ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


888 / C&RL News ■ N ovem ber 2000

"Libraries" dropped from accreditation criteria

The Commission o f Colleges o f the Southern 
Association of Colleges and Schools (ACS) 
released in September its proposed “Principles 
and Requirements for Accreditation” for com­
ment. The proposed new accreditation re­
quirements, according to a letter from James 
T. Rogers, executive director o f the Commis­
sion on Colleges, to “Chief Executive Officers 
o f the Commission on Colleges Members and 
Candidate Institutions and Other Interested 
Parties,” are to “replace the current Criteria 
for Accreditation, and [propose] a new way 
o f conducting institutional peer reviews.” The 
intentions of the proposed criteria are to be 
less prescriptive and to give institutions greater 
latitude in achieving their mission.

For example, the current criteria has a five- 
page section on “Library and Other Learning 
Resources” with more than 40 “must” state­
ments to which institutions seeking accredi­
tation must adhere. The proposed “Principles” 
contain one “Core Requirement” and three 
“Com prehensive Statem ents” relating to 
“Learning Resources” with no mention o f li­
braries, librarians, or the need for a graduate 
education to work in libraries.

T he p ro p o sed  chang es may involve 
smaller reaffirmation teams, and there is some 
concern that the teams may not have a librar­
ian member as they currently do. SACS has

hosted six regional meetings in its area to 
provide additional information about the pro­
posed requirements and process and to gather 
reactions to them. ACRL has arranged with 
SACS to have librarians at each of those meet­
ings to represent ACRL, In addition, numer­
ous state ACRL Chapters, state library associa­
tions, and individual librarians have written 
to SACS expressing concerns about the pro­
posed changes.

According to a Middle States Association 
official, all the directors o f the regional ac­
creditation agencies met earlier this summer 
to discuss changes in the accreditation pro­
cess and several changes are now being con­
sidered. For example, the proposed Middle 
States changes will have fewer references to 
the library but they will retain commentary 
on information literacy. A Western Associa­
tion official reported that librarians are in­
volved in their review and that the associa­
tion is developing a document that is more 
inspirational than prescriptive and one with 
an emphasis on student learning. Librarians 
are urged to monitor any proposed changes 
in their accreditation region and to forward 
comments and concerns both to their regional 
accreditation agencies and to their institutions’ 
president.— L arry H ardesty, A ustin C ollege, 
lhardesty@ au stin c.edu

Old Dom inion m ounts 
digital exhib it
The Old Dominion University 
(ODU) Libraries, in collabora­
tion with the Departm ent of 
English, mounted a Web exhibit 
c h ro n ic lin g  the history and 
character o f the ODU Annual 
Literary Festival, now in its 23rd 
year. This is the libraries’ first 
full-scale digital exhibit and sig­
nals its commitment to creating 
digital exhibits. Unique bro­
chures capturing the character 
of each festival are featured at 
the site and may be viewed at 
h t t p :/ / w w w .l i b .o d u .e d u /  
litfest. ■

mailto:lhardesty@austinc.edu
http://www.lib.odu.edu/