Henderson Community College is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), and has programs accredited by the National League of Nursing (NLN), and the National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences (NAACLS). To maintain accreditation with these agencies, appropriate library services are needed. The Hartfield Library determines its level of "appropriateness" by evaluating library efforts against criteria set forth by SACS and the American College and Research Library (ACRL). In addition, the library maintains its linkage to the college's Strategic Plan so that library efforts do not contradict those of the college, that communication with college departments is maintained, and that faculty, staff, and student expectations are satisfied. To learn about the Library's planning activities for this year, refer to the ANNUAL PLAN. For clarification on how library assessment and planning activities are done, refer to the following outlines:

 Long-term assessment and planning

• Current criteria used by the accrediting agencies are identified and communicated to library staff and to the HCC Leadership Team by the Director of Library Services.

• Two extensive surveys are developed from SACS and ACRL criteria and administered every five years.
  
  Faculty and Staff Survey - administered via campus mail during the last week of February and the first week of March.
  
  Student Survey - administered to ENG 101 & ENG students with Pathfinder Workbooks. This is administered during all three academic semesters.

• All surveys are returned to the Director of Library Services and are subsequently forwarded to the Asst Dean of Institutional Research.

• The library staff meets in March of that year to examine the results that have been returned by the Asst Dean of Institutional Research. Library strengths and weaknesses pertaining to the criteria are subsequently determined. To address the weaknesses, brainstorming sessions take place in March involving all library staff.

• Information from the brainstorming sessions is analyzed and organized by the Director of Library Services. Subsequent library staff meetings lead to the development of preliminary departmental goals that are to be addressed over the next five years. Preliminary changes to the library's mission and/or purpose statement are also made at this time.

• The Director of Library Services submits the preliminary goals along with the recommendations for the library mission statement to the Division Chairs Team for approval. If approved, the proposals become permanent. If not, the process starts over with a brainstorming session.  

Short-term assessment and planning (annual planning)

• Three short annual surveys are developed from the goals and objectives identified in the five-year surveys. These surveys are modified each year as progress is made.
  
  Customer Survey - administered in the LRC
  
  Faculty and Staff Survey - distributed via campus mail during the last week of February and the first week of March.
  
  Student Survey - administered to ENG 101 & 102 students with the Pathfinder Workbooks. This is done every academic semester.

• All surveys are returned to the Director of Library Services and are subsequently forwarded to the Asst Dean of Institutional Research. Results from the surveys are made available to the public in the library's annual report.

• Library patron preferences are determined through observation. Such continuous data gathering involves:

Reference Statistics

Types of questions asked, e.g., instructional, directional, telephone, etc.
When the questions are asked, e.g., date and time.
Patron attendance statistics - traffic flow.

Circulation statistics and collection usage

Interlibrary Loans
Reserves
Books and vertical files
Audiovisual materials and equipment
Database usage
Internal browses of reference, special, and periodical collections

Library Skills Instruction (Bibliographic Instruction)

Number of students taught
Number of Pathfinder Workbooks administered and graded
Number and type of classes taught
Number of grades earned, e.g., #As, #Bs, #Cs, etc.

Inventory of all collections (once every two years)

• The library staff meets in March of every year to examine the results of the surveys and the gathered patron data to determine the level of progress toward the five-year goals. To address shortcomings, brainstorming sessions take place in March involving all library staff.

• Similar to the five-year process, information from the brainstorming sessions is analyzed and organized by the Director of Library Services. Subsequent meetings involving the library staff will result in preliminary performance standards and strategies for the upcoming fiscal year. This includes budgetary objectives that support the standards and strategies. (The preliminary standards and strategies must be relevant to the library's five-year goals and one or more Performance Goals and Indicators in the college's Strategic Plan.)

• The Director of Library Services submits the preliminary performance standards and strategies to the HCC Leadership Team in April. If approved, the proposals become final. If refuted, the process starts over with another departmental brainstorming session. 

Computing and technology planning

The computing and technological needs of the library are identified through the long and short range assessment of the library. Needs of the library are also identified by members of the college's Computing Services Department and/or the Technology Action Team during the development of the college's five-year computing plan. Recommendations from these two groups are forwarded to the Director of Library Services. The recommendations along with the internally identified needs are written as agenda items for a special-called library staff meeting. If the staff accepts the recommendations and votes to act on the needs, the library's budget for the next fiscal year will be modified to incorporate new hardware and/or software costs. Costs that go beyond the library's budget or costs that are the result from campus-wide computing changes will be paid from one of several sources, e.g., the Computing Services Departmental budget, the student technology fee, the Academic Dean's equipment budget, etc. If the library staff rejects outside recommendations, the Director of Library Services accepts responsibility for the decision and notifies the CSD and/or the TAT.

In conclusion, the library assessment and planning process is ongoing and is renewed every five years with annual updates taking place every spring semester. Library staff members implement new performance strategies on a yearly basis in an attempt to meet new performance standards. Annual surveys are administered during this time to establish standards for the upcoming year. Some shortcomings will continue for more than one year while others will be improved. Moreover, new shortcomings will be found. The bottom line is that the library is addressing the concerns of its clientele in a proactive, systemic way.