2.9 Narrative

The institution, through ownership or formal arrangements or agreements, provides and supports student and faculty access and user privileges to adequate library collections as well as to other learning/information resources consistent with the degrees offered. These collections and resources are sufficient to support all its educational, research, and public service programs. (Learning Resources and Services)

Narrative: Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College (OCtech) provides access to and support for an adequate collection of library and other information resources that are consistent with the programs and degrees offered and are sufficient to support the college mission. The Gressette Learning Resource Center Library regularly assesses and evaluates its services and resources to ensure they are consistent with the institution’s mission and its program, student, faculty, and community needs.

GRESSETTE LEARNING RESOURCE CENTER LIBRARY: The Gressette Learning Resource Center Library OCtech has one main Library facility located in Building B - the Gressette Learning Resource Center. A branch facility is located in the Health Sciences Building (K). This center houses media and software specific to the health science curricula and provides support and remediation to students in Allied Health programs. It provides some of the same services as the main Library, but it does not offer access to printed book and periodical resources. Those services are available only at the main Library. Electronic book resources and most periodical databases are accessible 24/7 through the OCtech public webpage. A Virtual Tour of these facilities is provided as documentation.

The Health Sciences Media Center (HSMC) underwent renovation in 2001-2002. A general facelift was provided for the facility. Eighteen additional computers were added, bringing the total number of computer stations to twenty-five. Increasing the number of computers allowed whole classes to utilize computer resources simultaneously. The Library's automated circulation system was extended to include the HSMC, providing the HSMC with its first automated circulation system. A Virtual Tour of the facility is available for viewing.

In 2003-2004 the Library moved into temporary quarters while its building underwent renovation. After nine months, the Library returned to its newly renovated headquarters. The renovation provided the Library with additional study rooms with mounted TV and VCR units. These rooms serve as both study rooms and/or viewing rooms. New video conferencing equipment was installed in a study room as well. These rooms are used for administrative teleconferencing, distance education classes for faculty pursuing advanced degrees, and students taking remote courses. Other enhancements to the Library include a separate area for instructional media, three casual reading areas, and three dedicated catalog access stations. Offices and storage spaces were added, providing all staff members with appropriate offices or office space. Two small work rooms were enlarged into one for a more efficient work-flow design. The Library also acquired an eighteen-station instructional lab that enhances Library services.

Both library facilities provide access to collections of audiovisual, print, and online resources that support the curricula of OCtech. For the purposes of this report, other learning/information resources are considered to be the services and resources provided by the Information Resource Consultant and the Media Services Coordinator. The resources and services provided by these entities support the programs of OCtech by providing access to information and support for learning. Documentation related to other learning/information resources provided through Instructional Technologies and Media Services is provided in Compliance Report Comprehensive Standard 3.8.1: Facilities and Instructional Support Services .

It is the mission of the Gressette Learning Resource Center Library to provide equal access for all OCtech students, faculty and staff to all of its materials, resources and services. To ensure equal access, the Library uses the following methods to evaluate resources, services and access: Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) guidelines, periodic comparison to similar facilities instate and out-of-state, internal collection and faculty input policies. The Library also assesses and evaluates its services and resources on an ongoing basis to ensure that they remain consistent with the College’s mission.

Assessment of the College’s Learning Resource Center (LRC) utilizes a variety of methods to measure the quality of its resources and the services offered to the college community. These methods are presently employed and appear to be adequate to assess the effectiveness of the Library.

Student satisfaction surveys
Faculty satisfaction surveys
Informal surveying of individual faculty
Student comments
Instructional evaluations by students
College-wide surveys
Academic Program Reviews
Program certifications by outside accreditation organizations
Verification/renewal of local cooperative lending agreements
Review OCLC and SCSL interlibrary loan statistics
Annual review of consortia memberships
Assessment of library resources provided for distance learning students through WebCT
Ongoing analysis of library web resources
Peer college assessments

OCtech maintains that benchmark comparisons to peer colleges are one measure of standards for adequacy. Colleges comparable to OCtech are Aiken Technical College with an FTE of 1,619 and Central Carolina with an FTE of 1,803. College comparison statistics are made using annual reports from the South Carolina State Library and from NCES statistics. OCtech places strong emphasis on its electronic resource collections. In 2001, the Library’s staff made the decision to weed obsolete program materials: those over 40 years old or those that had not circulated in the past 15 years. All materials were checked to ensure that needed classic texts were not removed from the collection due to the generous weeding criteria. The weeding process reduced the collection size from 30,000+ volumes to roughly 16,500 volumes, but the benefit obtained from weeding was that the current, good resources were more visible. As a result, the Library saw an improved circulation for those volumes remaining in the collection. The print collection has been aggressively supplemented by an eBook collection of over 54,000 volumes that is available 24/7 for students. An analysis of OCtech’s total twelve-month student FTE in the year 2003 compared to its total library materials expenditures for that year shows a ratio of 1 FTE for every $34.55 spent. The OCtech ratio of FTE to materials expenditures of 1:34 is consistent with the ratios of peer colleges. These ratios range from 1:32 to 1:51. This comparison is supported by the latest data available for FY 2000 from the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES). The Gressette Learning Resource Center Library Fact Book details metrics for the Library. The following charts have been used as benchmarks:

ACRL standards for libraries comparable in size to OCtech are used to evaluate collections and resources. Based on 2004 fiscal year totals, the Gressette Learning Resource Center Library meets standards set for print volumes and periodical subscriptions with supplemental electronics resources. The College elected to focus on electronic resources the past three years to address the resource needs of distance education students and of the large numbers of students who travel over forty-five miles to attend classes. Because many students have limited time on campus, the Library staff decided that acquiring resources that are accessible off-campus and available 24/7 was essential to address the needs of both distance educator and working commuting students. OCtech students can now utilize Library resources at their convenience. Standards for adequacy of resources and their consistency with degree programs are maintained by individual program accreditation. Several programs at OCtech have undergone national program accreditation or review by professional or vocational organizations. Library collections, resources, and services were evaluated as part of these accreditation visits have been judged sufficient for meeting the needs of OCtech programs. Library resources have been reviewed in very recent accreditation visits for the following programs: Electrical Engineering Technology, Nursing, and Automotive Technology. Accrediting agency approval letters for OCtech programs are evidence of the adequacy of the Gressette Learning Resource Center Library collection to support student inquiry in the program areas.

OCtech also ensures that collections are consistent with degree programs by seeking faculty input for materials acquisition and withdrawal. The Collection Development Policy of the OCtech Library states that faculty members are considered subject specialists within their curricula. They are the individuals most qualified to judge the consistency of available information resources to the needs of degree programs. To ensure resource consistency with degrees offered, the Gressette Learning Resources Center Library actively seeks faculty recommendations for materials purchasing. Faculty and student surveys asking for level of satisfaction with Library resources and services in meeting their curriculum needs have shown that 75% were satisfied; 10.4% weren’t satisfied; and 14.6% answered that the question was not applicable. As shown in the Library's strategic plan, the Library continues to seek ways to increase its profile on campus, encourage faculty cooperation, and ensure that the library collections and resources meet the needs of the College's curricula. The Gressette Learning Resources Center Library is covered in the Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College Strategic Plan: Goal One. The evaluation of Goal One is included in that document.

In order to verify that the Library's physical collections are adequate in each discipline, the Gressette Learning Resource Center Library has analyzed its collections of books and audiovisual resources to determine the number of current titles per discipline and to identify program-specific resources that need to be augmented. Beginning with the Fall 2004 semester, all faculty members are required to attend a library orientation session that focuses on resources specific to their instructional area. Upon completion of the orientation, a survey is administered to each faculty member to determine the effectiveness of the orientation, as well as the usefulness of the resources provided specific to his or her discipline. The faculty comments from this analysis show that the Library provides adequate up-to-date information resources for each program. In the past, the Library automation software was not capable of producing reports by collection area. The Library migrated to a new automation software system during the Spring 2004 semester and can now produce a statistical analysis of the Gressette Learning Resource Center Library’s resources. Staff are now conducting a collection age analysis to determine the average age of print material currently available in the Library. Extensive online resources also provide supplemental sources of information in all subject areas.

ACCESS, USER PRIVILEGES AND SUPPORT: In a typical week the Library is open fifty-six hours. Reference and circulation services are provided during all open hours. Library hours at OCtech are based on student usage patterns and are monitored yearly. The Gressette Learning Resource Center Library‘s webpage offers access to resources 24/7. This access enables students to obtain materials at any time as their schedules permit and is extremely important to students who are older and are employed fulltime. Since over 70% of the students at OCtech are female, the College also has a significant number of young and/or single mothers who are juggling family responsibilities while pursuing their educational objectives. Online access enables students balancing these many responsibilities to be more successful.

The Gressette Learning Resource Center Library provides access to licensed databases and collections online. The majority of these resources are accessible on or off campus at any time of the day by all OCtech students, faculty and staff. The Library has a system for administering and distributing passwords to those persons affiliated with OCtech. The Library produces and distributes a User Access Handout, which has instructions for reaching the Library’s webpage. It includes any usernames or passwords needed to access online resources. The handout is updated twice a year to accommodate changes in usernames and passwords. The handouts are distributed to individuals during student and faculty orientations and to instructors for distribution during their classes. Online resources include electronic books, research subject guides, encyclopedias, and eight periodical databases (not including those provided through the South Carolina’s Virtual Library system or DISCUS). These resources provide a combination of full text articles and citation information.

The Gressette Learning Resource Center Library participates in PASCAL, a statewide consortium providing access to indexes and proprietary, copyrighted material, much of which is the full text facsimile of scholarly articles from a large assortment of academic and other journals. The OCtech Library purchases online resources containing full-text articles from journals specific to its students’ needs. The Library’s online catalog is provided to give students the ability to fully search library resources off-campus. The web page allows students to link to full-text e-resources off-campus.

The Gressette Learning Resource Center Library is a member of South Carolina Library and Information Services (SCILS). This is a consortium composed of ten technical colleges that share a common catalog and who freely share their collection resources with one another. Materials shared by in-state community colleges are delivered by courier.

Through its membership in SOLINET, the Gressette Learning Resource Center Library also utilizes the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC). The OCLC is a nonprofit member dedicated to furthering access to the world's resources. Students may request an item that is available at any library within this region. Additional resources are accessible from the South Carolina State Library Collection through their interlibrary loan service. Other off-site resources are available through a state borrowing card. The Public and Private Academic Library Directors peer group brokered a collection-sharing agreement with all South Carolina two- and four-year college libraries. Students at any state institution of higher education may obtain a Library Borrowing Card that gives them access to the library resources of any college within the state.

Students at OCtech are close to two universities. In order to maximize service to students, the Library has lending agreements that allow its students to use and borrow materials from the South Carolina State University and the Claflin University libraries. This arrangement is an additional service provided to students if they do not wish to obtain the Library Borrowing Card that gives them access to the library collections of any two- or four-year institution in the state.

All Library staff members provide general assistance, computer assistance, and circulate materials to the Library’s patrons. Librarians provide in-depth individual reference assistance and formal library and information literacy instruction to students. Librarians present information sessions to individual faculty and departments regarding new technologies and services offered by the Library. Instruction in the use of the Library and other learning resources is addressed more extensively in Compliance Report Comprehensive Standard 3.8.1: Facilities and Instructional Support Services .

OCtech has a wide variety of public service programs and non-degree programs, some of which do not require direct Library support. The Library does provide resources and services relevant to some of the programs, such as the Developmental Studies Program, the Summer Bridge Program, and the Triple C/Dual Credit programs offered to high school juniors and seniors within the service area. Library staff members work with instructors in these programs to obtain and provide resources relevant to teaching and learning needs. Students in these programs have full access to the on campus resources and facilities and 24/7 access to electronic resources. The Library also provides borrowing privileges to community members not directly affiliated with OCtech who use and access library resources and services.

Distance learning students are provided access to library resources through the Library’s public webpage. Telephone assistance is available. There is also an Information Resources Consultant on the library staff to assist online students with technical problems. The Library’s webpage provides access to the online catalog, all licensed databases, online reference resources, and a list of websites by curriculum as supplemental support materials for distance education courses.