| Narrative: |
Southwestern
Community College provides and supports student and faculty
access and user privileges to adequate library collections
and other information resources consistent with the degree
programs offered by the College. Through ownership and
formal agreements, sufficient resources are available
to support educational, research, and public service programs.
The Library mission statement reads as follows: “The
purpose of the Library is to provide a multimedia center
designed to support and implement the total instructional
program of the college. The Library’s chief aim
is to contribute to the realization of the institution’s
objectives by acquiring, organizing and circulating the
books, periodicals, audiovisuals, online resources, and
materials needed to support the instructional programs
of the college; to provide a variety of learning and study
options; to provide instruction in the use of resources;
and to promote the cultural development of library users”
(1).
Library-owned Collections and Resources
The Library is located in the Pines building, an 11,000-square-foot
facility that includes shelving capacity for 40,000 volumes
and seating space for 120 people. The facility is open
66 hours per week. The building houses the book collection,
periodicals, audiovisuals, and 24 computer lab workstations,
and a conference room with computer projector. The building
also houses other College offices. Library users have
access to a laser printer, a photocopier, a large-screen
computer monitor, two scanners, a TV/VCR, and a microfilm
reader-printer. The Library’s home page (2)
is the starting point for all users to learn about services
and resources available; in particular, the Library Handbook
and the Self-Guided Library Tour are designed for this
purpose.
Library
collections include various types of print and non-print
media for the use of students, faculty and staff. The
Library book collection consists of approximately 30,000
volumes that relate directly to academic offerings.
The online catalog, WebCat, can be searched from the
Library’s home page via any Internet connection
(3). The reference
collection contains a variety of specialized resources
including many legal reference sources. A varied collection
of fiction and books of general interest is also provided.
Easy access to all library materials is provided with
an open-shelf concept, as well as through the use of
the online catalog and circulation system. Materials
are cataloged and shelved under the Dewey Decimal system
of classification.
The library subscribes to more than 200 magazines and
newspapers. A list of periodical holdings is available
on the library home page (4).
Back issues are retained on the shelves for at least
two years. Included in the Library collection are bound
volumes of magazines and microfilm of 170 periodical
titles.
The Library’s audiovisual media collection includes
audiotapes, slides, transparencies, videotapes, DVDs
and CD-ROMS. These materials are indexed in the online
catalog, and students may use them in the Library conference
room or in a classroom. Faculty may check out instructional
audiovisual media.
Internet access as well as access to the Microsoft Office
suite and instructional software are available on the
24 computer lab workstations in the Library. These stations
are available to all library users and are connected
to a printer for their convenience.
The library staff participates in teaching and working
closely with faculty in planning student orientations
to the library. Research assistance for the individual
student or faculty member is always available. Contact
information for librarians is provided on the Library
home page so that off-site users may seek assistance
by telephone or e-mail.
The Library is open from 8 a.m. until 9 p.m. Monday
through Thursday, 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Friday, and
9 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Saturday. The facility provides
services to community residents of Jackson, Macon, and
Swain counties, as well as the college staff, faculty,
and students.
Consortia Agreements
The Library participates in the Community College Libraries
of North Carolina (CCLINC) online catalog and circulation
consortium of 44 community college libraries (5).
Therefore, the WebCat/iLink catalog allows users to
locate not only Southwestern’s library holdings
but those of all participating libraries. Faculty, staff
and students may request books from other libraries
online and receive them by mail in approximately one
week.
Additional interlibrary loan services are available
through the Online Computer Library System (OCLC) Interlibrary
Loan system by placing a request through library staff.
The OCLC system catalog is WorldCat, an index to library
collections worldwide, which is one of the NC LIVE databases.
The Library home page also has a direct link to WorldCat.
NC LIVE, a collection of electronic databases for research,
is accessible through a link on the Library’s
home page (6).
According to the NC LIVE website, “North Carolina
Libraries for Virtual Education (NC LIVE) offers the
citizens of North Carolina online access to complete
articles from over 10,000 newspapers, journals, magazines,
and encyclopedias, indexing for over 20,000 periodical
titles, and access to over 24,000 electronic books”
(7). These databases
can be searched from any on-campus Southwestern Community
College computer via Internet, and they are available
for students from Internet connections anywhere.
The Mountain College Library Network (MCLN) is a consortium
consisting of 15 western North Carolina college libraries
(8) who agree
to provide access to articles in academic journals and
other periodicals for students, faculty, and staff of
member institutions (9).
Requested articles are delivered electronically within
24 hours on workdays.
Survey Responses Relevant to Library Access
The College utilizes a variety of surveys designed to
assess users’ satisfaction with access to Library
resources. The following responses were gathered from
three recent surveys regarding this issue.
Library Student Survey:
In 2005, only 7% of students surveyed indicated they
were not satisfied with their access to the resources
provided by the SCC Library. In 2004, less than 7% of
students surveyed indicated they were not satisfied
with their access to the resources provided by the SCC
Library (10).
Distance Learning Student Survey:
In 2005, less than 6% of distance learning students
surveyed indicated they were not satisfied with their
access to the resources provided by the SCC Library.
In 2004, no students surveyed indicated they were not
satisfied with their access to the resources provided
by the SCC Library. In 2003, just over 1% of students
surveyed indicated they were not satisfied with their
access to the resources provided by the SCC Library
(11).
SCC Faculty and Staff Survey:
In 2005, 9.1% of faculty and staff surveyed indicated
they were not satisfied, in response to the statement,
“Library resources are adequate.” In 2004,
12.1% of faculty and staff surveyed indicated they were
not satisfied, in response to the statement, “Library
resources are adequate” (12).
The results from these surveys demonstrate that various
user groups have experienced satisfactory access to
resources at the SCC Library.
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Compliance
Partial
Compliance