In 2009, ACRL 2009-2010 President Lori Goetsch charged a Task Force to review and revise the 2004 ACRL Standards for Libraries in Higher Education. For more than a year, we have been reading relevant library, higher education and accreditation documents, surveying academic library directors to understand how the current ACRL Standards have served the profession, and interviewing library reviewers to better understand the evolving role of libraries within institutional accreditation processes. The new 2011 Standards are intended to provide a comprehensive framework using an outcomes-based approach, with evidence collected in ways that are appropriate for each library.
We now welcome your comments on the draft of the 2011 Standards for Libraries in Higher Education.
If your preference is to print out a full draft of the 2011 Standards, you can find the full document on the ACRL Standards and Guidelines website.
If, however, you would prefer to consider the draft of the 2011 Standards in smaller, coherent units and share your opinions, suggestions, criticism, and comments in an online environment, then you have come to the right place- the 2011 ACRL Standards for Libraries in Higher Education Task Force blog. No clever acronym for this blog has leapt to mind, but we are open to any creative suggestions! The blog will be open for comments through Monday, April 11, (a little more than one week after the close of the ACRL 2011 Conference).
This blog will present the draft of the 2011 Standards in six parts:
- Introduction to the Standards – You may be inclined to skip over the introduction and jump right to the “heart” of the Standards. But, please note that the 2011 Standards differ in significant ways from previous versions of the Standards, so you may find this brief introduction to be very helpful
- Principles – The 2011 Standards are grounded in nine Principles that reflect the core roles and contributions of higher education libraries
- Performance Indicators for Principles 1 through 4 – Performance indicators are library-centric indications that the Principles are being applied
- Performance Indicators for Principles 5 through 9
- Sample Outcomes – Each library will develop user-centered, measurable outcomes that articulate specifically what the user is able to do as an outcome of each performance indicator. The 2011 Standards provide sample outcomes to demonstrate how such outcomes could be crafted within an individual library
- Benchmarking and Peer Comparisons – We received a lot of feedback indicating that library staff are seeking tools to create both internal benchmarking and peer group comparisons. The 2011 Standards are designed, in part, to facilitate this type of benchmarking evaluation.
Several of the posts link to PDF versions of sections of the Standards to maintain the integrity of the document. Pagination for the complete document has been retained in each instance.
This blog is not the only means through which you can share your comments with the Task Force. If you are attending the ACRL 2011 Conference, we invite you to attend (and comment) at our public hearing –scheduled for April 1 from 1:30-3:00 p.m. in the Independence Ballroom, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown Hotel, located at 1201 Market Street, Philadelphia.
You may also contact any member of the ACRL Standards for Libraries in Higher Education Review Task Force with suggestions and comments. Our names and contact information are listed below.
The Task Force has endeavored to create a document that will be informative, useful and relevant to the work we do in academic libraries. Participation is key to our review process, so please take these opportunities to share your thoughts with us (and your colleagues). We look forward to a robust discussion both online and in person at ACRL 2011.
ACRL Standards for Libraries in Higher Education Task Force Members:
Patricia Iannuzzi (Chair), University of Nevada-Las Vegas: Patricia.iannuzzi@unlv.edu
Tom Abbott , University of Maine-Augusta: tabbott@maine.edu
Jeanne Brown, University of Nevada-Las Vegas: jeanne.brown@unlv.edu
Susan Gibbons, University of Rochester: sgibbons@library.rochester.edu
Lynne King, Schenectady County Community College: kinglo@sunysccc.edu
Sharon McCaslin, Fontbonne University: SMcCaslin@fontbonne.edu
Mary Reichel, Appalachian State University: reichelml@appstate.edu
Joan Ruelle, Hollins University: jruelle@hollins.edu
Lisa Stillwell, Franklin & Marshall College: lisa.stillwell@fandm.edu
Mary Jane Petrowski, ACRL liaison: mpetrowski@ala.org
