The institution provides a sufficient number of qualified staff - with appropriate education or experiences in library and/or other learning/information resources - to accomplish the mission of the institution. (Qualified staff)
Compliance Status: Partial
a. How does the institution determine the qualifications of its library/learning resource/library information staff?
All librarians hold as a minimum a master's degree in library and information science from graduate schools accredited by the American Library Association. Many of the librarians have also earned additional graduate degrees in related fields.
b. How does the institution demonstrate that the staff is sufficient to accomplish the mission?
3.8.3 The institution provides a sufficient number of qualified staff – with appropriate education or experiences in library and/or other learning/information resources – to accomplish the mission of the institution. (Qualified staff)
Narrative
Statement of Rational for Judgment of Compliance
The San Antonio College (SAC) Library has experienced a significant reduction in faculty librarians and paraprofessional staff over the past three years due to age and a retirement incentive program (RIP) adopted in the spring 2011 semester by the Alamo Community College District (ACCD) continued into the fall 2011 semester. Because of the 2011 RIP staffing levels are below those of comparable institutions. The District has approved another RIP which begins on 1 April 2014 with retirement dates for those qualified employees in either August 2014 or January 2015. Four librarians and several of the paraprofessional staff qualify for the new RIP. One librarian has indicated (prior to the 1 April start date) that he will participate in the 2014 RIP with a retirement date in August 2014. Another librarian will probably also elect to participate in the RIP. Any additional librarian or staff losses will exacerbate the the problems staffing public service areas and ongoing internal operations.
Because of the2011 RIP 4 full-time faculty librarians and 1 part-time adjunct librarian retired and another full-time librarian entered a three-year phased-retirement program working 19 hours per week. The number of librarians went from 14.5 to 8.5 FTEs in a little over 6 months. As a result of the personnel losses due to the RIP the library has to reduce its service hours, however, due to the availability of extensive electronic resources the impact on students has been minimal. Unfortunately with only 1 librarian working on Saturday Library Instruction very difficult to arrange. The library's highest priority is given to continue providing excellent public services.
Recently the library was allowed to hire a part-time temporary librarian in a non-faculty position. The District’s administration decided in during summer 2010 that future librarians would be hired as professional staff and not as faculty. This decision was demoralizing and highlighted administration’s lack of understanding of the work the librarians do and their role in the learning process and student learning outcomes. The librarians at all the Alamo Colleges fought unsuccessfully to reverse this decision. Future hires will be expected to work in an inequitable model with the same duties and responsibilities as but less pay than the library faculty. They will also be prohibited from obtaining tenure and from advancement in rank and they will not be eligible to serve on faculty committees or in the Faculty Senate.
The library also lost 5 full-time paraprofessional staff due to transfers or retirement under the RIP. Although the library has repeatedly asked for permission to hire a few staff replacements all requests have been denied. It seems the library’s positions have been reassigned to other departments, the other colleges, or the District’s offices. In addition the library lost its full-time computer and network technician in July 2013. At present the library must rely on the college’s Office of Technology Services for support of its server, public computers, staff computers, printers and networks.
Currently the library has 9 paraprofessional staff (down from 15 three years ago) of which 5 are full-time employees (4 in technical services and 1 in public services), 1 is a half-time employee and 3 are part-time (19 hours per week) temporary employees. Interlibrary Loan was handled by a full-time staff member, but is now handled by part-time staff which has resulted in some delays in processing ILL requests.
A recent District-wide position analysis, the Hay study, resulted in the reclassification of some library staff positions to lower job titles. This has been another blow to library morale. The library also has 7 work-study student assistants who work 18 hours per week or an additional 3.15 FTE staff. As a result of these personnel losses, in order to staff the circulation desk and the reserve reading room during the week and on Saturday, the library worked hard to cross train all paraprofessionals in the circulation and reserve system and procedures and all faculty librarians in basic circulation system functions.
c. What professional opportunities are available to the learning/information resources staff?
Faculty and Staff Professional Development Activities
San Antonio College librarians and staff continually participate in professional development activities ranging from classes taught on campus to national conferences. Within the last five years, library faculty have attended conferences and meetings sponsored by the Texas Library Association, American Library Association, Bexar Library Association, the GPO's Federal Depository Library, the Texas State Library and Archives Commission and the Council of Research and Academic Libraries among others. Librarians’ activities often involve more than attending conferences. Presentations by library faculty were made at recent TLA (Texas Library Association) and LOEX (Library Orientation Exchange) conferences. A SAC librarian helped organize the 2010 TLA Conference by serving on the conference planning committee and organizing contributed paper presentations.
Library faculty members attend numerous workshops, and take graduate level classes throughout the year. A sampling of the topics covered in these workshops and classes include copyright issues, student learning outcomes and assessment, distance learning, plagiarism, teambuilding and leadership, government intrusion and individual liberty, electronic reserves, RDA (Resource Description and Access), instructional design and FranklinCovey leadership training. The automation librarian (retired December 2011) provided services and support to all ACCD libraries. During his tenure as automation library he received extensive training from Innovative in the following areas: creating pages for Millennium (the online Discovery); use of statistics for the library system; best practices in loading new records into Millennium; and, use of tools to enhance user experiences such as sending information from the library Discovery to users' cellphone, as well as completing numerous academic classes at SAC on computer programming and networking.
Library staff members also take classes and participate in workshops and teleconferences to improve their skills and services. Employee Development Day, SAC’s Customer Service classes, web master certification, and online courses in Discoverying and technical services provided by AMIGOS are examples of the professional development activities attended by Library staff in recent years.
Research and Other Scholarly Projects
SAC Library faculty members participate in research and scholarly projects. Examples include indexing for the Hispanic American Periodical Index, writing book reviews for the referred journal Reference Services Review Quarterly, digitizing SAC’s student newspaper, The Ranger, and digitizing and indexing photographs from the San Antonio Light Newspaper Collection.
d. Faculty qualifications roster
Professional Development &Qualifications
Alice Johnson – Dean of Learning Resources
Ph.D.: Texas Women’s University, Denton, Texas (1989)
M.L.S.: Texas Women’s University, Denton, Texas (1975)
B.A.: Texas Women’s University, Denton, Texas (1974) Major: Library and Information Science
Library Faculty
Christina Petimezas – Professor
M.L.S.: Columbia University, New York, New York (1969)
B.A.: Our Lady of the Lake University, San Antonio, Texas (1967) Majors: Library Science & English Literature
Karen Balcom – Professor
Ph.D.: University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas (2005)
M.L.S.: University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas (1972)
B.A.: University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas (1971) Major: History
A.A.: San Antonio College, San Antonio, Texas (1969)
Thomas Kuykendall - Associate Professor (Retiring summer 2014)
M.L.S.: University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas (1974)
M.A.: Lamar University, Beaumont, Texas (1969) Major: English
B.A.: Lamar University, Beaumont, Texas (1967) Major: English
Bob Singh - Professor
M.S.: Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana (1975) Major: Education
M.L.S: Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana (1974)
M.S.: University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia (1965) Major: Counseling
B.S.: Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois (1963) Major: Education
Ralph Domas - Professor (Retired, December 2011)
M.L.S.: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas (1976)
B.A.: St. Mary’s University, San Antonio, Texas (1972) Majors: History and Political Science
Candace Peterson – Professor (Entered phased retirement program, summer 2011; Retired, summer 2014)
M.L I.S.: University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas (1980)
A.A.S.: San Antonio College, San Antonio, Texas (1976) Major: Library Technology
B.A.: Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas (1969) Major: History
John Deosdade (Retired, summer 2011)
Stephen Dingman - Assistant Professor
M.L.S.: State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York (1989)
B.S.: Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts (1980) Major: Public Relations
Susan Myers (Retired, summer 2011)
Joan Alcott (Retired, spring 2011)
John Hammer - Instructor (Retired, December 2011)
M.L.I.S.: University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas (1990)
M.M. (Master of Music): University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas (1977)
B.A.: Pan American University, Edinburg, Texas (1972) Major: Music
Thomas Bahlinger - Assistant Professor
M.L.I.S.: University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas (1998)
B. A.: Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana (1989) Major: History
Eileen Oliver - Associate Professor
M.L.S.: University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin (1995)
M.A.: Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania (1991) Major: Modern European History
M.S.: Florida International University, Miami, Florida (1988) Major: Foreign Language Education
B.A.: Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania (1986) Major: Spanish
Celita Avila - Instructor
M.L.I.S.: University of North Texas, Denton, Texas (1996)
B.M.: Baylor University, Waco, Texas (1994) Major: Music History and Literature
Tracey DeLillo (Resigned, spring 2008)
Clare Karabasz (Adjunct; Retired spring 2011)
Professional Organization Memberships
· Alamo Community College District Faculty Legal Action Association
· American Association of University Professors
· American Association of University Women
· American Library Association
· Association of College and Research Libraries
· Beta Phi Mu
· Bexar Library Association
· Special Libraries Association
· Council of Research and Academic Libraries
· Texas Community College Teachers Association
· Texas Council of Academic Libraries
· Texas Junior and Community College Association
· Texas Library Association
e. Other documentation