College and Research Libraries Community College Learning Resources Centers at the Crossroads: Illinois, a Case Study Eileen Dubin and Linda Bigelow In 1985 a survey of public Illinois community college learning resources centers was con- ducted. The study revealed a great variety in the organization, staffing, collections, and ser- vices provided by LRCs. The LRCs have entered resource sharing in a variety of ways and have experienced a large growth in interlibrary loan transactions and the use of telecourses. The survey revealed, however, that 64 percent have book collections of less than 50, 000 volumes and that twenty of the forty-two have periodical collections that are below ACRL standards for community colleges. Also, LRC progress in developing automation for housekeeping andre- source sharing has been piecemeal and lags behind the introduction of automation in other library sectors in Illinois. r~~:-vll ommunity colleges, like other i(tt institutions of higher educa- 1'· 1 tion, recently have been buf- l ~.11-"- feted by rapid technological change and severe social pressures, in- cluding changes in enrollment patterns. More generally they are in the midst of a transformation that may impact their mis- sions, goals, and organizational struc- tures. They are in need of leadership that can anticipate economic, social, demo- graphic, and technological change and bring together the skills, flexibility, and persistence for meeting changing educa- tional requirements. 1 At the same time they are still experiencing the effects of the high inflation so prominent in the early 1980s and a shift in public priorities that has, in real terms, reduced federal funds and, in many cases, state appropriations. Accordingly, community college learning resource centers (LRCs) are also strug- gling to adapt to these changing needs un- der conditions of financial constraint. As a result of technological changes, LRCs are transforming their roles as col- lection centers into centers for accessing information. 2 They are being linked into communication networks that allow them to reach beyond their own walls to iden- tify and retrieve information stored in a variety of ways in a variety of institutions. The challenges implied by these tasks reach into all corners of the library profes- sion as it currently exists. Every function of the library has been touched, and the tasks of every professional have been and will continue to be transformed. Apart Eileen Dubin is director, Library Services, Stockton State College, Pomona, New Jersey 08240. Linda Bigelow is associate dean of Instruction-Learning Resources, McHenry County College, Crystal Lake, Illinois 60014. 596 Community College Learning Resources Centers 597 from these intellectual resources, substan- tial capital investment will be needed to bring the new technologies into opera- tion, to retrain professionals who are re- quired to provide traditional services in new ways, and to acquire the means of of- fering new services. LRCs are faced with these challenges while continuing to support the academic and community missions of their colleges. Currently these institutions provide a broad range of educational programs and services. In Illinois, · as in California, New York, Florida, Texas , Maryland, and North Carolina, each public communitx college has a comprehensive mission. 3 Each has a liberal arts and sciences pro- gram to prepare students who wish to transfer to four-year colleges and universi- ties or pursue lifelong learning; vocational and technical programs for job training, retraining, or upgrading of skills; and pre- paratory, developmental, and remedial programs to furnish students with sec- ondary school certification, upgraded skills, or help necessary for success in postsecondary education. With the in- crease in nontraditional learners, there has also been a substantial rise in develop- mental education courses and a quiet rev- olution in instructional methodology. This methodology includes computer- assisted instruction and other forms of de- livery to enhance literacy and learning . In addition, all public community colleges are committed to public service programs through adult continuing education. 4 Late in 1984 the illinois Association of College and Research Libraries /Illinois Board of Higher Education Ad Hoc Com- mittee on Community Colleges conducted a survey to determine the current condi- tion and foreseeable needs of Illinois pub- lic community college LRCs . The survey queried the LRCs about their programs and resources; their hours of service; the size and professional status of their staffs; the nature, size, and use of their collec- tions; their unique collections; the kinds of services they provide; the use of auto- mation and telecommunications; and the kinds of resource-sharing networks in which they participate. In particular, the survey was designed to help identify ways in which community college LRCs might strengthen resource sharing. Survey forms were distributed to fifty LRCs. Forty-two were returned for a re- sponse rate of 84%. Additional commu- nity college demographic data were ob- tained from the Data Book on Illinois High er Education 1984 and 1985 and from the Illi- nois Community College Board (ICCB) (see table 1). Enrollment data in table 1 show that over the last decade almost 50 percent of students enrolled in higher education in illinois have been on community college TABLE 1 *Year 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 ENROLLMENT AND FINANCIAL DATA FOR ILLINOIS COMMUNITY COLLEGES 1976- 85 %of College t Operatin g :j:LRC %of To tal To tal p?It~~i~~dn Enrollment Ex~:enditures Su~:~:ort Edu cational Budge t 326,058 48.9 232,498,276 11, 223,134 4 .8 329,947 49 .2 257,938,640 11,601,900 4 .5 322,367 48 .7 279,463,060 11,903,467 4 .3 323,652 48 .7 292,853,498 12,691,751 4 .3 359,047 50.3 328,425,957 14,223,430 4 .3 388,369 52.0 374,893,852 16,146,584 4 .3 387,822 52.1 427,776,579 17,677,994 4 .1 356,643 50.1 450,794,856 18,399,122 4.1 361,187 50 .5 478,834, 148 19,410, 203 4 .1 339,782 48.7 486,170,303 19,919, 438 4 .1 *Ill inois Board of Higher Ed ucation, "Enrollment Trend Data," Data Book on lllinois High er Education , 1985, p. 83 . t lll inois Commu nity College Board, " Data and Characteristics of the Illinois Pu blic Commu nity Coll ege System 1976-1985," various editions, plus infor mation thro ugh p hone conversation with lCCB s taff. :j:Illi nois Board of Higher Ed ucation, "Aud ited Expe ndi tu res for Illinois Publ ic Community Colleges by Fu ncti onal Class ifica tion, " Data Book on Illinois Higher Education , 1984 and 1985, p .248 and 236. 598 College & Research Libraries campuses. Funding for the LRCs in Illinois declined from 4.8 percent of operational budgets in 1976 to 4.1 percent in 1985. Overall operat- ing appropriations increased almost 18 percent more than LRC appropriations. Indeed, while LRC appropriations in- creased between FY76 and FY85 from $11,223,134 to $19,919,438, or by 17.75 percent, they lagged substantially behind the rate of inflation. 5 MISSION AND SCOPE While responses to the survey question on mission and scope varied greatly in length and detail, all the institutions de- scribed their missions in terms of provid- ing ''services and material resources re- quired to meet the informational, learning and development needs" of their stu- dents, faculty, administrators, and district residents. They also identified themselves by reference to a multiplicity of services of- fered. These include collection develop- ment, bibliographic instruction, refer- ence, audiovisual services, production of video materials, maintenance of cable TV operations, film rentals, production of November 1986 graphics and photographs, support of telecourses, microcomputer labs, and aid to handicapped students and those need- ing remedial assistance. Few of them indi- cated how changing technologies fit in with their missions or reported on possi- ble partnerships for instructional pur- poses. HOURS OF SERVICE LRC hours of service averaged 66 per week, with a range of 42.5 to 82.75. Just over half of the LRCs provided some Sat- urday hours, while only seven were open on Sunday, reflecting the nonresidential nature of community college student bodies. STAFF While most of the LRCs have full-time administrators, in some the administrator also serves as librarian. Respondents were asked to report only those members of their staffs engaged in library and audiovisual activities. The number ranged from a low of 2 to a high of 43.5. Nine LRCs reported no administra- tors, 6 no professional librarians, and 9 no LRC STAFF - FTE Administrators 7 .2cro Professional '''1111 Ill IIII I II Ill I l \ Librar~ans 23.6% \lllh· .',111111111 II \\l' I l''''"'''ll:r''"'"'"nl other staff II I I 69.2% . ! . FY 1983-84 FIGURE 1 Community College Learning Resources Centers 599 classified/technical staff members. Over- all staffing increased 3 percent from FY81 to FY84, with most of the increase in the classified staff (variously referred to as classified, clerical, and paraprofessional). Figure 1 shows the current percentage of LRC staffs in each of the three categories. COLLECTIONS The collections of the responding LRCs totaled 2,635,577 items, of which 673,852 were nonprint and 1,961,725 were print materials. Book collections ranged from a low of 5,400 to a high of 115,063 volumes, although twenty-seven of the forty-two LRCs (or 64 percent) had under 50,000 vol- umes. The number of volumes increased 15 percent from FY81 to FY84 (see table 2). Periodical collections ranged from a low of 79 to a high of 790 titles (see table 3). Pe- riodical subscriptions for the thirty-six LRCs providing statistics decreased 6 per- cent from FY81 to FY84. TABLE 2 BOOK COLLECTIONS BY SIZE: FY 1984 Number of Volumes 291000 or less 301000- 391999 401000-491999 501000-591999 601000-691999 70,000-79,999 80,000-89,999 90,000-991999 100,000-1161000 NA Total Total volumes: 1,961,725 TABLE 3 No. LRCs 7 12 8 4 4 2 1 1 2 1 42 PERIODICAL SUBSCRIPTIONS: FY 1984 Number of Subscriptions No. LRCs 99 or less 2 100-199 2 200-299 12 300-399 7 400-499 4 500-599 7 600-699 2 700-799 4 NA 2 Total 42 One way to look at the LRC periodical collections is by reference to the 1979 ACRL quantitative standards for periodi- cals in community college LRCs. Taking into account FTE enrollments, ACRL identifies the number of subscriptions that qualify a collection as minimal or good. 6 Translating Illinois data into the ACRL format, one finds that twenty of the Illi- nois institutions have below-standard col- lections; seventeen, minimal collections; and only three, good collections (see table 4). CIRCULATION Forty LRCs circulated 1,402,096 books and media in FY84, an increase of 21 per- cent over FY81 for those LRCs providing comparative statistics. INTERLIBRARY LOAN Interlibrary loan transactions in LRCs more than doubled from FY81 to FY84. In FY81 LRCs lent 8,914 items, while in FY84 they lent 20,299 items. In FY81 LRCs bor- rowed 16,118 items, while in FY84 they borrowed 33,042 items. It is significant that all but one of the top ten lenders and top ten borrowers participated in a shared database such as Online Computer Li- brary Center (OCLC), C L Systems, Inc. (CLSI), Library Computer Systems (LCS), or Data Phase. 7 The dramatic increase in interlibrary loan activity shows a willingness on the part of community college LRCs to con- tribute to resource sharing. Most of them are currently net borrowers from institu- tions outside the LRC system, demon- strating their dependence upon external resources. SERVICES The LRCs provide a wide range of ser- vices: all provide reference services and LRC orientations/tours; all but one distrib- ute audiovisual equipment. Other ser- vices most frequently cited included in- house production services, (graphics, transparencies, audio and video produc- tion, audio and video duplication, sound/ slide production, lamination, pho- tography, signs, posters, dry mounting, and printing); bibliographic instruction; 600 College & Research Libraries November 1986 TABLE 4 ACRL QUANTITATIVE STANDARDS FOR PERIODICALS SUBSCRIPTIONS AND PERIODICAL COLLECTIONS OF ILLINOIS COMMUNITY COLLEGES Standards Schools Reporting No . of FfE Enrollments Level Periodicals No . B M G NA UNDER 1,000 M 200 2 1 1 0 0 G . 300 1,000-3,000 M 300 22 12 7 2 1 G 500 3,000-5,000 M 500 11 4 5 1 1 G 700 5,000-7,000 M 700 3 2 1 0 0 G 800 7,000-8,000* 1 0 1 0 0 8,000-9,000 0 0 0 0 0 9,000-10, 000 1 1 0 0 0 11,000-12,000 2 0 2 0 0 42 20 17 3 2 Legend : B = Below Standard M =Minimal G =Good NA = Not Available *For enrollments over 7,000, the ACRL Standard minimal (M) is 5 periodicals per 1,000 FTE; good (G) is 30 per 1,000 . online database searching; typewriters for public use; services to the handicapped; microcomputer labs; telecourses; devel- opmental courses; study skills centers; GED; English as a second language; test- . ing centers; and copier service. The diver- sity of these services reflects the dynamic and changing environment in which the LRCs operate. AUTOMATION Twenty, or less than half, of the forty- two responding LRCs subscribed to the OCLC cataloging database. Many of these had not converted their holdings into machine-readable form and did not sub- scribe to such OCLC subsystems as acqui- sitions, interlibrary loan, and serials con- trol. A number of LRCs used automated circulation systems, but they varied in kind and did not interface. Outside of cat- aloging and circulation, the other major impact of automation was in word pro- cessing. TELECOMMUNICATIONS Illinois public community colleges are just beginning to use various telecommu- nication options, including television broadcast capabilities of low-power trans- mitters, instructional television fixed ser- vices (ITFS), 8 and ultra-high frequency (UHF); radio broadcast capabilities of AM, FM, and subcarriers; land-line links and cable TV; and teleconferencing. TELECOURSES Community colleges have been particu- larly successful in offering telecourses. Twenty-six colleges offered from two to twenty telecourses each semester. Enroll- ment, as shown in Figure 2, climbed steadily from 1981 to 1984, resulting in an enrollment increase of 203 percent. At least half of the Illinois community colleges offered telecourses. Videotapes of the telecourses are placed in the LRC and in various off-campus sites such as public libraries and extension centers. Telecourses may also be telecast over local cable stations or on public broadcast sta- tions. In order to provide as much flexibil- ity as possible, many of the colleges pro- vide their students with both the non broadcast and broadcas't options. NETWORKING AFFILIATIONS Public community college LRCs in Illi- nois have developed very active networks for cooperative activities through three re- gional consortia: the Northern Illinois Learning Resources Cooperative Community College Learning Resources Centers 601 (NILRC), the Mid-Illinois Learning Re- sources Cooperative (MILRC), and the Southern Illinois Learning Resources Co- operative (SILRC). The goals of the three "Rocks" are to strengthen the skills and knowledge of LRC personnel through in- service training and workshops; to im- prove the cost-effectiveness of member LRCs through such cooperative purchas- ing agreements as telecourse leasing /purchasing, film-to-tape trans- fers, off-air recording rights, and refer- ence works; and to exchange information through meetings, publication of an Illi- nois Learning Resources Personnel Direc- tory, and working committees such as the Telecommunication Advisory Group, In- structional Television Fixed Services/Sa- tellite Distribution Committee, Illinois Community College Board Evaluation Committee, and Staff Development Com- mittee . Apart from the City Colleges of Chicago, which do not participate, all but two Illinois public community college LRCs belong to one or more of the three ''Rocks.'' NILRC, MILRC, and SILRC come to- gether under the umbrella organization of the Learning Resources Commission of the Illinois Council of Community College Administrators (ICCCA) and through this commission have expanded regional co- operative efforts and communication links into significant statewide activities. 9 NILRC recently approved the hiring of a full-time executive director, as the work of the cooperative has expanded beyond what members can accommodate on a vol- unteer basis. This action required a dues increase and caused some loss of member- TELECOURSE ENROLLMENTS en .,_ z w 0 ::> .,_ en 12000···· 10000··· · aooo .. 6000··· 4000 .. · 2000· .. 0 3828 1981 (Headcount) 11590 9515 7712 1982 1983 FISCAL YEAR FIGURE2 602 College & Research Libraries ship. Community college LRCs have also formed strong links with their communi- ties by actively participating in the re- gional public library systems of the Illinois State Library and Information Network (ILLINET). Through ILLINET some are sharing in automated databases, most are participating in interlibrary loan activities, and many are receiving the benefits of staff development workshops, aid for the blind and physically handicapped, film rentals, materials delivery systems, con- sulting services, cooperative purchasing, union lists, and back-up reference assis- tance. The City Colleges of Chicago have formed their own system and share re- sources with each other on a formal as well as an informal basis. They also are affili- ated with the Chicago Public Library Sys- t~m. Other consortia to which LRCs be- long are based upon special interests or regional affiliations. These networking ac- tivities represent a dynamic that over time may lead to greater coordination and re- source sharing throughout the state. CURRENT STRENGTHS OF COLLECTIONS LRC collections in Illinois reflect the di- verse curricula of their institutions. Fre- quently cited collection strengths were in nursing and allied health, agriculture, women's studies, and criminal justice. Some subjects for which there are unique collections are nondestructive testing, clock and watch repair, legal technology, fashion design, orchestral music scores, and plastics and polymers. PERCEIVED NEEDS IN RESOURCE SHARING The survey asked LRC respondents to Identify what they believed to be addi- tional resource sharing needs. Their rec- ommendations fell into six categories: 1. Develop an interconnected online catalog throughout the state by interfacing existing online systems. 2. Actively implement existing legisla- tion for multitype regional library systems that will include all types of libraries November 1986 within geographic regions. 3. Improve online union lists of print and nonprint materials, including refer- ence collections, serials, special collec- tions, media materials, computer soft- ware, and telecourses. 4. Devise less expensive communica- tions systems. 5. Institute cooperative production of media materials, including telecourses. 6. Expand programs for cooperative purchasing. A number of the institutions recognized that additional funding would be required to accomplish the purposes they de- scribed. CONCLUSIONS Public community college LRCs in Illi- nois have much in common. In recent years they have experienced a marked growth in circulati6n and interlibrary loan transactions and in the use of telecourses. They have engaged in resource sharing in a variety of ways and through a variety of organizations. However, progress in de- veloping automation for housekeeping and resource sharing has been piecemeal and lags behind the introduction of auto- mation to other library sectors in Illinois. In a recent article on LRC automation, Barbara Dohrman and Jack Weiss of the Elgin (Illinois) Community College LRC, attribute LRC automation lag to budget constraints and the low value placed on automation by community colleges. 10 The limited automation and apparent disinter- est threaten to leave Illinois community colleges in a backwater that ultimately may compromise their ability to fulfill their academic missions. Right now, for instance, the Illinois State Library is creat- ing an online catalog that, when com- pleted, will contain over three million ti- tles. LRCs without adequate automation will be unable to tap into this system. They will be unable to employ network re- sources and services that will become in- creasingly important in the face of limited budgets, burgeoning knowledge, and changing student clients (and needs). They will, as a consequence, be ill- equipped to function in the academic mar- Community College Learning Resources Centers 603 ketplace. To remedy this situation at least three steps seem essential: 1. LRC directors must convince their college administrators to place greater pri- ority than now exists on automating their LRCs and linking them into existing and potential networks. 2. LRCs must enter more fully into net- works that keep them abreast of new tech- nologies and trends in statewide activi- ties. 3. LRCs, with Illinois Community Col- lege Board support, must develop specific proposals for resource sharing that attract the support of existing public and private funding agencies. REFERENCES AND NOTES 1. Richard Alfred and others, ed., Emerging Roles for Community College Leaders (San Francisco: Jessey-Bass, 1984). . 2. "Guidelines for Two-year College Learning Resources Programs (Revised): Part One," College & Research Libraries News 43, no.1:5 (Jan. 1982). 3. In Illinois there are thirty-nine community college districts with fifty-two colleges. Thirty-seven of these colleges are governed by locally elected boards of trustees. In Chicago, the nine community colleges are governed by a locally appointed board of trustees, while State Community College in East St. Louis has a board of trustees appointed by the governor of Illinois. With the exception of East St . Louis, each district has local taxing power. The thirty-nine districts encompass 97 percent of the state's population. An effort to find data on community college LRCs in states having similar two-year institutions has been unsuccessful. Specific reports have been located for particular years, providing scattered data insufficient for comparative purposes. 4. In fact, in 1983, 378,393 students in lllinois were enrolled in these noncredit programs ("Enroll- ment Indicators Brief," AACJC Letter Supplement, May 1, 1984). In addition, Illinois community colleges enroll 55 percent of entering freshmen in all higher education [AACJC Letter, no.107:2 (Sept. 4, 1984)]. The age of community college students ranges widely. Well over 50 percent are twenty-five years or older, and 70 percent attend college on a part-time basis (Illinois Community College Board "General Information" brochure, Oct. 1985). 5. While totally comparable data are not readily available, the Illinois Board of Higher Education's "Higher Education Price Index for Books and Periodicals" shows that the cost of these materials nearly doubled between FY76 and FY84, while its adjustment for library materials price increases built into higher education appropriations amounted to less than half of the sum required to match inflation. ("Chancellor's Report #9," Aug. 1, 1985, p.39). 6. "Draft: Statement on Quantitative Standards for Two-Year Learning Resources Programs," Col- lege & Research Libraries News 40, no.3:71 (Mar. 1979). While the periodical standard can be com- pared, the way in which the ACRL standard for "written materials" is composed prevents com- parison with the book holdings of Illinois community college LRCs. 7. See Doris Cruger Dale, "Computers in Community College Libraries," Community and Junior Col- lege Libraries 3, no.2:17-26 (Winter 1984). Dale's findings parallel those of the survey reported in this article. 8. ITFS is a locally based, high-frequency television service used for educational programming. It was created in 1962 by the FCC for use by private and public nonprofit institutions. 9. Ralph G. Steinke, "Learning Resources Cooperation: It Can Be Successful," Library Trends 33, no.4:473-85 (Spring 1985). 10. Barbara K. Dohrman and Jack A. Weiss, "Automation and the Learning Resources Center," Li- brary Trends, 33, no.4 :459-71 (Spring 1985). NEW! 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