HD14 - Academic Library Facility Needs in Virginia's Public System of Higher Education

  • Published: 1987
  • Author: State Council of Higher Education for Virginia
  • Enabling Authority: House Joint Resolution 32 (Regular Session, 1986)

Executive Summary:
The primary role of the academic library is to support the teaching and research mission of the institution of higher education. The library must provide a wide range of information resources in a variety of print, audio, visual, and electronic formats that are readily accessible to, and easily retrievable by, the academic community. Adequate facilities are required to house these resources and services.

In considering the need for academic library facilities to house and make accessible the full range of information resources for Virginia's public institutions of higher education, the Council of Higher Education concludes that:

* Collections of print and other media will continue to grow, and sufficient stack space must be provided for these collections to prevent intrusion into necessary reader and service space.

* Electronic technologies offer potential for access to new information resources, but most current collections of printed materials will not be available in electronic format for the foreseeable future.

* To ease the demand for additional stack space to house new acquisitions, rarely-used materials could be housed in local or regional high-density shelving facilities.

In response to House Joint Resolution No. 32, the Council offers a six-point plan to promote the effective and efficient use of library facilities, ensure full system-wide access to information resources through the use of advanced technological support systems, and control the need for future library construction in Virginia's public institutions of higher education. The Council proposes to:

* Continue its system-wide planning for ways by which current and future library facilities may make the most efficient and effective use of new information technologies.

* Revise its library space guideline to encourage the effective and efficient use of existing library space, account for the off-site housing of seldom-used materials, and reflect the increasing application of evolving information technologies.

* Expand its review of capital outlay proposals library construction to include the evaluation efficient use of current facilities.

* Support the construction of high-density shelving facilities for the physical housing of seldom-used materials in order to free existing full-service stack space to house current acquisitions.

* Encourage the institutions to develop individual or cooperative projects to demonstrate and test new information technologies.

* Continuously assess the costs and benefits of new information technologies and propose appropriate adjustments to the operating budget guidelines to reflect increasing use of these technologies in the public academic libraries.