The institution provides facilities, services, and learning/information resources that are appropriate to support its teaching, research, and service mission.

   X   Compliance                    ___Partial Compliance                       ___Non-Compliance

Narrative

St. Petersburg College provides extensive facilities, services and learning/information resources for faculty and student academic support.

Campus Libraries

Facilities.  The SPC mission is centered on student success which includes providing a “comprehensive library for promoting literacy and research.” The library mission is to “provide comprehensive library and information services to meet the curricular, research, cultural and recreational needs of the college community.”  Each campus library is designed to provide a learning environment for students and faculty to engage students in pursuing their educational goals.  Print, audio visual and electronic resources are provided to support campus curriculum.  Through the electronic catalog of College Library resources, students can select those resources that are physically on the campus they attend or they can request materials from other campuses to be sent to them.

Each campus library is well-equipped with state-of-the-art student-use computers including wireless laptop computers that can be used within the libraries.  These recent model computers with high speed network connection provide students access to on-line resources of the library and access to their on-line courses.  The library also encourages collaborative learning and group study by providing study rooms at five campuses.

Beginning with the Caruth Health Education Center Library in 1981, the library has experimented with encouraging collaborative and group learning experiences in the libraries.  This campus library was remodeled to include areas where students can cluster and work together.  A computer classroom for information literacy and other instruction is adjacent.  Quiet study conference rooms and a large quiet study lounge were designed.  Tutorial services for the campus were included in the planning of the library.

This successful experiment was replicated in the building of the new Tarpon Springs Library.  This is the third library for the campus and is part of the Fine Arts building which includes the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art and fine arts studios.  The award-winning building in an abstract shape of a ship provides a central lobby for the library, museum and studios.  Tutorial services are also part of this library.  A computer lab and a classroom are adjacent.  The library features a large open quiet study room, a curriculum library for the Tarpon Springs Billirakis College of Education and student conference rooms.

The Seminole Community Library on the Seminole Campus opened in August 2003.  The library is a joint use library with the City of Seminole.  The library is managed and administered by the City.  The College provides the automation system, networking and other infrastructure.  The Seminole Campus is home to SPC’s ECampus and College resources for this library are largely electronic.  The library has 50 open use computers.   The library’s collection policy is to provide the same level of library services and resources both physically and electronically; however, in recognition of Seminole’s focus on E-Campus, this site relies more heavily on electronic resources which are supplemented by the physical collection at the Seminole Community Library.  Library services are currently provided by the Seminole Information Services Librarian who consults with faculty to provide face-to-face and online research assistance to Seminole and E-campus students.  Plans are underway to add an additional budgeted librarian to the library staff as well as some part-time evening and weekend librarians who will be able to provide additional research assistance and library instruction.  Additional physical materials and space to co-locate the College’s collections are also planned.

The St.Petersburg/Gibbs Campus library is the 50,000 square-foot West St. Petersburg Community Library, a joint use library with the City of St. Petersburg.  This library services students at the nearby Downtown, Midtown, and Allstate Centers, as well as St. Petersburg/Gibbs students.  The College administers and manages the library and provides the automation system and other infrastructure.  The city provides 7.5 FTE staff including one librarian position.  The library includes a popular 8,000 square foot children’s area.  The library includes a special collections area that houses College memorabilia, the Gibbs Junior College Archives, the Wendell Ware Collection and over 5000 books in Russian to support the Eastern European and Russian population of our community.  The library also has two instructional classrooms and an online instruction area.

The 40,000 square-foot Clearwater Campus library was constructed in 1965.  It has been recently remodeled to include an information literacy instruction classroom and student conference rooms.  The library has been re-carpeted and lighting has been modernized.  It is an excellent example of an older library building that through thoughtful remodeling has moved into a new age in academic libraries.

The library at Allstate Center serves the unique programs at that location such as Criminal Justice and Fire Science.  This specialized library contains resources specific to campus programs and areas for group and quiet study.  Allstate students use SPC’s extensive selection of e-books and e-journals and the nearby St. Petersburg/Gibbs campus (ten minutes away) for resources outside their program area.

At the new Downtown and Midtown centers, there are currently no physical collections on site; however students have access to the library collections and services at the West Community Library on the (SPC) St. Petersburg/Gibbs campus as well as to the library at the University of South Florida at St. Petersburg.  In addition, an SPC librarian is available on site several hours per week to assist students and faculty with research assignments.  Library services are provided in a similar outreach fashion at the Allstate Center.

At the EpiCenter, which now houses three Baccalaureate programs, there is a small resource library as well as easy access to Library Online.  In addition, two of the Baccalaureate librarians have offices in an adjacent building and are very proactive in providing assistance and resources to the academic programs.  Since the initial SACS approval of SPC moving from Level I to Level II in 2001, library resources have been considered adequate by SACS for each Baccalaureate program submitted for approval.  While the current resources are deemed sufficient by the Program Directors, Deans and faculty located at the new centers, as these centers continue to grow in enrollment and program offerings it will be critical for the library to revisit staffing levels in order to provide the requisite library services.

Summary of library facilities available at St. Petersburg College

Library resources.   According to the College Center for Library Automation (CCLA), in 2003/04 the SPC library is ranked first in circulation of materials of the 28 community colleges in Florida and second in collection size.  The six libraries have extensive physical collections of books, periodicals, audio visual materials and on-line resources selected to support the programs of the college and the curriculum.

Summary of Library Resources

The library’s collection of books that can be used electronically is the largest in the state of Florida.  In addition, the library licenses a growing collection of downloadable audio books.  The library subscribes to over 60 databases or aggregates of databases.  Examples of subscriptions to support the curriculum are OVID for nursing, IEEE for computer science and JSTOR for scholarly periodical backfiles.

Learning and Information Resources

Facilities.  In support of the College’s mission to “provide accessible, learner-centered education” and the College’s goal “to enhance student learning,” the College provides facilities for student learning support on six campuses or centers.  The learning resource centers, known by different names at various campuses: Learning Support Centers, Information Commons, Learning Commons/Collaborative Commons or New Initiative Program, supplement and enrich the existing programs at the College.

      Summary of the Learning Resource Centers on each campus:

Collaborative Commons.  The Seminole campus has developed an innovative approach to computer labs, providing two types:  a learning commons and a collaborative commons.  In the learning commons the emphasis is on individual work, while the collaborative commons’ emphasis is on group work.

Collaborative Commons at Seminole campus

Learning Resource Center resources.  In addition to the tutoring services, Learning Support or Resource Centers provide access to computers, copiers, and online information.  Clearwater provides a typical set of resources:

             Clearwater Information Resources Web page

The smaller campus of Tarpon Springs still offers substantial links to information resources on their Resources page:

Tarpon Springs Information Resources Web page

Online Tutorials.  Numerous online tutorials are provided on each campus.  Seminole, for example, offers a page on their information commons site with the following tutorials:

            Seminole online tutorials

Online Tutorials Ø APA and MLA Ø Scanning Instructions Ø Assignment Calculator Ø Sound Forge Ø Database Tutorials Ø Visual Thesaurus Ø eCampus & ANGEL Ø MyDropBox Ø How to Email Attachments Ø PDF Files & Adobe Acrobat Reader Ø How to Research on the Internet Ø MS Excel Ø How to Use the College Printers Ø MS Power Point Ø How to Use the Internet Ø MS Word

Other learning resource centers/information commons have similar services and resources and all students can access a service or resource they need on any campus that support their program.

Determining appropriate facilities, services, and learning/information resources

St. Petersburg College begins its annual strategic planning process with a review of institutional assessments.  In late Fall of each year an Educational and Student Support Oversight Committee meets to review the assessment data related to libraries, learning support centers, and other student academic support services.  The committee includes Deans, Program Directors, Provosts, and educational support staff and is chaired by the Vice President of Educational and Student Services.  Among the sources of data reviewed by the committee are the Enrolled Student Survey, conducted each September on-line, End-of-Year Unit Plan Evaluation Reports for individual units, departmental surveys (e.g., the Library surveys), Entering and Graduating Student Surveys, and State Accountability Measures.  The committee identifies and documents areas that need additional efforts in the upcoming year to improve student support services.  The findings of the committee are shared Collegewide, used by each unit in developing their unit plan objectives and budget requests for the next year, and used by the Cabinet to develop Strategic Directions and Institutional Objectives and to prioritize budget requests.

On the most recent annual Enrolled Student Survey, the Library received the second-highest level of student satisfaction of any of the services provided by the college, 6.18 on a 7-point Likert scale.  Student satisfaction with the SPC libraries has steadily risen over the last four years:

In addition, the rating of satisfaction with the libraries’ reference services on the 2006/07 survey was 8.56 on a 10-point scale and 95% student responded positively when asked if the library was helpful to them academically.

The Library staff works closely with new programs to develop a comprehensive collection of resources to support each program.  A focus group of Program Directors that met in Fall 2005 considered the collections to be current and relevant to their programs and commended the SPC library staff for the effort they make to ensure library resources meet the needs of all programs.  No deficiencies in collection adequacy were noted by the Program Directors.  Two focus groups were held at the Seminole campus in Fall 2006 to survey faculty and students on library needs and improvements at that library, which is a joint use facility with the city of Seminole.  Work is underway to implement many of the recommendations including undertaking a collection analysis, adding additional materials and consolidating College collections to better support the College curricula, convening a Faculty advisory task force and adding additional librarian hours for reference assistance and library instruction.  In addition the Seminole Community Library will be jointly administered by the city and the college Director of Libraries to ensure that the facility meets the educational needs of the College community.

Further evidence of the appropriateness of library collections comes from other accrediting agencies.  Among the SPC degree programs that have been accredited by other accreditation agencies are:

SPC is pursuing National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and National Commission on Orthotic and Prosthetic Education (NCOPE) accreditation for its Baccalaureate degree programs.  Professional or discipline-specific accreditation of SPC programs also ensures that institutional support, including library and other learning resources and services, meets the requirements of the profession.

In addition, the Library staff works closely with new programs to develop a comprehensive collection of resources to support each program.  On an annual basis the Library contacts all Program Directors to determine whether the libraries are carrying resources appropriate for each program.  A focus group of Program Directors considered the collections to be current and relevant to their programs and commended the SPC library staff for the effort they make to ensure library resources meet the needs of all programs.  No deficiencies in collection adequacy were noted by the Program Directors.

On the annual Enrolled Student Survey, student satisfaction with academic support services such as the Learning Support Centers has exceeded the Collegewide goal of 5.0 (on a 7-point Likert scale).  Student satisfaction with academic program/educational support has risen over the last four years from a rating of 5.46 to a rating of 5.69:

62% of students answering the Enrolled Student Survey use the academic program/educational support services.  One student commented on the survey, “I feel that SPC provides all the resources needed to succeed.  All anyone has to do is use them.”

Each campus Learning Support Center continuously works towards improving student satisfaction.  On the Clearwater campus, for example, academic tutoring by student tutors was expanded from all levels of math, English, and reading, to include Spanish, physics, chemistry, accounting, French, computer programming, computer operating systems, and Microsoft Office.  The St. Petersburg/Gibbs campus uses information on daily and weekly numbers of students using the Learning Support Center and students’ reasons for coming.  As a result, the Learning Support Center has organized the LSC to optimize a variety of student uses and has acquired tutorial software for math, reading, English, foreign language, biology and other subjects to supplement and enhance student learning experiences.  Student satisfaction on its internal survey has been over 90% rating satisfactory and above:

In a recent focus group, Program Directors confirmed the adequacy and relevancy of learning support services, citing the wide availability of numerous resources including the Seminole Collaborative Commons and the online College of Education Student Commons.  A sample screen shot from the COE Student Commons shows a comprehensive and centralized space for information, resources, and online discussions.

One of the Baccalaureate librarians commented:

                     Sample screen shot from the COE Student Commons

Other specialized academic services are described in 3.4.9.

References