SACS Accreditation

2.9 Learning Resources and Services

Core Requirement: The institution, through ownership or formal arrangements or agreements, provides and supports student and faculty access, and user privileges, to adequate library collections and services and to other learning/information resources consistent with the degrees offered. Collections, resources, and services are sufficient to support all its educational, research, and public service programs.

X  Compliance
     Partial Compliance
     Non-Compliance

Narrative:

Access to adequate library resources is documented below in four sections: 1) Access to adequate resources; 2) Adequacy and relevancy of resources; 3) Access to non-GSU resources; and 4) Access to off campus and distance learning resources.  Issues of access to and adequacy of non-library learning/information resources are documented in sections 3.4.9 and 3.4.12.

Access to Adequate Resources

University Library

The Georgia State University Library [1] houses and provides access to a physical collection of over 1.4 million volumes, over 7,600 current periodical and serial titles, and a selective Federal Document Depository with more than 770,000 U.S. Government and United Nations’ documents, as indicated in the summary from the 2005-2006 Annual Report [2]. The Library provides access to over 350 electronic databases, 189 from its own collection [3, 4] and the remaining number are made available through the GALILEO (GeorgiA LIbrary LEarning Online) [5] statewide consortium. Together, the electronic database collections provide access to over 14,000 full-text periodicals.

Other collection features include access to approximately 52,000 electronic books, a non-book media collection with over 25,000 items in various formats [2], a children’s literature collection [6], and a Special Collections Department  [7] that houses over 17,400 linear feet of manuscript materials and a rare book collection. Special Collections includes seven curatorial areas — Southern Labor Archives, Popular Music Collection, Women's Collections, Georgia Government Documentation Project, University Archives, Rare Books, and Photograph Collections. The library has also established an institutional repository which includes an Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD) Database [8] that houses electronic versions of theses and dissertations produced by GSU students, and the scholarly output of GSU faculty.

The University Library is open 89.5 service hours per week during the semester, with extended hours during the final exam period and an abbreviated schedule of approximately 50 hours per week during breaks. [9] Access to collections, circulation of library materials, reference assistance and consultation, and library instruction are the core services offered to GSU students, faculty and staff, as well as the public during operating hours.

Providing effective access to, and organization of, collections, the University Library loaned over 195,000 items in 2005-2006 to the GSU community.  Beyond its role as a local resource, the University Library is a lender nationwide and worldwide, supplying over 5,300 books to University System of Georgia schools through GIL Express and filling over 23,000 requests from borrowers worldwide in 2005-2006. 

The Library offers reference services to support the GSU community in the use of library resources for learning and research.  As with library services in academic communities everywhere, research support services are moving beyond the traditional reference help offered in the library during operating hours. Online chat and instant messaging have expanded the outreach of reference and research assistance into online communities, and the use of these services, along with assistance provided by email, phone and in-person, totaled over 65,000 questions answered in the last academic year by GSU librarians and staff, as indicated in our 2005-2006 annual report [10].   The assistance offered in person at the library is also expanding and evolving to include “one-stop” help with writing, technology, and the production of documents and projects in a Learning Commons, which opened February 7, 2007. Offering more specialized and in-depth research assistance for students, faculty, staff and the public, liaison librarians provide one-on-one consultations — a service that has shown marked increase in use since its introduction. Many liaisons also maintain office hours within the academic departments, as a means of outreach. A discussion of other learning support services for undergraduate and graduate students is available in Section 3.4.9.  Technology support services for students are detailed in Section 3.4.12.

Special Collections’ archivists, likewise, provide reference help and honor requests for research assistance with their collections in person, by phone, by fax, through email and by letter. Managing requests that are typically from off-site researchers, Special Collections staff responded to 586 requests for assistance in 2005-2006.

Library Instruction, which helps students develop research and information literacy skills, is provided by liaison and Learning Commons librarians.  An ongoing goal for liaison librarians is to establish partnerships with teaching faculty to provide instruction for any and all courses that have research intensive assignments.  Instruction sessions may be requested by faculty online [11] , by phone, by email or in person. On request, librarians travel to off-campus locations to provide instruction sessions. Instruction is also available “as needed” through the use of online research guides [12] and interactive tutorials [13] for research skills.

The University Library extends access to library services and resources beyond the library building by promoting and continually improving the library web site. The Library has enhanced access to the electronic resources, tools and instructional content it offers online by investigating and incorporating new web-based technologies, and improving the features of its web site through usability studies. As a starting place for research for the GSU community, the University Library’s web site has seen increases in usage every year for the past 5 years.

The Georgia State University College of Law Library houses and provides access to over 156,888 hardcopy volumes, with a total hardcopy and microform equivalent volumes of 345,092. The Law Library holds 63,744 hardcopy titles. Additionally, it holds 22,227 electronic full-text books and 1,071 electronic “full-text” journals. Students in the College of Law also have access to the resources and services available in the University Library [14].

The strength of the collection has shifted from print materials to electronic resources. Although the Law Library maintains a strong Georgia collection and several other topical areas, the Law Library’s other collections has shifted to electronic resources. Our list of databases provides easy access to our electronic collection. Our online catalog, GIL [15], provides access to print materials and electronic titles [16, 17].

The Library is a service-oriented enterprise. It is open 103 hours per week or 5,355 hours per year during the regular school year [18]. For the preceding twelve-month period, 144,028 visits were recorded in the Law Library. This figure translates into approximately 12,002 visits per month. The Library also serves as a resource for the entire university community, the Bar, members of the legislature, and the public. 

Law librarians staff the reference desk 76 hours each week. With the help of graduate research assistants, the Law Library provides reference assistance during most weekends. Typically, the librarians and Graduate Research Assistants answer almost 6,000 questions during the year.

The Law Library provides several scholarly support services for law faculty and students. The Library’s Faculty Services Program is one vehicle for providing these services to faculty. The Faculty Services Program is a centralized mechanism whereby a wide range of services is provided to law school faculty members. Through this program, the law library delivers high quality research services to each law faculty member. The Associate Director for Public Services is the primary faculty services contact. Along with a team of two professional librarians and a pool of graduate research assistants, he uses a collaborative approach to deliver a wide array of knowledge, expertise, and experience to every faculty services project. The Law Library developed an electronic faculty services database that will allow faculty to submit research, document delivery, instruction, or other requests to a centralized e-repository within the Law Library. The Law Librarians produced the Faculty Publication List that lists all faculty publications and links to the publications online [19].

The Law Librarians are active in the teaching role of the College of Law and the entire university. Instruction is also available using research guides and bibliographies prepared for the Advanced Legal Research class [20, 21].

1. Georgia State University Library homepage
2. 2005-2006 Library Annual Report, Collections Statistics, Appendix C
3. Acquisitions Database List
4. List of Databases (A-Z)
5. GALILEO
6. Children’s Collection
7. Special Collections Homepage
8. Electronic Theses and Dissertations
9. Library Hours
10. 2005-2006 Library Annual Report, Service Survey, Appendix E
11. Instruction requests (online form)
12. Research Guides
13. Online Library Tutorials

14. Georgia State University College of Law Library
15. Library Catalog GIL
16. Law Library Database Subscriptions
17. E-Journal Locator
18. Law Library Hours
19. Faculty Publications
20. Law Library Research Guides
21. Legal Bibliographies Prepared by Law Students

Adequacy and relevancy of resources

University Library

The organization of the library promotes an environment of collaboration with the university community for the development and ongoing assessment of collections. The implementation of a Liaison Model [1] in the late 1990s established dedicated points of contact within the library for GSU academic departments. The Collection Development department has overall responsibility for insuring that the library’s collection maintains its relevancy to the university community’s information needs.  In this role, the collection development officer oversees the collection development activities of the subject liaisons and is responsible for insuring a collection that serves undergraduates, graduates and faculty, across disciplinary lines.  Liaisons are responsible for understanding the research and teaching interests of faculty and the curricular needs of students in order to develop and maintain collection development policies  [2] in their disciplines that reflect these information needs.  Following these policies, liaisons evaluate, prioritize and select appropriate materials for the library collection within existing budget constraints.  These policies are also used to assess and update the library’s approval plan for monographs, which ensures relevant and appropriate level materials, such as University press books, are automatically received on a regular basis and added to the collection.  Liaisons meet with the approval plan vendor annually to review the materials received on the plan, and make changes to reflect new or discontinued programs and information needs to insure appropriate materials continue to be added to the library collection.  Annually, liaisons meet formally with academic department liaisons to the library to review collection policies, present book budget allocations, and discuss the methodology used to allocate library materials funds.

Collection policies, which indicate target levels for collecting in subject areas, are also used to periodically de-select materials that are no longer relevant to the information needs of the university community. A large scale reference collection assessment project in summer and fall of 2006 was undertaken to de-select print reference materials whose content or format were no longer relevant to the collection in order to make the collection focused and user-friendly for library patrons. 

As part of the Academic Program Review [3] process, the Academic Program Review Committee (APRC) requires a report on the adequacy of library resources in support of the program under review. The Liaison librarian for the program undertakes an evaluation of current library holdings and a written report of findings is included in the program’s self-study documentation. Similarly, when new graduate degrees and programs are proposed, the liaison librarian in the discipline provides a written report detailing current library holdings available to support the proposed degree, as well as resources that need to be acquired for successful graduate study in the proposed program. These reports include comparisons of library holdings with peer institutions/programs, funding required for additional resources, and usage statistics of current resources.

The library has an established Institutional Effectiveness (IE) [4] process for the review and assessment of its services and resources.  A yearly report of the outcomes based on data collection has been part of the Library’s Annual Report as well as a separate report since 2004. IE indicators were established for the library in 2003-4, with data being collected for the associated, though sometimes evolving, success criteria since that time. In 2006, IE data and analysis was reported as a web-based document in WEAVE. 

Of four IE indicators for the University Library, the first is: “Patrons have access to the appropriate information resources needed for learning and research.” The second is “Patrons have the support they need for learning and research.” Success criteria associated with these indicators include data collected from LibQUAL+ [5]. LibQUAL+ was initiated as a biennial source of feedback for the library in 2003 to collect information on library users’ opinions of service and resources. Libraries across the country use LibQUAL+ to identify best practices, analyze deficits, and effectively allocate resources.  As a national survey instrument, it allows the Library to compare the results to other universities. In addition to the LibQUAL+ survey results for these IE measures, the University Library collects and reviews data on the use of collections, the use of databases, and interlibrary loan lending as part of its IE report. 

The Senate Library Advisory Committee (SLAC) is a standing committee charged with, among other things, providing input for University Library administration on policies, services and resources.  The committee serves in an advisory capacity to the Dean of Libraries and as a liaison between members of the faculty and the library.  The duties of the committee are listed in Section 204 [6] of the Bylaws of the University Senate of Georgia State University (Section 204, Article VII, Section 4) and are published in the Faculty Handbook.

Special projects have also given the University Library opportunities to gather input about its resources. A Serials Review Project [7] was organized in 2002 to obtain feedback from the academic departments that would maximize the library’s available funds for the serials collection. The liaison librarians reviewed and ranked serials, communicating with their departments about the project, and worked within their subject areas to develop a list of serials recommended for cancellation due to duplication or irrelevancy. A similar serials review project is planned for Spring 2007 to assess science, health science, and technology serials, in order to maximize the impact of the funds allocated for subscriptions and purchases in these high cost disciplines.

The Dean of Libraries and liaison librarians were active participants in the development of the University’s Areas of Focus planning [8] (curriculum development closely aligned with the strategic plan) to ensure that University Library resources would be available to support changes in the curriculum. In 2005, the library participated in the North American Title Count, a source of information for measuring, managing, comparing and evaluating collections. The University Library also adheres to established collection development policies [2], reviewed and updated by the liaison librarians, in the selection and de-selection of materials.

During this past year, the Law Librarians completed a revised Collection Development Policy that reflects the strengths of the curriculum and the research needs of the faculty and students. The Electronic Resources Cataloging Policy is included as an Appendix to the Development Policy. This Electronic Policy describes the procedures involved in selecting, purchasing, renewing, cataloging, advertising, and canceling electronic titles.

The Law Librarian is responsible for the selection and cancellation of materials. Suggestions by faculty and students are encouraged and their requests for acquisitions receive top priority. The library seeks to be responsive to changes in curriculum and research focus. The Law Library has attempted to improve the College’s collection in subject areas of the clinics and centers.

During 2007, the College of Law underwent an evaluation by the American Bar Association. The Law Library was part of the site visit and the team reviewed the library operations by the ABA standards [9].

1. Liaison Contact Page
2. Collection Development Policies
3. Academic Program Review – Georgia State University
4. University Library Institutional Effectiveness Documents, including WEAVE
5. University Library LibQUAL+
6. Faculty Handbook – Senate Library Advisory Committee
7. Serials Review Project
8. GSU strategic planning documents – Areas of Focus

9. American Bar Association Standards for Law Schools

Access to library resources not owned by the institution

GSU students, faculty and staff have access to the library collections of all 36 institutions in The University System of Georgia (USG).  GALILEO Interconnected Libraries (GIL), an extension of the GALILEO project in Georgia, provides a single universal, web-based catalog [1] for the book collections of the member schools of the University System. The Universal Catalog is online at https://giluc.usg.edu/webvoy.htm. Using the Universal Catalog, USG patrons are able to initiate requests for books directly from other libraries using a web-based service called GIL Express [2]. Materials eligible for borrowing can be requested for delivery to any USG school and returned to any USG school. Library circulation staff are also able to identify registered University System library patrons and check out materials to them onsite.

Interlibrary use of private college library collections in the Atlanta metropolitan area is available based on an agreement with the Atlanta Regional Commission on Higher Education (ARCHE) [3]. Georgia State University also has a separate reciprocal borrowing agreement with Emory University, which allows currently enrolled students and currently employed faculty to borrow from Emory’s Woodruff Library.

Access to other collections outside the university system is available through Interlibrary loan via ILLiad (InterLibrary Loan internet accessible database) [4]. ILLiad is the web-based system that provides an online form for GSU students, faculty and staff to request, from libraries world-wide, materials not owned by the University Library or available through GIL Express, ILLiad enables students, faculty and staff to initiate, modify or cancel requests, track the status of a request, request renewals, and, to view their request history online.

Resource sharing is another service the Law Library provides for faculty and students. Resources not available in our print collection or through our online subscriptions can be obtained through interlibrary loan. In addition, the Law Library is a member of GIL Express [2] which is the University System of Georgia libraries’ resource-sharing system. Students and faculty can request books from other libraries and have them delivered to a university location specified by the patron.

The Law Library is a member of OCLC, COSELL, SOLINET, NELLCO, and CALI. Several of these consortiums are useful by facilitating informal interlibrary loans and negotiating database purchases.

University Library URLs

1. Statewide Catalog for the University System of Georgia State University
2. GIL Express Information Page
3. Atlanta Regional Commission on Higher Education
4. ILLiad Interlibrary Loan Information

Law Library URLs

2. GIL Express Informaton Page

Established off-campus centers for Georgia State University presently include the Alpharetta Campus, and three new centers for graduate programs in Brookhaven, Henry County and Buckhead.  The University also delivers classes online, supported by online courseware and virtual classroom software. In Fall 2006, over 1,100 class sections were supported all or in part by WebCT courseware, and 19 sections utilized virtual classrooms.

Though plans are underway to expand library services to other campuses, at present only the Alpharetta Center has space allocated for a library. The Alpharetta Center Library is open 67 hours per week, with a semester break schedule of 40 hours per week.[1]  Library assistance is offered both in person and online to extended campus locations. In-person instruction is provided by librarians on-site at the Alpharetta Center and by liaison librarians on request at other extended campus locations. The Alpharetta Center has 2,929 square feet of library space with 24 PCs, a small reference collection, audio-visual equipment, seating for 60, and four group study rooms. This location offers circulation services to students on site, and has daily intercampus delivery of books and journal articles from the main library. Alpharetta is also a pickup and delivery point for materials requested through GIL Express and Interlibrary loan.  On-site reference assistance and instruction by librarians is available at Alpharetta during regular library hours. (Alpharetta Library Desk Schedule [2])

Librarians provide instruction sessions in person to external sites at Brookhaven, Henry County and Buckhead on request. Online resources and services, including online reference assistance, tutorials and research guides, are also available to provide students at external sites and in online classes with library support. Access to reference assistance from a librarian is available by way of chat software, instant messaging, email, and telephone [3]. Chat services are staffed 28 hours per week, and instant messaging, 48 hours per week. (Sample University Library Desk Schedule [4])

Both GALILEO and Georgia State’s licensed databases [5] are available for off campus access.  Off campus access [6] to GALILEO databases is available via password to currently enrolled students, faculty, and staff. GSU databases can be accessed through a proxy service that authenticates GSU users to use the library’s licensed online resources from anywhere.

The library also offers and continues to develop online research guides [7] and online tutorials [8] for subject disciplines and specific course work. 

Supporting Documentation:

University Library URLs

1. Alpharetta Center Library Hours
2. Alpharetta Desk Schedule
3. Ask-A-Librarian
4. University Library Desk Schedule
5. List of Databases
6. Off Campus Access to Databases
7. Library Research Guides
8. Online Library Tutorials