•
						•
						•
						•

Section III: Comprehensive Standard

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)

---

JUDGMENT OF COMPLIANCE

 √ Compliance             Partial compliance          Non-compliance

NARRATIVE

Richard Bland College provides a sufficient number of qualified library staff to accomplish its mission of providing transfer liberal arts programs as appropriate for a two-year college. The Richard Bland College Library employs two full-time professional librarians with degrees from American Library Association (ALA) accredited programs, the Library Director and the Library Assistant Director. The Library Director has a master’s degree in librarianship from Emory University and a doctorate in public administration/library track from Virginia Commonwealth University. The Assistant Director has a master’s degree in library science from Southern Connecticut State University and a master’s degree in English from SUNY New Paltz. The Library also employs a full-time cataloger with fifteen years of cataloging experience in academic libraries. The cataloger has a master’s degree in linguistics from the University of Texas. A part-time Interlibrary Loan Librarian has six years of academic library experience and holds a master’s degree in media librarianship from Longwood University. Part-time staff members are hired based on qualifications for specific positions. The RBC Library also employs two student library assistants each semester.

The Library is also supported by members of the Earl Gregg Swem Library (College of William and Mary Library) technology staff, the RBC Information Technology staff, and the staff of VIVA (Virtual Library of Virginia). The RBC Library is part of a shared system including Swem Library whose technology staff uses SIRSI (SirsiDynix) to operate the system. This support includes maintaining the online catalog and providing training to the RBC Library staff.

The primary Swem staff contact holds a master’s degree in library science. The Library is supported by the on-campus RBC Information Technology staff who maintain the computers in the Library for use by patrons. The databases available to RBC Library patrons are maintained by the staff of VIVA.

According to ACRL (Association of College & Research Libraries) standards, the number of Richard Bland College’s Library staff is comparable with peer institutions. The following chart from 2004-2005 statistics shows the comparison of Richard Bland College with five other SACS accredited institutions with similar enrollment:

Institution	Enrollment	Volumes	Library Personnel
Enterprise State Junior College	1,594	40,000	5 (3 MLS) (2 non-MLS)
Snead State Community College	1,275	38,646	4 (1 MLS) (3 non-MLS)
Bainbridge College	2,100	36,120	5 (2 MLS) (3 non-MLS)
East Georgia College	1,499	40,463	3 (2 MLS) (1 non-MLS)
Waycross College	1,027	30,000	5 (2 MLS) (3 non-MLS)
Richard Bland College	1,374	68,350	4 (2 MLS) (2 non-MLS)

The Richard Bland College Library staff members are cross-trained to support all library operations, and they participate in numerous continuing education and professional development activities. Both online and in-person programs and workshops are conducted by SOLINET (Southeastern Library Network), RALC (Richmond Academic Library Consortium), VIVA (Virtual Library of Virginia), and VLA (Virginia Library Association).

The Library staff is evaluated annually. Each staff member completes an evaluation form where all duties performed for the position are listed and self-rated. The supervisor also rates each duty on the list and provides written comments ranging from outstanding work to needed improvements. The evaluation of the Technical/Public Services Librarian is included as an example.

In the 2006 annual library survey of 276 students 95.9% were satisfied with the knowledge and assistance of the library staff and 91.6% strongly agreed/agreed that they enjoyed interacting with the staff.

---

SUPPORT DOCUMENTATION

Page updated November 21, 2007  | Questions or comments? Email sacsparc@rbc.edu

© 2005, Richard Bland College
Petersburg, Virginia