Bethel Library: Guidelines and Procedures

Bethel University Library’s Mission Statement identifies three broad categories by which the library contributes to the University’s mission of “Creat[ing] opportunities for members of the learning community to develop in a Christian environment their highest intellectual, spiritual, and social potential.” We work to ensure that Bethel’s students are information literate, we provide spaces and resources that enable creative minds to maximize their potential, and we encourage the critical thinking that enables students to engage with the world around them.

The Association for College and Research Libraries has identified nine principles or standards by which an academic library can demonstrate its value to itself, its institution, and its accrediting body. This document, “The Standards for Libraries in Higher Education,” recognizes the current concern for accountability for all programs, the need for outcomes-based assessment, the need to increase retention and graduation rates, the connection between student engagement and academic achievement, and the importance in inquiry-based learning. These trends form the basis for the revised standards and are the guide by which this strategic plan was written.

The nine principles, or standards, noted in The Standards for Libraries in Higher Education (2011) are:

1. Institutional Effectiveness: Libraries define, develop, and measure outcomes that contribute to institutional effectiveness and apply findings for purposes of continuous improvement.
2. Professional Values: Libraries advance professional values of intellectual freedom, intellectual property rights and values, user privacy and confidentiality, collaboration, and user-centered service.
3. Educational Role: Libraries partner in the educational mission of the institution to develop and support information-literate learners who can discover, access, and use information effectively for academic success, research, and lifelong learning.
4. Discovery: Libraries enable users to discover information in all formats through effective use of technology and organization of knowledge.
5. Collections: Libraries provide access to collections sufficient in quality, depth, diversity, format, and currency to support the research and teaching missions of the institution.
6. Space: Libraries are the intellectual commons where users interact with ideas in both physical and virtual environments to expand learning and facilitate the creation of new knowledge.
7. Management/Administration: Libraries engage in continuous planning and assessment to inform resource allocation and to meet their mission effectively and efficiently.
8. Personnel: Libraries provide a sufficient numbers and quality of personnel to ensure excellence and to function successfully in an environment of continuous change.
9. External Relations: Libraries engage the campus and broader community through multiple strategies in order to advocate, educate, and promote their value. 

http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/standardslibraries 

The 2017-2022 Bethel University Library Strategic Plan will focus on many of the principles noted above while creating a flexible framework that will guide the library over the next five years as we fulfill our mission.

2017-2022

As noted earlier in this document, the Association for College and Research Libraries has identified nine principles or standards by which an academic library can demonstrate its value to itself, its institution, and its accrediting body:

1. Institutional Effectiveness;
2. Professional Values;
3. Educational Role;
4. Discovery;
5. Collections;
6. Space;
7. Management/Administration;
8. Personnel; and
9. External Relations.

The goals of the strategic plan are based on these standards. The applicable standard will be noted with each goal. These goals, and their associated objectives, also fulfill all four of the Core Institutional Goals from the Bethel University Strategic Plan:

Institutional Goal #1: Improve the quality of academic instruction (teaching and learning): Bethel University remains committed to the development and implementation of continuous improvement initiatives that increase the quality of academic programs.

Institutional Goal #2: Improve the quality of services provided to students, faculty, staff, and the community. Bethel University’s sustainability initiatives focus on the improved quality of services that influence the success of students, faculty, staff, and the community.

Institutional Goal #3: Improve communication with faculty, staff, students, and community. Improved communication strategies will contribute to a positive and supportive environment that influences the success of internal and external stakeholders.

Institutional Goal #4: Improve financial strength through increased efficiency, responsible spending, and maximizing resource generation. The development and implementation of long-term strategies that focus on improving financial strength will provide opportunities for improvement and growth. All colleges will contribute to communication and collaboration efforts through the identification and implementation of best practices, streamlined processes, and organizational controls.

 These Institutional Goals (IG) will also be noted.

Goal 1: To ensure that we are effectively and efficiently meeting user and institutional needs, we must develop a culture of assessment and adopt appropriate tools and techniques to measure our progress. [Standards 1, 7; IG 1]

• Objective 1: Research, review and write an assessment plan.
• Objective 2: Determine how each area, program, or service of the library will be assessed. Benchmarking against peer-aspirant institutions, in-house surveys, standardized surveys, and national standards are all possible forms of assessment.
• Objective 3: Collect data in a uniform manner across the next 5 years to allow for longitudinal assessment.

Goal 2: To enable our users to thrive in a world that is increasingly information-based, we must help them to develop skills to effectively find, evaluate, and use information appropriately. [Standards 2, 3; IG 1, 2]

• Objective 1: Research, review and write an instruction plan.
• Objective 2: Expand print and online resources to support both students and faculty. This could include new research guides, links to appropriate content, videos, and tutorials.
• Objective 3: Target teaching strategies to build on information literacy competencies. Focus on freshmen, lower-level undergraduates, upper-level undergraduates, graduate, and online students as specific groups with different needs.
• Objective 4: Develop teaching collaborations with faculty in all disciplines.
• Objective 5: Create face-to-face and/or online Information Management courses to teach students the skills they will need in our increasingly information-intensive world.

Goal 3: To be the primary source of information for our users, we must provide and preserve access to the richest array of resources possible. Access to these resources must be reliable, easy to locate, and easy to use both on and off-campus. [Standards 2, 4, 5; IG 1, 4]

• Objective 1: Review and revise both the print and electronic collection development policies
• Objective 2: Develop strategies to optimize the mix between access to and ownership of resources.
• Objective 3: Review the InterLibrary Loan policy to create a seamless process for users.
• Objective 4: Develop ways to include faculty in both weeding and collection development.
• Objective 5: Continue to improve the library catalog (Koha), the library website, and other points of access to the library’s print and electronic collections.

Goal 4: To ensure full utilization of Library facilities, collections, and expertise, both internal and external marketing and communications must be fully integrated into the planning and operations process. [Standard 9; IG 3]

• Objective 1: Research, review and write a marketing plan.
• Objective 2: Develop handouts, flyers, posters, and emails to students and faculty targeting specific resources, services, and activities.
• Objective 3: Create more face-to-face time with students and faculty by positioning librarians in the educational buildings before, during, and after classes. Promote the library during these brief sessions.
• Objective 4: Make better use of the library website and FaceBook page to promote resources and events.
• Objective 5: Engage with the Carroll County community by forming a coalition of all librarians within the county (academic, public & school) to expand the learning potential of K-12 students and better prepare them for college.

Goal 5: To encourage students in the life-long pursuit of knowledge we must provide study spaces, services, and personnel that will draw students into the library. [Standards 6, 8; IG 2, 4]

• Objective 1: Conduct a survey of students to determine the types of study spaces they prefer (individual carrels, soft seating, group study, etc.)
• Objective 2: Develop a 5-year plan to purchase/replace all furniture purchased prior to 2010 and to replace the residential sofas/chairs with more durable options.
• Objective 3: Review current services and compare them to benchmark libraries.
• Objective 4: Review current staffing and compare to benchmark libraries.
• Objective 5: Develop a plan to hire two librarians and three part-time staff over the next 5 years.