ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 4 4 2 / C&RL News The role of academic libraries in teaching and learning By Mignon Adams A n interview with Middle States’ H oward Simmons H oward L. Simmons, the executive direct­ or of the Commission on Higher Educa­ tion of the Middle States Association of leges and Schools since 1988, has consistently championed libraries and information literacy. We thought his views on the role of libraries in the accreditation process would be of interest. Dr. Simmons holds an undergraduate de­ gree in Spanish from Spring Hill College, a master’s degree in Russian from Indiana University, and a doctorate in higher education from Florida State University. Before coming to Middle States in 1974, he taught Russian and Spanish at high school and college levels and served in various college administrative positions. Middle States is the accrediting agency for colleges in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jer­ sey, Delaware, Maryland, the District of Co­ lumbia, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. Dr. Simmons, you appear to have a great deal o f respect fo r libraries. What in y o u r back­ ground contributed to this? I’ve always been interested in books, and reading and words, and origins of words, which led me to the library. In high school I used to miss gym class to go to the library. I was there so often that the librarian put me to work. I processed books, accessioned them—that was exciting, to see new books coming in—and the librarian sometimes let me help classify them. And because I knew where everything was in that library, I helped students, explaining to them what they should be using. When I went to college I continued to work in the library. Because the stacks were closed, I also Co continued to help students, helping them to ind things on their own. I questioned the reserve ystem: why should anyone want to be limited to ust what was on re­ erve? I argued with aculty that if students ere to really learn, hey l­ needed to go be­ ond the reserve sys­ em. A few were con­ inced! I guess I was nterested in informa­ ion literacy even then. Later, as an asso­ ia te d ir e c to r at iddle States, when went from campus o campus, I didn’t ee much use of li­ Howard Simmons raries. I saw librar­ ans spending time on tasks which could be one by someone else, tasks like those I had one as a student. I saw students coming in to se the facilities for purposes other then actual earning experiences. Most students never de­ eloped any strategies in using a library. It eemed strange that someone would think that ringing in an English class at the beginning of he semester for half an hour would allow the tudents to learn everything they needed to bout a library. Where were the connections o the undergraduate experience, the under­ raduate curriculum? If we are to be serious about improvement n the teaching-learning cycle, then it appeared o me that the library ought to play a pivotal ole, particularly since we say that the library s central to the educational mission. And to ake it work, librarians need to be empow­ red. I decided that the influence of an accred- f s j s f w t y t v i t c M I t s b i d d u l v s b t s a t g i t r i m e Mignon Adam s is director o f the library at the Philadelphia College o f Pharmacy a n d Science Cost-effective access to scientific literature in 35 fields H ow can you give y o u r p atro n s c o m p re h e n ­ sive access to cu rre n t scientific lite ra tu re in a w id e range o f fields? C am bridge Scientific A bstracts jo u rn a ls p ro v id e a so lu tio n to th is d ilem m a w ith 35 jo u r n a ls th a t cover m ajo r disci­ p lin es in th e life sciences, e n v iro n ­ m en tal sciences, technology, a n d m anagem ent. By s u p p le m e n tin g y o u r full-text su bscriptions, C am bridge jo u r n a ls give you a cost-effective m eans to cover th o u sa n d s o f p u b lic a tio n s ... so y o u r p atro n s can k eep u p w ith im p o rta n t global research. T hese j o u r ­ nals p ro v id e in fo rm a­ tive abstracts draw n from u p to 5,500 w o rld w id e p u b lica­ tio n s, as w ell as com ­ p reh en siv e in d ex in g to h e lp yo u fin d spe­ cific in fo rm a tio n fast. 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For m o re in fo rm a tio n o r to o b ta in a sam p le tape, please fax o r w rite o n y o u r official le tte rh e a d . 4 4 4 / C&RL News iting agency w ould help them do so. I saw this attention to recommendations made by an ac­ crediting body. What fu tu r e initiatives do yo u expect Middle States to take? We need to continue the training of people on our teams. We need to train all librarians w ho serve on our teams in the importance of the integration of information literacy into the curriculum. And not just librarians, subject mat­ ter specialists should be looking at what’s hap­ pening also. The role of the librarians should be to orient and educate others on the team. Excellent programs of bibliographic instruc­ tion need to be documented in order for them to be replicated. We plan to feature what insti­ tutions are doing in future issues of our newslet­ ter, but that’s not enough. That’s a project I think well do to highlight “emblems of excellence.” We also need a practical handbook on in­ formation literacy to serve as a guide for insti­ tutions who want to get started. How do the various regional accrediting agen­ cies work together? Do they influence each other? There’s an Assembly of Regional Accredit­ ing Bodies which meets twice a year as a group, an d w e also m eet w h en th e Council on Postsecondary Accreditation meets. We have committees which meet on special projects. I’m currently on a committee concerning training. We keep in contact with each other. We do n ’t attempt to standardize our ap­ proaches. Each region has its own culture, tradi­ tions, and ways of doing things, but people tend to take back new ideas to their own regions. What role can, or should, professional orga­ nizations like the Association o f College a n d Re­ search Libraries p la y with accrediting agencies? ACRL could work with us to survey other accrediting agencies to see what they’re doing in the area of information literacy. All the ac­ crediting agencies have standards which relate to library utilization, but I don’t think any have gotten so specific as we have. ACRL could iden­ tify, on a national level, knowledgeable librar­ ians who could serve as advisors. ACRL has created a list o fa ccreditation experts. Now, why didn’t I know that! There need to be better communication links, perhaps through the local chapters of ACRL, which could work with their regional groups. ACRL could encourage librarians in other areas to serve on evaluation teams. Middle States has a long tradition of always having a librarian on comprehensive evaluation visits, but I suspect this isn’t always true in other re­ also as a way of improving the college curriculum. Since y o u r assuming the executive director­ ship a t Middle States, the organization has taken some new initiatives in what it expects fro m li­ braries. Could yo u explain these initiatives? When I became executive director, I led a convocation with an agenda of items I thought should be emphasized. One item on the list was a more creative and more effective utiliza­ tion of learning resources. Subsequently, we looked at Characteristics o f Excellence (Middle States’ statement on standards for accreditation) and added a sentence on the essential nature … when I hear that a library has added the millionth book, I w onder how m a n y o f these million are old, outdated, a n d never used. of an active and continuous program of biblio­ graphic instruction. In the fall of 1989, at the annual training workshop for commission team leaders, librar­ ians who serve on Middle States teams were also invited. In a joint session, Middle States staff described the several new initiatives, in­ cluding an emphasis on libraries and biblio­ graphic instruction. In the afternoon, library team members met in workshops to discuss how this new emphasis should affect the way they approached evaluation visits. In 1991 three workshops on information lit­ eracy and general education were held. Each time an invitation w ent to the chief academic officer of each Middle States institution. At the first two workshops w e asked for teams made up of a librarian, a computer or a-v person, and a teaching faculty member. Some institu­ tions sent five representatives! At the last one we asked for one person per institution so that w e could reach more institutions. Each group featured a keynote speech by Patricia Breivik and small group discussions on how information lit­ eracy could be integrated into general education. We are currently in the process of revising and updating Characteristics o f Excellence. Task forces have been assigned to look at various sections and I expect that the section on librar­ ies will emphasize information literacy and re­ source-based education. People normally pay July/August 1 9 9 2 /4 4 5 gions. ACRL could have an influence on other accrediting agencies to see that this happens. Finally, ACRL could identify and highlight institutions with excellent programs in infor mation literacy. People need to know about these. How does the commission use standards pro duced by a professional organization? They provide resource materials for evalua tors. We can’t substitute anyone’s standards for ours, w hich are always qualitative, and our process always involves p eer judgment. We encourage evaluators and institutions to use them, and list them in the back of our hand book. O ur evaluators are told, however, not to use them slavishly, because they must always take into account the unique nature of the in stitution they’re evaluating. I w ould support qualitative as opposed to quantitative standards for libraries. For example, w hen I hear that a library has added the mil lionth book, I w onder how many of these mil lion are old, outdated, and never used. How do y o u fe e l about the access vs. owner ship issue f o r libraries? Access is the wave o f the future. No library is going to be able to afford everything. Its dollars need to be spent on the means of ac cessing materials, not just those in the United ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ States, but in the world. Accrediting agencies w o n ’t have any difficulty with access versus ownership. W e’re looking for support of pro­ grams. We d o n ’t care if a student accesses in­ form ation from a b o o k o n th e shelves or through a computer. What k in d o f information w oidd yo u look fo r in a library’s self-study? Well, all the pertinent information and sta­ tistics on collections, ratios, the historical de­ velopm ent o f the collection, how it relates to the academic program, and the last time it was w eeded; a description of the bibliographic in­ struction program and how many actual classes take place; information which describes how the library interacts with students and faculty to get them to use the resources; if there are off-campus programs, comparable information on access there; the degree to w hich the li­ brary has computerized access; the networks they belong to. There should be interaction betw een the li­ brarian and other pertinent self-study commit­ tees, particularly those concerned with aca­ demic review. There should be a professional librarian on the steering committee. An aca­ demic representative cannot be the sole per­ son to represent the library. ■