Chapter Two Appendices Academic Program Profiles

INSTITUTE FOR CONTINUED LEARNING

Membership in the ICL shall be open to all retired and semi-retired persons who subscribe to the spirit and purpose of the ICL as expressed in the Charter, and are willing to abide by the provisions of the Constitution and By-Laws of the ICL. The President of DSC or his designated representative shall be an ex-officio member of ICL without dues. ICL is a single-function unit and is included in the Adult Studies and Community Services Division, reporting to Dean Steve Bringhurst.

ICL’s effectiveness in providing continuing education for retirees and semi-retirees is evidenced by its continued growth not only in number of members, but also in the number of classes offered to its membership. The ICL membership has grown more than 6% over the past five years, even with the downturn in the economy (see Department at a Glance statistics provided on page 3) The Executive Committee of ICL has established a goal of 5% growth of new ICL members per year. This of course, may be affected by limitations of classroom facilities provided by Dixie State College. A yearly Council retreat reviews the effectiveness of the past years’ activities and plans for the coming year.

The growth of the senior population in Washington County and surrounding counties has also increased interest in ICL. This is evidenced by an increase in its membership over the last five years. The increase in membership is also due to better marketing campaigns and strategies. ICL has provided three scholarships for DSC students and in 2012 increased that number to four scholarships.

Institutional support comes from DSC in providing facilities and equipment for office space and classroom

space for our uses. ICL’s strength lies in the breadth of its membership and volunteer instructors. As DSC

grows and ICL grows, there may be increasing issues with scheduling college classrooms for our membership.

As stated under the Assessment and Effectiveness section, the strategic plan of ICL is to increase its membership each year by 5% and to provide a meaningful classroom experience within the limitations as provided by DSC. In order to achieve the 5% goal, ICL will need to keep the entire senior community informed through name recognition and market saturation of who ICL is, what ICL has to offer and of ICL activities. A close working relationship must be maintained with DSC personnel to assure that the needs of ICL are met and that DSC will benefit from the association of ICL in the form of scholarships provided by ICL and the possible growth of DSC endowments.

Val A. Browning Library

Dixie State College of Utah 225 South 700 East

St. George, UT 84790

phone: 435-652-7711; FAX: 435-656-4169

Email: selbert@dixie.edu
Description:

The Val A. Browning Library provides support for academic programs across the curriculum and is a warm and welcoming space for all members of the Dixie State College of Utah Community. It is often said that the library is the heart of a campus—and this is very true here. The annual reports for the past two years, posted on the library web site ( http://library.dixie.edu/info/index.html) provide a complete look at the library and its services. The current library building provides an immediate welcome to the user as they enter the door—Reference Services (and access to 50 computer workstations) is to the right, and Circulation Services is to the left of the door. The library consists of two floors and a basement area and provides space for collaborative learning (in the basement collaborative study area and in student study rooms on the first and second floor), for quiet study (tucked in behind the book stack areas) and leisure seating in various areas throughout the building.

The library also maintains a welcoming and supportive presence online through the library home page. Library users can access the home page via the internet or through the Library APP which is available for download to mobile devices such as smart phones, ipads or ipods. Through the portal of the home page the library user has access to online collections of more than 60,000 books, streaming audio and video, and over 100 aggregated databases. Research Guides are accessible from the home page to support subject-specific access. If there are questions, users are invited to “Text a librarian” from their smart phone.

In the library annual report (available using the link, “Library Information” on the library’s home page) includes a section “Assessing Progress, Setting New Goals” (p.47-52) that presents an extensive discussion of the institution’s Mission, the mission and vision of the library , and assessment of the library in accord with the blending of institutional core themes and values and national standards for libraries in higher education.

The Val A. Browning Library advances the mission of Dixie State College of Utah by encouraging the discovery of new knowledge through leadership in the provision of high quality resources, services and programs.

The Val A. Browning Library is a welcoming destination for the discovery of knowledge, offering expert guidance, valuable resources, state-of-the-art technologies and a commitment to service.

Access Intellectual Freedom

Accountability Leadership

Education Preservation

Innovation Professionalism
Added to the mix through our accreditation process are institutional Core Themes. The core themes relate to the culture of Dixie State College of Utah as an institution of higher learning, and to the library in its unique role as the heart of information access and research. The Core themes are:

1. 
   The Culture of Learning—The library provides resources, access to information, instruction, individual support and a physical and virtual atmosphere that is supportive of learning. The undergraduate research experience, heavily supported by library resources is a foundation for life-long learning.
   

2. 
   The Culture of Values—The library has outlined values intentional supported by the library as a whole in the values section above. The measurement of those values as further defined by the Association of College and Research Libraries with specific outcomes, measures and links to the institutional core themes in the 2010-2011 Annual Report page 50-52.
   
3. 
   The Culture of Community—An institution of higher learning is, by necessity a network of mutually supportive partnerships, both within the institution and interlinked throughout the community that is the home for the institution. At Dixie State College the partnerships with the St. George and Washington County Communities have built the college, continue to nurture it, and feed the progress that will eventually lead it to university status.
   

It is obvious that the library’s partnerships with the academic program are essential to the library’s mission, and to effective support for undergraduate learning and research support for students and faculty. Faculty Liaison assignments are identified on page 25 of the annual report.

The library operation, whether it is the physical library or the virtual library presence on the web, is a team operation, the purpose of which is to provide strong support for academic learning and a welcome space for campus and community.

The Dean / Director provides leadership, support and facilitation for the work of the entire team. Priorities, goals, directions, special programs, and challenges are all worked through as a team of the whole. The Dean of the Library reports to the Academic Vice President, Dr. Donna Dillingham Evans and serves on the Dean’s Council, the Executive Staff, Academic Council, The Accreditation Steering Committee, the 2^nd Century Planning Group (Strategic Planning), and Chairs the Curriculum Committee.

Library faculty members are the academic management team, bringing together the various aspects of the academic program. Each librarian has liaison assignments, and an area of coordination. They also serve as instructors in the library Information Literacy program and have assigned reference hours Librarians also serve on campus committees. Librarians hold tenure-track positions. They carry the title of librarian, but are ranked as are the rest of the faculty: Librarian (equivalent to full professor); Associate Librarian, Assistant Librarian, etc. The Instructional Technologist holds a non-tenure track position, but is part of the faculty.

Paraprofessional staff members have their own areas of responsibility and provide vital support for effective support for the library program and customer support. The Circulation Staff, Ellen Bonadurer, Adriana Horne, and Deb Looker manage our student work force and oversee the circulation of library materials, the management of the shelves, financial issues such as fines, payments for materials, etc. and the operation of the circulation module of the library system. At this time circulation staff and student workers manage the processing of materials in coordination with David Zielke, Technical Services Librarian, and Acquisitions personnel.

Dixie State College of Utah provides funding for the professional development of faculty, including library faculty members. Current allocations are very limited, so librarians apply for faculty development funds as do all other faculty. In most cases shared support is provided by the institution and the library. Library funds have been used to fund less expensive opportunities, such as in state activities, state library conferences, and webinars. Institutional support has been provided for Josh Stanley, Linda Jones, and Dianne Hirning, for example. All library faculty have had professional development opportunities and most have had library funding at one time or another.

Staff opportunities for professional development are funded by the library budget, and funds have been available for all requests so far.
Professional development and training has been necessary for all library staff in the migration of the library integrated library system from the Horizon to the SirsiDynix Symphony in the 2009-2010 academic year.

This was included in the cost of the project. Similarly, we will have training for the operation of the a new security system that will be installed in the Holland Centennial Commons.

Units of operation are described in the personnel section and in the annual report. They are:

• 
  Administration: Dean / Director; Paraprofessional
  
• 
  Library Faculty: 5.6 librarians (this year) and 1 instructional technologist – areas of individual responsibility assigned and chronicled in annual report
  
• 
  Circulation 2 Full time paraprofessionals ; 1 part time (.4)
  
• 
  Acquisitions: 2 Full time paraprofessionals
  

The library provides an extensive annual report that documents the activities, assessment, and improvements in the various areas of the library (http://library.dixie.edu/info/index.html). This report is submitted to the Academic Vice President and the Executive Staff and posted on the library home page for public review.

The years since 2007 have been a time of expansion, growth, change and accomplishment. Among the accomplishments are:

• 
  A significant increase in library usage reflected in gate count and circulation; the gate count rose from 108,129 in FY2008 to 241,957 in FY 2011; Circulation rose from 20,423 in FY2008 to 36,376 in FY 2011
  
• 
  Revision and improvement of the interlibrary loan system, and resultant increase of resource sharing
  
• 
  Addition of 2 professional librarians to the staff;
  
• 
  Revision of the Administrative Structure of the library
  
• 
  Creation of and ongoing improvements to the LIB 1010 Information Literacy Course
  
• 
  Addition of LIB Guides (now called Research Guides) to provide online support for students
  
• 
  Expansion of online databases and resources
  
• 
  Redesign of the Library web page
  
• 
  Strong support for the Growth of community participation in and use of the Special Collections area.
  
• 
  Improvement of regular documentation of online database usage
  
• 
  Migration of the Library ILS from the Horizon System to the SirsiDynix Symphony System (this is MAJOR!)
  
• 
  Active participation in the programming and design of the new Holland Centennial Commons (also MAJOR!)
  
• 
  Active participation in the Utah Academic Library Consortium
  
• 
  Increased opportunities for professional development
  
• 
  Development and support for the DOCUTAH international collection of documentary films
  
• 
  Programming and design planning activities for the Holland Centennial Building
  

• 
  Personnel
  

-- Caleb Ames, Systems Librarian

-- Dianne Hirning, Reference and Interlibrary Loan Coordinator

-- Linda Jones, Education and Instruction Librarian

-- Bonnie Percival, Special Collections Librarian

-- David Zielke,, Technical Services Librarian

Instructional Technologist: Josh Stanley Paraprofessionals

-- Circulation: Ellen Bonadurer, Adriana Horne, Part time hourly: Deb Looker [weekends]

-- Acquisitions – Shannon Berndt, Deaun Kimber

-- Reinstatement of .6 position for Electronic Resources (Martha Talman)

-- 1 library faculty position

-- 2 part time position s (.74, without benefits)

-- $9000 in additional funding for student workers separate from the work study program

• 
  Facilities and equipment
  

Library staff have actively worked with building planners to create a welcoming space supportive of academic research and learning in a technology-rich environment that will welcome a full range of learning and study styles.

• 
  Technology
  

increasingly expensive. Online databases, also essential and expensive, are a vital part of our information resources.

• 
  Community connections
  

• 
  Significant increase in enrollment
  
• 
  Increase in the number of academic offerings, including an increase in Baccalaureate degree programs
  
• 
  Increase in non-traditional students, or students who are balancing the multiple challenges of work, family and education
  
• 
  The approval by the Utah Board of Regents for the Dixie State College of Utah plan to move towards University Status
  
• 
  Increased use of technology, including an increase of online courses, an increase of online resources, and the increased use of mobile technology, such as tablets, eBook formats, smart phones, and the use of social media
  
• 
  The absolute necessity to maintain an awareness of trends in delivery of service, information access, and new technology
  
• 
  With the increase of information access, shared resources and access through organizations like UALC are vital.
  

• 
  Strengths
  

-- A strong partnership with the Information Technology Department on campus with the commitment to providing our users with state of the art technology and access (within budgetary limitations, of course)

-- A library faculty and staff who are committed to service and academic support

-- Strong support by the Academic Vice President for the library, its needs, collections and services

-- A strong commitment to the provision of needed support for library utilities and information access as evidenced by the recent migration to a new integrated library system (FY2009), the upgrading of the interlibrary loan system (FY 2009), with an upgrade of the Illiad client in FY2010, strong involvement with the design of the new Holland Centennial Commons (FY2010, FY2011, current), and the preparation for a new library security system that will facilitate self-checkout

-- strong library collections physically and, increasingly, materials available through online access

-- strong commitment to building information literacy skills that can be a foundation for information access, evaluation, and use for a life-time.

• 
  Challenges or limitations
  

-- Available funding allows the library to provide adequate services, but funds are stretched to meet the increased cost of library utilities, system maintenance, and exiting developments in the area of information access

-- Integration of on-campus systems can cause problems with systems like ILLIAD (for interlibrary loan). Each time there is an upgrade of campus security and servers, the ILLIAD server is denied access and it may take the systems librarian weeks to reconfigure the access.

-- The open design of the new Holland Centennial Commons is at once an exciting venture into public access and a challenge to issues like staffing and security.

-- The library is part of a trickle-down technology plan within IT, and computers in the library classroom are very much out-of-date and we have frequent challenges with them. Our reference area computers were recently replaced with computers that are approximately one year old.

-- The library could benefit from technology allotments that could encourage use of tablets and other forms of technology and that could increase exploration of developing technology.

-- There is no organized development support for the library and its needs. This is something that the Director has discussed with the Development Department, but there has been no time to explore it further. Three of our librarians recently attended a grant-writing workshop, and it is hoped that an increase in staffing will allow the time to explore grant potentials.
Future and Strategic Plans:

The most recent strategic plan published by the library was developed in 2008, and reviewed in 2009. It is scheduled for review in 2011, with the context of the new library facilities in the Holland Centennial Commons. The action planning process and strategic plan review has been caught up in a series of major projects related to the Holland Centennial Commons, as well as the need to migrate the library system.

Each aspect of the HCC planning has required individual action plans developed by the library team as a whole.

• 
  Migration of the Integrated Library System: In 2009, the library migrated from the Horizon System to the Symphony System, a major move that impacted library personnel in all areas, requiring module-specific training in acquisitions, circulation, and all aspects of collection management.
  

• 
  Planning for the Holland Centennial Commons: Initial planning for the Holland Centennial Commons began in the 2009-2010 academic year with programming of space and has been the major focus of the 2010-2011, and the 2011-2012 academic year with specific planning in architectural, interior design, service, technology and academic support focuses.
  

• 
  Planning for the RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) Security Installation: One aspect of the new building is the necessity to provide self-checkout capability for library patrons. The current building has one exit and the circulation desk near that exit has worked well. The new facility is a multi-functional building with multiple exits from the library area. The exploration of RFID, preparation of a Request for Proposal, and selection of a vendor comprised a major project. We have worked with the architects and the vendor to design the system and location of equipment and are currently “tagging” every item in our collection in preparation for the move to the new building.
  

In the annual report, p. 47-55, there is extensive coverage of the Dixie State College of Utah mission, core themes, and assessment by linking the Standards for Libraries in Higher Education, released in November, 2011, to core themes for the purpose of assessment. A chart in this section links evidence, benchmarks (where appropriate), and the current annual report. In our next Strategic Planning retreat, we will be setting specific benchmarks that will relate the data for libraries identified as peer institutions by the State of Utah. We do have specific goals for the immediate future:

• 
  To effectively and efficiently prepare for the move into the Holland Centennial Building in order to provide excellent support for the culture of learning at Dixie State College.
  
• 
  To work with the Dixie State College Administration to identify and prioritize personnel needs and issues for the new (and larger) space in the Holland Centennial Commons in order to enlist support (and funds) to provide the needed personnel for needed and efficient operation within the new space.
  
• 
  To continue to work as library liaisons to support the academic departments to which librarians are assigned, in order to support academic programs with materials, access, instruction and committed collaboration.
  
• 
  To continue to provide a welcome and supportive atmosphere in our current location, as well as in the Holland Centennial Commons, in order to foster the culture of welcome, the culture of academic home, that will make the library, and the building that houses it, the place where people love to be.
  
• 
  To support the culture of (professional) values by continuing to support professional development opportunities and professional interaction for library faculty and staff in order to maintain awareness of current educational trends and opportunities that offer support to programs, learning, and information access.
  
• 
  To support the culture of community by active participation in campus and community partnerships in order to provide the sense of community and community outreach that is so much a part of Dixie pioneer tradition.
  
  • 
    To improve assessment of library instruction and services in order to provide a feedback loop for continuous improvement of the library program and of support for the academic institution.
    
  • 
    To explore the opportunities for outside funding (grant funding, donations, development) for library programs in order to provide additional support for the increasing cost of collections and information access.