North Carolina State University
SACS Compliance Certification
August 15, 2003

Core Requirements 2.9 (adequate library collections)
'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. 

Compliance
North Carolina State University is in compliance with this standard.

Explanation
NC State University provides its students, faculty and staff with access and user privileges to ample learning and information resources via the NCSU Libraries.  More particularly, the NCSU Libraries provides enhanced methods of access to information and resources, maintains an extensive collection of its own, and responds sufficiently and effectively to support the needs of the university community.

As defined in this report, “access” refers to the physical and electronically available resources provided by the institution through the NCSU Libraries, not the software tools used in accessing the electronic resources.  For that information, refer to Comprehensive Standards: Educational Programs #25.

Support for student and faculty access and use
Because NC State University is both large and diverse, with almost 30,000 students, the NCSU Libraries uses several measures to ensure adequate access to its resources for all members of the university community.

The Libraries maintains a collection of more than 3 million volumes and houses the majority of them at D. H. Hill Library.  Specialized collections are offered at four branch libraries: Design Library, Natural Resources Library, Textiles Library, and Veterinary Medical Library. 

For users of the main library, the D. H. Hill Library is open 146 hours a week, with 24-hour service from Sunday at 9:00am to Friday at 10:00pm.  The NCSU Libraries ensures access to disabled students and faculty in the spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  The Assistive Technologies Center provides state-of-the-art equipment and software for library users with impaired vision, mobility, or hearing to ensure their access to the Libraries’ collections.  The Libraries’ website is Bobby compliant for accessibility.

Access is also available to remote users, with all library collections and services are available to distance education students and to extension and engagement personnel.  Distance education students pay no cost for receiving or returning any materials that they need.  Remote users can also take advantage of multiple document delivery options, including web delivery for articles.  

The NCSU Libraries provides enhanced access not just to its own facilities and holdings, but also to other information resources, including the following:

  • The Libraries hosts the server site for NC LIVE, a statewide initiative to make electronic information available to all citizens; through it, members of the university community gain access to resources of public and private libraries throughout the state.
  • The Libraries participates in Triangle Research Libraries Network, providing access to nearly fourteen million volumes.  Users can consult the holdings of Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and North Carolina Central University through the Libraries’ online catalog and anyone with a valid NC State University identification can check out materials at the TRLN libraries or at any of the sixteen campuses of the University of North Carolina.
  • The NCSU Libraries provides several methods of getting documents to end users, including campus delivery to and from the D. H. Hill Library and the branch libraries and Interlibrary loan/TRIPSaver for materials not available in the NCSU Libraries.  Document delivery/interlibrary loan requests can be submitted online. 

Peer comparisons provide the opportunity to measure the adequacy of the access provided to resources.  The Association of Research Libraries provides such peer, statistical data.  Among all academic and research libraries in North America, the NCSU libraries currently ranks 16th in the number of current serial subscriptions, 18th in the number of volumes added annually, and 51st in the total number of volumes added.  It ranks 12th in total expenditures for online (digital) resources.

Each of these resources provides evidence that NC State University, through the NCSU Libraries, provides enhanced access 'to adequate library collections and other information resources.  The resources also lend credence to our claim that the NCSU Libraries collections and resources are sufficient to support the university’s programs. 

Collections and resources
On June 30, 2002, the NCSU Libraries’ collection contained 3,143,738 volumes and expenditures for collections during FY 2001/02 totaled $7,781,023.  For 2000-01, the latest year for which comparative data are available, NCSU ranked 36th among 113 universities in the Association of Research Libraries in the size of its collection and 37th in expenditures for collections.

The more than 3 million volumes include several special collections, which represent areas of particular interest to university faculty or students.  Several of these special interests are demonstrated by the on-campus branch libraries.  Further, the Special Collections Department maintains distinctive holdings in the philosophy of animal rights, entomology, forestry, architecture, and NC State University history, as well as many other areas.

The Libraries also maintains data collections of particular importance to faculty: the NC State University Authors Database, a listing of citations representing the published output of students, faculty, research, and administrative personnel.  Data collections and links to downloadable data for GIS also can be found on the Libraries website.  Students and faculty also have access to electronic reserves and to the Design Library image collection. 

The NCSU Libraries also include a federal depository library, a patent and trademark depository library, and a depository for documents from the State of North Carolina.  Through workshops, seminars, and consultation, the Libraries’ Scholarly Communication Center serves as a resource on scholarly communication issues including copyright and fair use as they relate to library collections and services.   A copyright and Internet law specialist staffs the center.

The NCSU Libraries also invests heavily in electronic resources.  In FY 2001/02 the Libraries expended $1,421,151 for electronic resources, providing its users with access to over 24,000 electronic books, 8,368 electronic journals, and 279 electronic databases.  Electronic materials comprised 22.4% of the Libraries’ materials budget, a ranking of 16 among ARL libraries.

Sufficient and effective support
More than a warehouse or a gateway, the NCSU Libraries is a vital part of the university.  Its resources are sufficient to support the university’s academic programs in large part because the Libraries work with faculty, staff and students to understand the needs of the university’s educational, research, and public service programs. 

The Collection Management Department works closely with faculty and specialists within the library to ensure that the collection meets the educational needs of each program offered by the university.  In fact, each academic department has a liaison with the Libraries.  Collection Managers meet individually with the liaisons, and meetings of the entire group are held twice a year. 

Individual faculty and students also have a voice in developing the Libraries’ holdings.  They are encouraged to suggest titles for the collection.  Their requests for serials become part of the serial review process and requests for monographs are purchased if they are available.

The Preservation Department coordinates and maintains a disaster response plan for the collections.  In 2001/02 the Libraries hired its first collection conservator.  The department is developing strategies to assure long-term preservation of digital resources.  The Libraries participates in the annual ARL Preservation Survey.  Preservation is a relatively young program, so the data are helpful in tracking the Libraries’ progress and in comparing NCSU with more established programs.

NCSU Libraries is responsive to the needs of the university community in other ways as well.  Two examples demonstrate this.  

In a mail survey on the use of and satisfaction with library collections conducted in 1996-97, faculty and graduate students indicated that they valued both traditional and electronic collections, and that electronic collections were becoming increasingly popular.  At the time, however, users also wanted easier access for remote users. 

Subsequently, the Libraries implemented a robust proxy server that allows remote authentication from any location.  Anyone with a NC State University computing account can access the Libraries’ electronic resources remotely.  Except for scheduled downtime, system reliability has been 100% for the public.  In the 2002 Sophomore Survey administered by UPA, 94.8% rated access to databases and collections as excellent (59.9%) or good (34.9%). 

Second, data from the ARL Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery (ILL/DD) Performance Measures Study (1995-97) indicated that NC State University’s performance in this area was only acceptable.  The Libraries initiated successful efforts to upgrade its performance, including the introduction of TRIPSaver (a service that expedites delivery from TRLN partners), and has continued to track the metrics included in the study.  The Libraries will be participating in the 2003 study. 

Overall, the Libraries participates in evaluations of NC State University’s academic program by contributing collections data to accreditation reviews, and the results of these discipline-based surveys have been positive.  Reviews within the last five years have involved the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, the National Architectural Accrediting Board, the National Council on Social Work Education, the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, and the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology.  The Libraries participated in all of the North American Title Counts of the past decade (1989, 1993, 1997, 2001).

The Libraries is an active participant in organizations that explore leading issues related to collections at the national level.  The NCSU Libraries is a founding member of SOLINET and a member of the Association of Research Libraries, the Digital Library Federation, the Coalition for Networked Information, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, the Council for Library and Information Resources, and the Center for Research Libraries.

In sum, the NCSU Libraries provide enhanced access to information resources, maintain an adequate collection, and provide sufficient support for the university’s programs.

References

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