The institution provides a sufficient number of qualified staff—with appropriate education or experiences in library and/or other learning/information resources—to accomplish the mission of the institution.  ( Qualified Staff )

  X    Compliance         Partial Compliance         Non-Compliance

Narrative: Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College (OCtech) employs a sufficient number of qualified staff with appropriate credentials and experience to accomplish the mission of the College.

SUFFICIENT NUMBER OF LIBRARY STAFF
OCtech uses a nationally recognized set of professional guidelines established by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) to determine the appropriate education and training for academic librarians and strongly recommends that a librarian hold a master’s degree in library science from a program accredited by the American Library Association. The Gressette Learning Resource Center Library staff is composed of nine staff members. This allows the College to meet the ACRL guidelines for staff in the areas of administration, professional staff; and technicians. The Library has three professional staff members who have master’s degrees from an ALA-accredited program as stated in the 2000 edition of the ACRL Standards for College Libraries. There are three support staff members in the Library. All meet the required educational level for their positions and have appropriate experience. There are two paraprofessional staff members in the Health Sciences Media Center, a satellite facility of the Library. They meet the required education levels stipulated for their positions and their years of experience in those positions more than qualifies them. In comparison with other technical colleges of similar size in South Carolina, OCtech finds that it exceeds many of the other colleges in its number of Library staff. A Roster of Library Staff and Staff Credentials details the credentials and experience of all staff members .

Based on survey results from faculty orientation, student satisfaction surveys, and program review evaluations, the Library’s services are highly rated. Satisfaction of Instruction surveys and surveys conducted following library instructional programs show a high rate of satisfaction that suggests that the current staff is providing sufficient services.

MISSION OF THE COLLEGE
It is the mission of the Gressette Learning Resource Center Library to provide excellent services and resources in support of the mission of the College and the program objectives of each department. The staff accomplishes that goal and positively impacts student learning by offering:

• Bibliographic instructional sessions tailored to class needs
• Faculty and student library orientation sessions emphasizing resources specific to each instructional discipline
• Professional development workshops for faculty and staff
• Instructional sessions for newly acquired resources
• Interlibrary Loan services
• Solicitation of faculty input for collection development (e.g., materials selection and weeding)
• Project collaboration (e.g., planning and delivery of instruction)
• One-on-one assistance
• Internet resource selection services
• Remote access to resources
• Media services
• Technical assistance
• Other services that promote the academic success of OCtech students.

Evidence of Support: