2.9 Learning Resources and Services

Judgment of Compliance

Compliance

Narrative/Justification for Judgment of Compliance

Hillsborough Community College maintains four Campus Libraries and one Learning Center Library, providing its students, faculty, and staff access and user privileges to both traditional and technological collections and learning/information resources. With regard to library resources and their appropriateness, each campus has a Library/Learning Resource Center that provides a collection of materials to support the College’s educational, research, and public service programs. The collections include circulating and reference books, electronic books, current periodicals, archived publications, electronic databases, and audiovisual programs.  Details on the collections are elaborated upon in the section below, titled Collections.

To further enhance access and user privileges, the College is a member of Florida’s College Center of Library Automation (CCLA) consortium, which coordinates the twenty-eight community colleges’ and eleven state universities’ collections through a common library collections management system (LINCC), providing HCC’s students access to an even wider range of learning resources.  The College also is a member of the Tampa Bay Library Consortium (TBLC), which is a non-profit, multi-library cooperative that assists libraries by leading and encouraging collaboration, resource sharing, staff development, and innovations.  Finally, the College participates in a Library Borrowing Privileges Agreement between the State University System of Florida and the Community College System of Florida that allows both types of institutions to extend access and borrowing privileges among currently enrolled HCC students, faculty, and staff of public higher education institutions in Florida. 

HCC also has a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the MacDill Air Force Base to support the HCC MacDill Learning Center located on the base.  The Air Force maintains a fully-functional library facility which is located with the Base Education Center.  This facility provides services to all on-base educational program participants, to include community civilian students, as well as all eligible Department of Defense personnel.  Eligible students are identified by class rosters provided to the library by the HCC MacDill Center office at the start of each term.  In addition the Library provides assistance, ranging from tours to special reference collections, for MacDill faculty upon request.  In accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding between HCC and MacDill Air Force Base, HCC is obligated to “provide annual funding for library requirements in support of the on-base program” to “the standards established by the applicable accrediting association”. (Part A, paragraph 23).  To meet this obligation, the College supports the MacDill Library with a bank of eleven networked computer systems with a printer, which provides internet access and entry to the College’s online reference databases, available for use by all patrons.  HCC also provides funds for use in the purchase of educational texts and periodicals.

Electronic access to library resources is available for HCC students who attend off-campus sites and for HCC distance learners.  The HCC Library website identifies both HCC and all statewide community college holdings and also serves as a gateway to 80 subscription databases containing both full-text and bibliographic information.  These databases are available to HCC students with a valid student identification card.  The Library website links to e-mail and synchronous, online reference assistance and to a variety of printed guides designed for student use.  HCC students also have access to library resources college-wide through intercampus loan and interlibrary loan; the LINCC system provides for an intercampus loan process that allows resources to be shared, tracked, and returned.   Additionally, students have the capability to search Florida’s public community college libraries and request materials through the state-wide interlibrary loan process.

Through these agreements and arrangements, HCC manages its resource relationships that are outside of its direct control and ensures that they are relevant to the College’s academic programs.

To help determine adequacy and relevancy of library/learning resources to support the College’s needs, the library satisfaction survey to faculty and students is administered on an annual basis.  For the past two years, the majority of respondents have been satisfied to highly satisfied with the libraries and services (Campus Library  reports- select campus dropdown menus to view survey results, e.g. Brandon).  As described more fully below, the professional library faculty collaborate with instructional faculty to determine adequacy and relevancy of resources.

Collections- Adequacy and Relevance

HCC’s library provides and supports student and faculty access to the library collections.  Each Library/LRC maintains a reserve collection that includes materials identified by HCC instructors/faculty for students’ attention. The library’s Collection Development and Collection Assessment Policies provide the criteria by which learning resource materials are selected.  Faculty librarians exercise their professional judgment in selecting general learning resources materials that support and enhance the curriculum.  The librarians work to ensure that instructional faculty members have input on the collection development process, including the database collection.  For example, the librarians have aligned the collection development process with the College’s program review process to ensure that resources are adequate for the programs undergoing review in any given year.  For the past two years, they have queried the instructional faculty members on an annual basis to help make recommendations on the annual database purchase list.  Moreover, the librarians survey instructional faculty and students on an annual basis to determine satisfaction with collections, learning resources, and services.  In addition, supporting documentation is provided through the annual administration of the library satisfaction survey to faculty and students.  For the past two years, the majority of respondents have been satisfied to highly satisfied with the libraries and services (Campus Library  reports- select campus dropdown menus to view survey results, e.g. Brandon).   Selections are chosen with the intent of making available the widest diversity of views and expressions.  As of June 30, 2005, college-wide, there were 116,989 books and 9,919 audio visuals (CCLA Report 6/30/05).

Table 1 indicates the College’s commitment to library resources over the past five years.  A budget of $250,000 is allocated towards new collections, standing orders, HCC databases, and additional costs, such as additional periodical costs.  When state funding was cut for the CCLA consortium library databases, HCC underscored its commitment to the library by covering the costs of these databases.  Finally, periodicals are covered under a separate budget, and HCC’s commitment is again seen by the commitment to cover the rising costs of these resources.

Table 1.  Library Database and Collections Expenditures

Other Learning/Information Resources

Ask-A-Librarian:  Ask-A-Librarian is an online reference service that is provided at no charge to Floridians.  The service is supported by public and private libraries and functions to provide continuous library reference services.

Computer Workstations: Each Library/LRC provides computer workstations for students and faculty to access databases and the Internet. 

Intercampus Loan:  HCC students have access to all HCC library and learning resources on a college-wide basis.  The LINCC system provides for an intercampus loan process that allows resources to be shared, tracked, and returned.

Interlibrary Loan:  Students have the capability to search Florida’s public community college libraries and request materials through the state-wide interlibrary loan process.

Library Instruction:  Librarians are available to provide one-on-one instruction to individual students or group library orientations.  The librarians work with the faculty to ensure that course objectives and learning outcomes are factored into the library instruction.

Library Website: The Library website identifies both HCC and all statewide community college holdings and also serves as a gateway to 80 subscription databases containing both full text and bibliographic information.  These databases are available to HCC students with a valid student identification card.  The Library website links to e-mail and synchronous, online reference assistance and to a variety of printed guides designed for student use.

Library Databases:  The College Center for Library Automation (CCLA) provides a statewide automated library and information database that enhances the educational experience at Florida Community Colleges. Furthermore, HCC provides access to an Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC), which is a database of the books and audio visuals that are housed in the campus libraries.  Through LINCC (Library Information Network for Community Colleges), students, faculty and staff have access to other library collections at Florida community colleges’, universities’, or public libraries in Hillsborough County as well as many other libraries in the United States.  LINCC also permits access to a host of library resource databases. Through these systems,  HCC students have on-line access to eighty subscription electronic databases housing 9,968  electronic resources, including full-text journals, newspapers, magazines, encyclopedias, and electronic books.

Reciprocal Borrowing: Hillsborough Community College participates in reciprocal borrowing with other publicly funded community colleges and universities in Florida.  The College has cooperation agreements with the School Board of Hillsborough County and the University of South Florida, Tampa Campus.  These agreements allow HCC students to utilize their resources and borrowing services.  Interlibrary loan further enhances the availability of resources for students.

Consortiums:  As mentioned previously, HCC participates in the CCLA and TBLC consortiums.  CCLA enhances HCC’s access to statewide library resources shared among public universities and community colleges, and TBLC enhances HCC’s access to regional library resources shared among public and private libraries.

Facilities

The Hillsborough Community College libraries provide physical facilities for learning resources.  Each campus provides a library building that serves as host for the Learning and Resource Centers. The Hillsborough Community College library facilities support the College’s teaching, research, and service mission.  The table below indicates a summary of information in the campus libraries that is later provided in detail below for each location.

Library Departments and Learning Resources by Campus

The HCC District Library Technical Services Department is located within Dale Mabry Campus LRC and employs the College's two acquisitions tecnicians and three cataloging technicians (two full-time and one part-time). This department processes books acquired for use in individual Campus Libraries, as well as a small collection of professional books, audio visual materials, and periodicals that are predominantly for the use of HCC Library faculty and staff. The department also includes the offices of the Learning Resources Coordinator and the Learning Resources Automation Coordinator.

Hillsborough Community College's Library collections, resources, and facilities sufficiently support all of our educational, research, and public service programs.  Comprehensive Standards 3.8.1 Library: Facilities and Services; 3.8.2 Library: Access; and 3.8.3 Library: Staff provide further detail regarding HCC’s commitment to our Library and Learning Resources program and services through our provision of appropriate library resources, including library faculty, staff, facilities, materials, and instruction.

Supporting Documentation

• Tampa Bay Library Consortium (TBLC)
• Library Borrowing Privileges Agreement
• Memorandum of Understanding Part A, paragraph 23
• Library Satisfaction Survey
• Campus Library  reports- select campus dropdown menus to view survey results, e.g. Brandon
• Collection Development
• Collection Assessment Policies
• CCLA Report 6/30/05
• Library website
• LINCC Web External Database Connections
• Cooperation Agreement for USF and Hillsborough County Schools
• Comprehensive Standard 3.8.1
• Comprehensive Standard 3.8.2
• Comprehensive Standard 3.8.3