in gate count in a typical week (i.e., on-site users), although this figure on all CSU campuses is affected by whether there are non-library tenants in the library building

Document Delivery Services

• Requests from SFSU users for materials through document delivery services have increased over 225% since 1994-95; the fill rate has increased from 83% to 93%. Use of this service by all categories of users has increased: faculty members by almost 50%, undergraduate students by 285%, and graduate students by 300%. While the reasons for these increases would have to be determined in part by user feedback, the reduced turnaround time, increased convenience of submission and notification of receipt on-line, and increased fill rate are all factors in user satisfaction and use of this service as an acceptable alternative to ownership of needed materials.

• J. Paul Leonard Library materials supplied to other requesting libraries have increased 19% since 1994-95; the fill rate has increased from 58% to over 63%. SFSU’s materials supplied to other CSU libraries have increased by 34% since 1994-95, and to other non-CSU or UC libraries by 59%. These statistics reflect the extent and quality of SFSU collections relative to requesting libraries.

• Document delivery services collected data during October 1999 to assess to what degree we were meeting our turnaround time standard for delivery of materials. Over 99% of books borrowed through the Link+ service are received within four days, and 86% of articles received through the Infotrieve service are also. Books and articles received through the OCLC service do not yet meet this turnaround time standard; only about one-third of materials requested from other libraries through OCLC are received within four days.

User Surveys

Library-related results in the 1999 CSU Student Needs and Priorities Survey (SNAPS) and other SFSU student surveys included the following.

1999 SNAPS

In response to a question to students regarding how difficult six educational activities were for them during the past year, only 20-25% reported any of the following activities related to information competence as being difficult or very difficult: formulating a topic or research question, evaluating the accuracy and validity of information, locating and retrieving information, or organizing and using information. This level of confidence on the part of our students would indicate exposure to and mastery of these information competence skills.

In response to a question rating 29 student services and resources in terms of both their importance and their quality, 93.5% rated library services as somewhat or very important, the second highest rating after the bookstore. Almost 56% rated library services as excellent or good, the third highest rating after student health services (66.3%) and financial aid services (59%). The library collection was rated somewhat or very important by almost 90%, and of excellent or good quality by almost 50%. For comparison, in the 1994 SFSU SNAPS results, library materials were rated important or very important by 92% and library services by 86%, the highest and third highest ratings of the services rated. In that survey, 63% rated library services and 60% rated library materials as excellent or good.

Ratings of the Library in Other SFSU Student Surveys

• 70% of undergraduate students surveyed in the Spring 1999 Undergraduate Exit Survey were somewhat satisfied or very satisfied with the J. Paul Leonard Library. More students responded to the question on the Library than to questions on all other support services and programs except the Bookstore; and the Library had the highest percentage of somewhat or very satisfied responses among the surveyed services.

• Almost 62% of undergraduate students surveyed in the Spring 1999 Undergraduate Exit Survey reported that their experience in their major program helped them learn how to access information from various electronic and print resources somewhat or a great deal.

• The Spring 2000 Student Pulse Survey included a more focused question on how much of the work students need to do in the Library could be done remotely through the Internet. Over 60% of a representative sample of students said that about two-thirds or more of their work could be done that way. Responses varied by college from a low of 47% in the College of Humanities to a high of over 70% in the College of Health and Human Services.

• Almost half of graduate students responding to the SFSU Graduate Exit Survey in the Fall 1997, Spring 1998, and Spring 1999 semesters responded that Library holdings relevant to their fields were good or excellent; almost one-third rated them fair. These results were essentially the same as those from the Spring 1995, Fall 1996, and Spring 1997 semesters.

Use of Assessment Results for Program Improvement

• The Library has increased the number of public workstations to address lines and complaints about inadequate access to the Library’s catalog and electronic resources. The Library provides over 180 public workstations for InvestiGator and web access, exclusive of classroom facilities, a ratio of one workstation for every 114 student FTE.

• Recognizing that students use full text resources on the web and the Internet as primary research sources, the Library has invested an increasing proportion of its collection budget on electronic resources, and a significant proportion of faculty and staff time and equipment in establishing and enhancing the Library’s web site as a primary portal to the J. Paul Leonard Library, the CSU, and other electronic resources. The Library is also responsible for one of two general purpose computer labs on campus and has invested significant resources from instructional equipment and other funds to upgrade and enhance this facility.

• The Library has implemented Web Access Management to offer access to licensed databases from ISP’s as well as from SFSU IP addresses, addressing user requests for this kind of access to allow them to avoid long distance telephone charges and busy signals using the SFSU modem pool.

• In an effort to provide as many services as possible remotely, the Library’s catalog offers on-line reserve listings by course and instructor, as well as individual items, and the ability for users to check their circulation records, renew books, initiate and check the status of document delivery services and Link+ requests, and submit suggestions, acquisition requests, reserve readings requests, and reference inquiries on-line.

• Document delivery services include on-line ordering and notification, the Link+ shared union catalog and direct unmediated patron requests for loans, and delivery of articles that are received electronically to the desktop, all reducing the need for on-site mediated activity by patron and staff time in processing transactions.

• Laptop Links offers connectivity in one of the group study rooms for student use of laptops with dial-in network access.

• Based on user feedback, the Library reconfigured a newly available space vacated by tenants in order to continue having a study space designated as the Faculty/Graduate Reading Room, and installed soundproofing between this space and an adjacent instructional/consultation space to preserve the quiet study environment.

• The Library’s most severe deficiency is space. Plans for a Library addition of an automated storage and retrieval facility adjacent to the current building will address collection storage needs and allow for a reconfiguration of contemporary services in the current building. Meanwhile, additional stacks were installed in Summer 1999 and several collections are currently stored off-site.

• As was mentioned earlier in the chapter, in an effort to leverage allocated funds with external resources, the Library is working with University Advancement on key fundraising initiatives, including supporting the costs of housing and processing the Kagel collection of the Labor Archives and Research Center and the Bay Area Television Archives; working with the Friends of the Library, including both individual donors and the long-range planning committee, on plans for use of the current reserve and an anticipated bequest; and framing naming opportunities and other fundraising initiatives related to the Library building project.

• The focus of the electronic resources workshops changed to address demand, offering more sessions throughout the semester on the basics, and creating new sessions for the absolute beginner, for advanced database searching, and for full-text searching. Starting in Fall 1999, the Library refocused the subject-based electronic resources workshops, which had had lower attendance than basic workshops in past semesters, and added an option of "custom-tailored" workshops to a reasonable quorum of students, thus allowing flexibility in instruction and responding to the need for timely scheduling. Workshops in collaboration with CET are continuing to "teach the teachers" by reaching faculty/staff who can instruct students directly or work with the Library to ensure that students receive instruction on and complete OASIS, the Basic Information Competence Requirement.

• Reference desk staffing was adjusted to reflect the decrease in on-site reference desk queries. The Library increased access to one-on-one research advice by implementing office hours in a laboratory setting, making e-mail reference service more prominent on the Library web site, and encouraging e-mail reference queries to individual Library subject specialists. The reference page on the web site was revised to promote features such as research guides useful to remote users. Survey forms were revised twice to refine this assessment tool, and distribution and collection of survey instruments were also revised.

Recommendations for the Future

Information Competence

• The implementation of OASIS, the new web-based Information Competence Requirement, will involve obtaining student and faculty feedback, assessing content and questions for ongoing revision and improvement, collecting data on student success rates in passing the requirement, and determining to what degree students are completing the requirement in the time frame outlined in the Academic Senate policy.

• The university will need to ensure that students are advised about the Information Competence Requirement and to see that it is completed early in every undergraduate’s time at SFSU through such programs as: SFSU Virtual Orientation; Web-based Undergraduate Advising Planner; Residential Life orientation programs; and the various first-year experience courses.

• In cooperation with discipline faculty, it will be necessary to find ways to assess student demonstration of the seven information competencies as evidenced in completed course assignments.

There is also a need to:

• Assess penetration of the curriculum with information competence through instruction delivered by the Library, including course-integrated sessions, hits on web pages with instructional offerings, and/or distribution of print instructional materials.

• Evaluate the effectiveness of instructional programs through evaluation forms disseminated to students for all types of Library instruction offered (course-integrated sessions, electronic resources workshops, CET workshops, credit courses, and informal feedback), repeat requests for instructional sessions for courses, observations made at the reference desk and during instruction sessions, and demand levels for instruction sessions.

• Determine the most effective ways to offer one-on-one instruction/research advice on-demand, whether in person, by telephone, and/or by e-mail.

• Explore ways of assessing student demonstration of information competencies at the point of graduation.

Remote Access

The Fall 1998 CSU Student Technology Survey interviewed a representative sample of 150 students from SFSU and 19 other CSU campuses. 69% of those interviewed use a computer to access library resources. The Fall 1998 SFSU Student Pulse Survey confirms the high level of student use of computers generally. Over three-quarters of the students surveyed reported that at least 50% of their classes required the use of a computer. Over 83% reported having a computer available for school work, and over 70% had off-campus access to the Internet. Half of the students interviewed in the Student Technology Survey use computing services on campus almost every day or weekly. Given the limitations of the current physical building, the results of these surveys, and the result of the Spring 2000 Pulse Survey question on the percentage of library-related work that could be done remotely through the Internet (1), the Library will continue to invest heavily in content and supporting technologies to deliver information remotely.

(1) 25% of respondents said almost all; 36% said about two-thirds; and 31% said about one-third; with 8% saying almost none.

Building and Facilities

The most critical issue for the Library is space. Currently, the Library is storing the Sam Kagel Collection, part of the Labor Archives and Research Center, off-site, and is moving bound periodicals to off-site storage. Installation of additional book stacks in some of the few remaining load-bearing areas of the building has resulted in a loss of student seating space, which is already less than half the CSU standard for our size student body. Even with the additional book stacks, the stack area is over capacity. Assignment of additional Library space to the Center for the Enhancement of Teaching resulted in a tremendous hue and cry over the loss of the displaced Faculty/Graduate Reading Room in the form of numerous suggestion box complaints and a campus-wide petition.

The most frequent area for comment and complaint in focus groups, suggestions submitted, and other feedback from users is the building and the facilities, including collections and user space, cleanliness, safety and security, environmental conditions such as heating and ventilation, and equipment.

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