II.C. LIBRARY AND LEARNING SUPPORT SERVICES Library and other learning support services forstudents are sufficient to support the institution’sinstructional programs and intellectual, aesthetic,and cultural activities in whatever format andwherever they are offered. Such services includelibrary services and collections, tutoring, learningcenters, computer laboratories, and learning technologydevelopment and training. The institutionprovides access and training to students so thatlibrary and other learning support services may beused effectively and efficiently. The institution systematicallyassesses these services using studentlearning outcomes, faculty input, and other appropriatemeasures in order to improve the effectivenessof the services.
II.C.1. The institution supports the quality of itsinstructional programs by providing library andother learning support services that are sufficientin quantity, currency, depth, and variety to facilitateeducational offerings, regardless of location ormeans of delivery.
II.C.1.a. Relying on appropriate expertise of facultyincluding librarians and other learning supportservices professionals, the institution selects andmaintains educational equipment and materials tosupport student learning and enhance the achievementof the mission of the institution.
PLANNING AGENDA(from 2006 Self Study):
• The Library and Learning Resources Division will begin to work in Spring 2006 with the Office of Institutional Effectiveness to evaluate the print and electronic collection, technology and tutoring services to determine how effectively they support student learning outcomes in academic disciplines.
DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY:
The Library & Learning Resources Division (LLRD) supports the quality of institutional programs by maintaining a unique organizational infrastructure. The LLRD is composed of two major departments, the Library and Learning Skills, making it unique among the District's library divisions which have no formal organizational relationship with their respective college's learning skills departments. This formal organizational relationship allows the division to take advantage of shared resources in personnel and infrastructure and, more importantly, to develop a pedagogical paradigm that aligns the development of core competencies and basic skills with research and information literacy skills among students who experience the full panoply of the division's offerings. The Education department offered courses in effective online learning and teaching skills. The Library offers standard library resources, services, and bibliographic instruction. Learning Skills provides basic skills classes, administers the tutorial program, and coordinates activities among several cohorts including the foreign language lab, writing lab, and disabled students. Including the division's chair, current permanent staffing includes three faculty and seven classified personnel (two of whom qualify to, and actually, teach). The Library has two librarians, four library technicians, and an instructional media technician; Learning Skills has two instructional media technicians. Instructor, special assignment, faculty positions fill certificated vacancies in both departments and vacancies of classified (line) staffing are filled by student workers. We have made requests to fill these vacancies in both faculty and classified positions in the program review process and through Faculty Position Identification Prioritization committee (FPIP).
At end of Spring 2010 Semester, the Division submitted six full time tenure tracked certificated positions request to the FPIP (Faculty Position Identification & Prioritization) Committee: (1) Learning Skills Instructor (English), (2) Learning Skills Instructor (Math), (3) Librarian (Bibliographic Instructions), (4) Librarian (Cataloger), (5) Librarian (Acquisitions), & (6) Education faculty.
In Fall 2010, the Division was approved to hire a full time tenure tracked Learning Skills Instructor (English). Interviewed in February of 2011. Three candidates were presented to VPAA and President
While the college has not been immune to the contraction of instructional offerings and of intellectual, aesthetic, and cultural activities caused by the “trickle-down” of current macro-economic conditions, the Library & Learning Resources Division (LLRD) has been able to rise above cuts to its budget lines occasioned by these conditions to sustain a level of service to its core constituency that it believes meets and, in a one or two areas, exceeds levels of service of immediately previous periods, particularly since the last accreditation review. In addition, the LLRD has added print materials and computer equipment and even succeeded in augmenting infrastructure by resourcefully leveraging extraordinary funding sources. These improvements were made by collaborating with discipline faculty.
Like many community colleges situated in a demographically dense and diverse urban area, the College seeks to serve a diverse student constituency. The Library offers classes in library research skills that are available as credit, non-credit, computer-assisted, and extension, online, and hybrid classes. The division has grown areas of service to students enrolled in the wide variety of offerings.
Program 100 budgetary shortfalls include the loss of funds to the book and monograph collection, to the hardcopy periodicals collection, to office supplies, and, most significantly, to staffing in both classified and certificated (faculty) areas. Over a 5-year period, an already smallish book budget was diminished by a factor of .5, losing $10,000 from $20,000. In the same period, the hardcopy periodicals budget was reduced by 45%, from $15,550 to approximately $8,500. The Library has deflected the impact of these cuts by subscribing to electronic book collections (NetLibrary, Gale Virtual Reference Library) and to electronic periodical databases (LexisNexis, JSTOR, ProQuest). The Library sought and received significant discipline faculty ratification regarding these electronic databases. At the end of the most recent fiscal year coinciding with the end of certain federal and state funding cycles, the Library resourced grants (Title V, CalWORKs) for a one-time infusion of $50,000 to add hardcopy book, DVD, and CD titles. The library faculty buttressed basic skills and subject areas in vocational education.
Within the last seven years, six regular certificated and classified staff (four in the Library, two in Learning Skills) separated from service. Only one, a librarian, has been replaced with a permanent hire. Neither of the two classified staff, both B-shift, was replaced. These losses resulted in a reduction of 33.3% in hours of evening and weekend service. The loss two years ago of certificated (faculty) personnel in both the library and learning skills departments requires the reliance on temporary hires. Over a 5-year period, Learning Skills experienced the loss of both its permanent faculty. The college has moved positively to ensure a permanent hire for the language arts specialist in Learning Skills.
The withdrawal of funding to the Telecommunications & Technology Infrastructure Program (TTIP) has restricted access to these databases is absolutely and fundamentally critical to student success.
The library has grown its services in the area of technology. The Library has expanded the number of research databases, added hardware, and vaulted into Web 2.0 social networking to leverage its presence in that area. The college stepped up to provide ten Macs to LIRL and a like number to its PC laptop circulation program. Unfortunately, both cohorts of Macs have been co-opted by extra-departmental forces for other than student use. Ten desktop Mac minis will replace the original Mac desktops at LIRL. With Web 2.0, the library carries a presence on Facebook, on Flickr, and on Twitter. This technology is a genuine phenomenon. The library has subscribed to Library Thing and to QuestionPoint. Library Thing is the venue by which the Library premieres its new book arrivals on its home page. QuestionPoint represents a consortium of libraries that provide 24/7 reference service throughout the country. By subscribing and providing a few hours a week of reference service to the consortium, the Library makes available to the College’s students year-round, 24-hour access to reference service from many of the country’s most prestigious universities. These enhancements to service, resources, and infrastructure were suggested and implemented by the library’s faculty.
Collection development procedures regarding the use of in-house statistics to guide librarians' collection development efforts are continuously monitored and enhanced as well. For example, based on circulation statistics which provide a profile of subject matters that are heavily used, librarians are able to focus both weeding and purchasing decisions effectively and accurately. In the daily reference log, reference librarians note what subject matter for research papers is requested by students for which the Library has no titles or has titles that are outdated. Requested titles which aren't in the collection are also of course noted by the collection development librarian.
Cooperation between discipline faculty and library faculty continue in force as well. This cooperation is evident in shared work on the College's Curriculum Committee and in the College's annual program review process. As a permanent member of the College's Curriculum Committee, the collection development librarian reviews all course outlines that have been submitted for updating and for new courses. The Course Outline form mandates a library sign-off, signifying that the faculty member has met with the librarian to review library collections and periodical databases and determined that the content and currency of the collections are appropriate to the topics covered in the proposed new or updated course outlines. The library’s is also heavily invested in the program review process as that allows it to become sensitive to the pedagogical concerns of other disciplines.
At the beginning of each new semester, a letter is sent to each faculty member for a prioritized recommended list of book purchases. Once a list of titles in subject areas is compiled from book reviews from academic review sources, faculty, staff, and student input, it is sent out to the discipline faculty for their approval. After books arrive in the library, they are processed and added to Library Thing. By working collaboratively with discipline faculty directly within committee, the Library seeks to achieve its goal of selecting material will help students learn to think critically, succeed in their courses, and become life-long learners. The Library's objective is for students to learn how to search and locate information in print and electronic formats, and analyze and synthesize it into accurate, coherent, well-supported essays and research papers.
The Learning Skills department has in the last 5 years focused on developing core competencies in language arts and mathematics, working closely with discipline faculty in those areas. This focus was achieved by utilizing open-entry, open-exit computer-assisted classes (CAI) based on the PLATO software platform. Learning Skills classes both complement and serve as preparation for basic mathematics, pre-algebra, beginning and intermediate algebra, grammar, punctuation, spelling, reading, writing, political science and chemistry. Learning skills instructors serve on the Basic Skills Committee and work with language arts, mathematics, and other academic divisions to interpret and apply district-wide and college-wide mandates and student needs. Faculty in this area interpret data relevant to student success and transfer rates, particularly as they are impacted by basic skills classes. They stimulate student preparedness and attitude instruments, coordinate learning goals among learning skills and the academic areas, and generate protocols for enabling students, especially those who are under-prepared, to maximize opportunities for success.
A typical semester's offerings in the department's language arts courses include seven courses (in a dozen sections), in mathematics three courses (five sections). There are also available CAI courses in chemistry, history, and political science. In addition to teaching classes, LSk faculty oversee the campus's tutorial program in general subject tutoring and in the Writing Lab whose tutors are qualified under strict District guidelines and who are trained and regularly monitored for the quality and effectiveness of their efforts by the designated faculty supervisor. Between 15 to 20 tutors are hired each semester to tutor in approximately 20 subject areas. Individual and group tutorial assistance is available during operations hours to students on a first-come, first-served basis.
The Learning Resources Center’s primary goal is to assist students with accessing and using resources that will support their academic success at West Los Angeles College. The Learning Center has many different ways of supporting academic success. College courses such as Learning Skills in math and language arts (English) are designed to give students an opportunity to brush up on skills in a self-paced, supportive environment. Subject tutors in math, biology, English, and other subjects are provided free of charge to West LA College students. Student employees are hired to provide knowledge and expertise in these subjects. A computer lab with Internet access is provided so students can use additional electronic resources. Wi-Fi or wireless access is available for students who want to bring laptops and connect to the Internet.
The Learning Skills Department directly aligns with the college’s mission and goal # 2 – Student Learning, by teaching and applying study skills in all course disciplines, and goal #5- Foundation Skills, by establishing an effective and robust center for reading, writing, and math skills-building. The Learning Skills classes both complement and serve as an additional support resource for the Foundational skills required for academic success at West Los Angeles College.
The Learning Resource Center (HLRC) plays an essential role in the provision of student –centered services and resources on campus. Assistance housed in the Learning Resources Center includes:
- Tutorial Center
- Learning Skills Lab ( 54 computers)
- Writing Center
- Foreign Language Lab (18 computers )
- LIRL Computer Lab ( 12 of computers)
The Tutorial Center employs approximately 15 general subject tutors. Each tutor is hired by the Learning Center Director with consultation of the full time Learning Skills Instructors for Mathematics and Language Arts. The district regulates qualifications and hiring protocols for tutors. As part of the hiring process, each tutor must submit a letter of recommendation from a professor in which they are tutoring. They must have earned and “A “ or “B” in that course. Fall 2010 semester, a Tutor Training program was implemented to better equip tutors to assist the needs of the West student population. The Writing Center staff provides writing conferences with students to assist in the prewriting and organization stage of college level writing. The Tutorial Staff are available to provide assistance for many courses offered on campus.
Learning skills courses taught in the Learning Skills lab employ computer –assisted instruction ( CAI) to empower students to master the skills necessary to achieve student learning outcomes in their academic courses. Learning skills classes both complement and serve as preparations of basic mathematics, pre-algebra, beginning and intermediate algebra, grammar, punctuation, spelling, reading, writing, political science and chemistry. The Learning Center offers a learning skills course that helps students overcome math anxiety by identifying its causes and various strategies to assist students to become more confident in their perspective math classes.
The Foreign Language Lab is maintained by the Learning Center Staff. The Foreign Language department requires a co-requisite lab. Students must complete the foreign language requirements for transfer to the university. Our support of the Humanities and Fine Arts division/ Foreign Language department assists students in completing requirements for transfer.
Ideally the Learning Center will be staffed with one Director ( a faculty with full-time obligations ) , 2 Learning Skills Instructors , for Mathematics and Language Arts( faculty with full –time obligations,) and 2 lab Teaching Assistants ( Classified Staff). Currently the Learning Center is not staffed with a Director or a Language arts instructor. With the lack of staffing, the current staff is scheduled to efficiently handle the demands of the student population. With full-time faculty presence, the Learning Skills and General Subject tutoring enrollment has increased immensely in the past two years. Fall 2008 – 2009, there was a 46 % increase in the number of Learning Skills enrollments with a 31 % increase in the number of hours captured for credit positive attendance. During that same time period, General Subject Tutoring had a small increase in the participants with a 29 % increase in the number of hours they used tutorial services.
Learning Skills Instructors serve on the Student Success Committee and work with Language Arts and Mathematics departments, and other academic divisions to interpret and apply district-wide and college-wide mandates and student needs. Faculty in this area, interpret data relevant to student success and transfer rates, particularly as they are impacted by all basic skills classes. They Student Success Committee provides student preparedness and attitude instruments, coordinates learning goals between learning skills and other academic disciplines, and generates protocols for enabling the greatest number of students, especially those who are under prepared, to maximize their opportunities for success.