Responding to Draft ACCJC Accreditation Standards as They Relate to Libraries and Learning Support Services

Fall
2013
Resolution Number
02.05
 
Contact
Assigned to
President
Category
Accreditation
Status
Completed
Status Report

Letter to ACCJC

Whereas, As of November 7, 2013, the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) has drafted new Standards to replace the 2002 Standards without incorporating proposals given to the Commission from the Council of Chief Librarians, a group that represents librarians in the California community colleges, to strengthen the coordination of student learning among librarians, learning support staff, and discipline faculty;

Whereas, The current Substandard II.C.2 entitled “Library and Learning Support Services” contains elements that have provided for constructive assessment of libraries and systematically improved them;

Whereas, The ACCJC draft Standards weaken, to the detriment of student learning, the criteria used in the 2002 Standards in regard to information competency and access to library materials and services regardless of location or means of delivery; and

Whereas, The ACCJC draft Standards eliminate all reference to institutions “providing personnel responsible for student learning programs” and eliminate the current Substandard II.C.2 entitled “Library and Learning Support Services” and place the standards now in that section under Standard IIB (Student Services);

Resolved, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges advocate for the concerns of library faculty and for reconsideration of the draft Standards by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) at the January 2014 meeting of the ACCJC; and

Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges advocate for the retention of the “Library and Learning Support Services” as a separate Substandard in the proposed new ACCJC Standards.

MSC