SACS Accreditation Timing - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: Jul 28, 2004

SACS Accreditation Timing

Date: Jul 28, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Cossack
" A SACS team also reviews the library, and the reviews are performed by librarians who will have in-depth understanding of library issues. SFT’s antipathy toward the library will not go unnoticed.
"

This is great, but can SACS make Shelboo do something for the library?

Date: Jul 29, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: foot soldier
" This is great, but can SACS make Shelboo do something for the library? "

Wish'n and Hope'n and think'n and pray'n.

Date: Jul 29, 2004

SACS can deny accreditation or postpone accreditation for many reasons including library facilities. Whether SACS will require changes in the library is hard to predict. Indeed, no one issue may by itself may lead to a denial or probation, but a pattern of issues can. Unless SACS has changed, faculty governance is an important component. It is likely that the evaluation team members will know of the USM story from the national publicity, and may arrive with questions about faculty governance at USM.

Date: Jul 29, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Cossack
"SACS can deny accreditation or postpone accreditation for many reasons including library facilities. Whether SACS will require changes in the library is hard to predict. Indeed, no one issue may by itself may lead to a denial or probation, but a pattern of issues can. Unless SACS has changed, faculty governance is an important component. It is likely that the evaluation team members will know of the USM story from the national publicity, and may arrive with questions about faculty governance at USM."

Maybe the library's strategy will be to ply the SACS evaluation team with Starbucks coffee . Too much caffiene can be a good thing .

Date: Jul 29, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: foot soldier
"
This is great, but can SACS make Shelboo do something for the library? "

Yes, they certainly can. While I agree with others that faculty governance issues are likely also to be thorny, fixing library problems would likely be more expensive.

However, if the library budget has been cut proportionately in a manner comparable to other units, I'm not sure a dwindling budget is enough to merit a SACS recommendation. Evaluating whether library facilities & holdings are "sufficient" is pretty subjective, but ACRL standards are frequently used.

Date: Jul 29, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Invictus
" Yes, they certainly can. While I agree with others that faculty governance issues are likely also to be thorny, fixing library problems would likely be more expensive. However, if the library budget has been cut proportionately in a manner comparable to other units, I'm not sure a dwindling budget is enough to merit a SACS recommendation. Evaluating whether library facilities & holdings are "sufficient" is pretty subjective, but ACRL standards are frequently used. "

You will find that that campus budget for Univ Libraries has been pretty constant, but that the cost of materials such as Journals has gone up HUGELY each year, as it has for libraries at schools across the country. Though the libraries here at USM may not be seeing an on-paper budget cut recently, that cut is being shown as journal inflation and inflicts the nation and cuts into budgets within USM and all of U.S. schools.

Date: Jul 29, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: LibCuts
"
You will find that that campus budget for Univ Libraries has been pretty constant, but that the cost of materials such as Journals has gone up HUGELY each year, as it has for libraries at schools across the country. Though the libraries here at USM may not be seeing an on-paper budget cut recently, that cut is being shown as journal inflation and inflicts the nation and cuts into budgets within USM and all of U.S. schools.
"

Yup, and polymer science journals are REALLY expensive. I seem to recall one that cost thousands of dollars.

Date: Jul 30, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: foot soldier
" Yup, and polymer science journals are REALLY expensive. I seem to recall one that cost thousands of dollars."

I think Chemical Abstracts runs about $40,000 per year, maybe a little more. Major scientific journals often cost over $10,000 per year. And the page charges are steep too!

Date: Jul 30, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Pricy
"
I think Chemical Abstracts runs about $40,000 per year, maybe a little more. Major scientific journals often cost over $10,000 per year. And the page charges are steep too!"

Do departments subsidize the library when it purchases some of these pricey subscriptions, or does it just come out of the library budget? (I seem to recall from an earlier thread that the former is sometimes the case...)

Date: Jul 30, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Invictus
"

Do departments subsidize the library when it purchases some of these pricey subscriptions, or does it just come out of the library budget? (I seem to recall from an earlier thread that the former is sometimes the case...)"

I believe this is true in Biology and Chemistry, or it used to be true before they changed the "percent grant overhead" that was returned to the department.