College and Research Libraries DORIS CRUGER DALE The Community College Library in the Mid-l970s Visits to thirty-one outstanding community college libraries from July 1975 through March 1976 produced a composite picture of the library quite different from earlier decades of the twentieth century. In the mid-1970s it was called a learning resources center as often as it was called a library. It housed a unified collection of print and nonprint mater~als. It uxls in a new building, and the books were classified by the L~brary of Congress classification system. Two features were par- ticularly noteworthy: modern physical facilities and an enthusiastic library faculty that provided dedicated service to students and fac- ulty. IN THE FORMATIVE YEARS of the com- munity college, from the establishment of Joliet Junior College in 1901 to the end of World War II, the high school library usually provided service to jun- ior college students. Collections were small and book-oriented. The librarian was usually also the high school librari- an or had previously held that position. In the period from 1945 to 1960 the library began to change, reflecting the changes taking place in two-year college education. The junior college was now a part of higher education rather than an extension of secondary education. The library collections slowly increased, additional professional persons were employed, and a few new libraries were built. In the 1960s tremendous changes took place as the comprehensive community college emerged. The library oriented to print was replaced by a learning re- sources center. The 1960 standards rec- ommending a minimum collection of Doris Cruger Dale is associate professor, Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Media, Southern Illinois University at Car- bondale. 404 I 20,000 volumes were adopted, although less than half of the libraries contained this minimum. Librarians received fac- ulty status, and many new buildings were completed. Library and media technical assistant programs were ini- tiated.1 A grant from the Council on Library Resources provided the funds, and a sabbatical leave from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale provided the time for this author to visit thirty-one outstanding community college libraries in 1975 and 1976. The following description of the community college library in the mid-1970s has been drawn from the data gathered on those visits. 2 A MATTER OF SEMANTICS The names used for libraries, audio- visual centers, and the personnel serving students and faculty members in these units are many and varied. Before noting and describing some of these names, a few terms need to be defined. The terms "unified center" or "integrat- ed center" signify that books and audio- visual rna terials are treated in a similar tnanner and are housed under one ad- ministrative umbrella usually in the The Community College Library I 405 same building. The word "distribution" is sometimes used for "circulation." The term "production" is used to sig- nify the designing and making of in- structional materials for use in the classroom, in a self-instruction labora- tory, or in the library. Production units may include either some or all of the following: . graphics, photography, audio reproduction, and television production. The term "library" is still in use in Spite of the 1972 "Guidelines for Two- year College Learning Resources Pro- grams." However, other names are also used. Many colleges use the term "learn- ing resources center." Variations on this . include division of learning resources and learning center. In an attempt to convey to their clientele the concept of a unified center with both print and audiovisual materials, a few libraries combine these two terms; and there are library learning resources centers and a library I media center. The term In- structional recources" is used by the three St. Louis district community col- leges. Another variation is the educa- tional resources library center, one of the terms used by Fullerton College and by M t. San Antonio College. When the audiovisual area is part of a unified center, it is most often simply called the A V center, A V circulation desk, AV laboratory, AV -department, or A V services. Sometimes these areas are for production of audiovisual materials only, and sometimes they include pro- duction and distribution of audiovisual materials. Several colleges employ the term "me- dia" in the name used to designate au- diovisual services: department of media services, media center, media services, in- structional media center, media re- sources center, or just media. This really is a misnomer as the term "media" should be used when referring to all types and formats of materials ( includ- ing books), rather than just to audio- visual materials. Other terms used for audiovisual services are: instr~ctional development suite, instructional materi- als services; multi-media resource center, materials · utilization and production, and self-instruction. The list seems end- less. Even though a library may be desig- nated by a specific name in the library handbook or college catalog, the term adopted is not always consistently used on the campus. The directional maps found at entrances usually say library instead of learning resources center. The name may be LRC in one place, yet another sign may say library and the sign on the door will say library hours. As one person interviewed said to me, this experimentation signifies that the community college library is in a state of transition as it seeks to identify new roles, utilize new materials, and explore new methods of learning. He speculat- ed that once the new hat fit better, the center would again be called simply a library. 3 As the library is designated by many names, so is the person in charge, whether it be of a unified center or a library center or an audiovisual center. The terms "fibrarian" or "chief librari- an" seem to be disappearing. In the uni- fied centers the titles "dean," "associate dean," and "assistant dean" are the most popular. The terms "director" and "chairman" also are used frequently. Many terms are used for heads of au- diovisual units: A V coordinator, associ- ate dean, assistant dean of instruction, director of media, media services li- brarian, supervisor of audiovisual ser- vices, head of instructional media, and many more. FACILITIES The majority of the community col- lege libraries visited are new buildings or parts of new buildings, reflecting the great increase in new community college libraries over the last decade. In her se- ries, Joleen Bock reported 121 commu- 406 I College & Research Libraries • September 1977 nity college libraries under construction from 1965-71, another 42 during 1971- 72, and 55 during 1972-73.4 Only two of the libraries visited are in older buildings. Fullerton College is in a sep- arate remodeled building. The re- modeling was very successful, and it was one of the busiest libraries visited. Nas- sau Community College Library is housed in the former control tower of an air base plus an annex, although a new building is in the construction stage. All of the remaining libraries are in new buildings. A couple of these are built to serve only for a temporary peri- od, however. The Burlington County College building is in the shape of a hexagon; the library building at Chabot College is round. When a library is part of a building, one of the major prob- lems facing it is security control. Al- though many libraries have only one or two public entrances to monitor, the li- brary center at Brookdale Community College has so many exits and entrances they were difficult to count. The libraries in separate buildings seem to have less problems with security control since most of them have but one entrance. However, Mt. San Antonio College library with its subject division arrangement also has many entrances to control. Almost half of the libraries use some type of electronic security sys- tem either at the entrance to the library or in one instance at the entrance to the book ostacks. Tattle-Tape is the most popular, with Checkpoint, Book Mark, and Checkmate following in order of frequency. Some of the innovative or unusual in- terior arrangements are: kiosks used to display paperback books, bean bags used for television viewing chairs, the use of many artistic exhibits in those libraries with exhibit space, sunken browsing areas, open and monumental staircases ( sometimes a waste of space ) , inner courtyards and clerestories for libraries within another building to provide light, and the use of attractive signs to add color. ORGANIZATION The administrative organization of community college libraries continues the trend toward unified centers noted by Moore and Westphal which house, service, and circulate both print and audiovisual materials. 5 The most com- mon pattern of organization is one in which all materials and services are ad- ministered by one director. Audiovisual software (motion pictures, filmstrips, slide/ cassette kits, phonodiscs, tape re- cordings, etc.) iS circulated in much the same way as books are. The audiovisual materials are circulated from the main circulation desk or from an adjacent cir- culation desk, or more likely (in at least half of the colleges) they are circulated from an audiovisual area in a separate part of the building or on a separate floor. Audiovisual materials are selected, cataloged, and circulated in the same way as the books. It is the content that is important, not the format. In a few of the unified centers, pro- duction, but not the distribution of au- diovisual materials for specific courses, is done through a separate audiovisual department. Once the materials are pro- duced in these centers, they may be kept by the instructor, circulated by the li- brary, or housed in a self-instruction laboratory connected to a particular de- partment, such as math, auto mechan- ics, or reading. At the audiovisual center of Mercer County Community College, one person is assigned the duty of checking on copyright problems and writing for per- mission to copy both print and audio- visual materials. Only four libraries have separate library and audiovisual units each under a different director. Three of these house both the library and audiovisual units in the same build- ing, however. Usually there is close co- The Community College Library I 401 operation between the two units; in two cases the library catalogs the audiovisual materials for the separate units. In the other two cases the audiovisual materials are not cataloged. These audiovisual centers serve mainly as central self-in- struction centers for course-related ma- terials, and there is little selection of materials for general viewing or listen- ing or for enrichment purposes. Related to the matter of administra- tive organization is the organization of books and audiovisual materials on the shelves. Although the findings of this study indicate that all materials are now usually administered by one director, it does not follow that all materials are organized on the shelves in an integrat- ed manner. Only two of the libraries visited (College of DuPage and Bur- lington County College) interfile all ma- terials on the shelves. Both of them exclude 16-mm films. At Burlington County many of the course-related audiovisual materials are in the subject self-instruction labora- tories; but other records, tapes, and slide sets are on the library shelves. At Du- Page, special boxes and containers are used to hold the audiovisual materials, and one shelf per section of book stacks is sacrificed to shelve all the materials upright. In more than two-thirds of the libraries the books are in open stacks and the audiovisual materials are in closed stacks either behind the circula- tion desk in the library itself or behind the circulation desk i~ the audiovisual center. In a few libraries both the books and audiovisual materials are on open shelves, but they are not intershelved. Many of the community college li- braries now are beginning to take ad- vantage of cooperative arrangements with other libraries. A few examples will suffice. Fullerton College belongs to Libraries of Orange County Network ( LOCNET), Orange Coast and Golden West belong to the Southern California Community College TV Consortium, and Nassau is a member of the Long Island Library Resources Council. Du- Page, Harper, Moraine Valley, and Waubonsee belong to the Northern Illi- nois Learning Resources Cooperative. SELECTION In the arena of technical services, pat- terns similar to four-year colleges and universities are evident. Choice is the favorite book selection tool. Other se- lection aids include Library ] ournal, Booklist, New York Times Book Re- view, Newsweek, the Weekly Record and Publishers Weekly, British Book News, AAAS Science Books and Films, and Directions. For the selection of vo- cational-technical materials, librarians · rely heavily on the faculty members in those subject areas. A good monthly se- lection guide covering both print and audiovisual materials in this field is ur- gently needed by community college li- brarians. During the fall semester of 197 4, five students participated in a book selection project for a class in the selection of materials for a community college me- dia program taught at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Each student was asked to check standard book selec- tion tools such as Choice, Booklist, Li- brary Journal, Publishers Weekly, New York Times Book Review, the Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publica- tions, Vertical File Index, and Previews for a three-month period in 1972-73 and select those materials most suitable for a particular community college li- brary. In the class assignment the stu- dents were asked to stay within a book budget of $3,000 for the three-month period. From one list of 305 titles chosen by one student, 200 titles were selected and checked in the card catalogs of seventeen of the community college libraries visited. Although a detailed analysis of the data collected by check- ing this list will have to await a further study, the number of titles owned by 408 I College & Research Libraries • September 1977 any one library ranged from 20 ( 10 pet- cent) to 122 ( 61 percent). The low percentage of titles held by the libraries surveyed may be due to ( 1) budgetary restrictions, ( 2) unsuitability of selection aids used for the communi- ty college libraries, 6 and ( 3) inexperi- ence of the student making the selection and lack of firsthand knowledge of the individual library. The area of materials selection for the communi- ty college library is one that merits fur- ther study, especially in view of Hostrop' s study at the College of the Desert. 7 He found that during the 1965-66 school year, 79.2 percent of the book collection never left the library. Although his study did not take into ac- count books used in the library, it de- serves carefut attention by all communi- ty college librarians. CATALOGING AND CLASSIFICATION Twenty-three of the community col- lege libraries visited classify their books by the Library of Congress classification scheme reflecting the trend noted both by Elizabeth Matthews 8 and Catherine Johnson. 9 Three of these libraries have just finished reclassification from the Dewey Decimal Classification scheme. Interestingly, these same three librar- ies still keep their fiction either alpha- betically by author or they use the letter "F" for fiction instead of adopting LC' s class numbers PZ3 and PZ4. Other li- braries using LC do not like PZ3 and PZ4, an opinion shared by many librari- ans and students of classification. These libraries have simply eliminated its use or are in the process of doing so and place fiction with literature where many agree it belongs. The pattern is not as clear-cut for the classification of audiovisual materials, mainly because in the majority of cases these materials are still on closed shelves and browsing by subject is not possible. Browsing on open shelves necessitates classification, and most of those librar- ies which shelve audiovisual materials in open stacks do use a classification sys- tem. The three St. Louis community col- lege libraries classify audiovisual ma- terials by Dewey, but the classified collection is small and there are many uncataloged items arranged by . course numbers on the shelves of the self-in- struction laboratories. Mercer County classifies its tapes and records ·by Dewey and its books by LC. Fullerton classifies its phonodiscs by LC since they are on open shelves, but video materials are classified by format and accession num- ber since they are on closed shelves. The most popular method for classi- fying audiovisual materials, which is in use by almost half of the libraries visited, is by department or course num- ber, format, and accession number. Sometimes the format is abbreviated; sometimes it is written out. Two libraries employ Ohio College Library Center ( OCLC) on-line com- puter terminals for their cataloging. The three libraries in the St. Louis dis .. trict have a book catalog, a system ideal- ly suited to a multicampus district system. The divided catalog is the most popular, with some libraries favorin~ the three-way split of author, title, and subject and some libraries favoring the two-way split of author and title in one alphabet and subject in another alpha- bet. At Mt. San Antonio, where the col- lection is divided into subject areas, the author catalog is in the main hall and the subject catalogs are in each division. More than two-thirds of the libraries file cards for their audiovisual materials in the central catalog no matter how or where the audiovisual materials are shelved. If the audiovisual materials are on a different floor, a duplicate catalog of these materials usually is made for that area. In a few instances audiovisual materials are listed only in the audio- visual center, sometimes in catalog form, sometimes simply as a mimeo- The Community C allege Library I 409 graphed list or a computer printout. Color banding of cards for audiovisual materials seems to be disappearing. Three libraries have recently quit using color codes for these materials, although the color bands have not been removed from cards already in the catalog. STUDENT SERVICES Community college libraries are work- ing earnestly to make their libraries use- ful to students. 10 Many libraries have produced their own orientation pro- grams using a variety of techniques, with a slide/tape program being the most popular. Fullerton has a videotape tour, DuPage a film called A Place to Learn. 11 DuPage, Staten !sTand, and Cer- ritos have audio-cassette tours. Moraine Valley has a walking tour using station numbers. Some libraries have produced short cassettes or filmstrips on the use of the card catalog or the Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature. Library handbooks are another way to orient students to the library, and only four libraries did not have them. Nlany community college libraries also are offering credit courses for students. These courses range from one to three units of credit, and some are self-in- struction courses. DuPage has a student media workshop where students can pro- duce audiovisual materials for use in class presentations. The DeAnza College Learning Center has four courses for students, including one on "Enjoying American Magazines." Some special services available to stu- dents in the community college libraries include the following: _homemade in- dexes such as the special index to 600 dissertations on literature at Fullerton and the American Indian tribes index and women in culture index at Mera- mec, special collections such as the women's collection and the Afro-Amer- ican collection at Forest Park, the Quak- er collection at Burlington County, the color slide catalogs of individual slides at Bergen and Moraine Valley, the art print collections at Mercer County and North Florida, and a feedback bulletin board and term paper clinic at Golden West. FACULTY SERVICES Since one of the best ways to get the students to use the library is to get the faculty to use it first and make it an in- tegral part of course instruction, several libraries are making serious · atte!Ilpts to reach faculty members. Three col- leges offer courses for faculty members. At Cerritos the course is entitled "Me- dia and Materials for Instruction." It is taught by the coordinator of the in- structional media services and includes the following units: motion picture pro- jectors, slide and overhead projectors and cassette recorders, transparencies and video equipment, and opaque and filmstrip projectors. Two libraries have a staff or faculty development or production room where an instructional designer or audiovisual specialist is available to help faculty members create materials for classroom use or for use in a self-instruction cen- ter. At Mt. San Jacinto, teaching facul- ty members are given summer employ- ment to work on the development ·of filmstrips for use in instruction. The faculty members receive a credit byline for their work, but the college sells- the filmstrips and collects the royalties. 12 An instructional designer-a specialist who assists faculty members in defining course objectives and creating instruc- tional materials to meet these objectives -is available in several libraries. 13 Two libraries in New Jersey have·. innovative systems of instructional development. At Brookdale the faculty of media specialists is divided into two groups. One group works with students mainly in the traditional reference function; the other group works full-time with faculty members assisting them in de- veloping courses and the related instruc- 410 I College & Research Libraries • September 1977 tional materials. In addition, two professionals in the instructional de- velopment department supervise the production of the materials and eval- uate them. At Bergen the seven media utilization advisors divide their work between stu- dents (spending ten hours at the refer- ence desk) and the faculty (assisting them in developing instructional materi- als during the remainder of their time). In each case, library faculty are assigned to faculty members in specific depart- ments or divisions in the college. These designers may also be called ma- terials production consultants, instruc- tional media specialists, or instructional development specialists. Almost all com- munity colleges provide production fa- cilities, but in about half of the colleges the only professional to give as- sistance in the designing of materials is the director of the production center, a person who usually is overburdened with administrative duties. CoNCLUSION In conclusion, and based on the data collected from the thirty-one libraries visited and presented here, the follow- ing picture of a typical community col- lege library with an outstanding program in the mid-1970s emerges. It will be called either a library or a learning resources center and will house a unified collection of print and audio- visual materials, with the production of audiovisual materials being handled in a separate area of the center. The di- rector will have the title of associate or assistant dean. The library will be in a new building, and it will have an electronic security system. The books will be in open stacks, the audiovisual materials in closed stacks. Choice will be used heav- ily for the selection of materials. Books will be classified by the Library of Con- gress classification scheme, with PZ3 and PZ4 eliminated. Audiovisual materials will be arranged by format and acces- sion number. The catalog will be divid- ed into two or three parts. Audiovisual materials will be listed in the central catalog, but color codes will not be used. The library will offer orientation and instruction to students and will dis- tribute a library handbook. Production facilities for the creation of instruc- tional materials will be provided, and some professional help in instructional design will be available. Two features are particularly note- worthy: the modern physical facilities and the enthusiasm of the library facul- ty and their dedication of service to both students and faculty. REFERENCES I. For a lengthier description of the evolution of the two-year college learning resources center, see James 0. Wallace, "Newcomer to the Academic Scene: The Two-Year Col- lege Library/Learning Center," CoUege & Research Libraries 31:503-13 (Nov. 1976). Robert Elliott Brundin gives an excellent overview of the evolution of the community college library in California in "Changing Patterns of Library Service in Five Cali- fornia Junior Colleges, 1907-1967" (Ph.D. diss., Stanford University, 1970). 2. For a fuller description of the background for this study and a list of the institutions visited, see Doris Cruger Dale, "Questions of Concern: Library Services to Communi- ty College Students," Journal of Academic Librarianship 3:81-84 (May 1977). 3. Interview with Roger Schnell, Acting Dean of Instructional Resources, Florissant Val- ley Community College, St. Louis, Missou- ri, on Sept em her 3, 197 5. 4. D. Joleen Bock, "Two-Year Academic Li- brary Buildings," Library Journal 96:3986- 89 (Dec. 1, 1971); "Two-year College Learning Resources Center Buildings," Li- brary Journal 97:3871-73 (Dec. 1, 1972); "Two-Year Learning Resources Center Building," Library Journal 98:3529-31 (Dec. 1, 1973). The Community College Library I 411 5. Everett LeRoy Moore, "The Library in the Administrative and Organizational Struc- ture of the American Public Community College" (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Southern California, 1973); Eugene Norman West- phal, "Patterns of Administration and De- velopment of Audiovisual Programs in Pub- lic Junior Colleges in Illinois" (M.A. thesis, Univ. of Chicago, 1969). 6. A feasibility study on the use of opening- day book lists designed for junior colleges revealed the inadequacy of using this type of list in building a collection. See Hugh Junius Morris, "The Feasibility of Using Criteria Book Lists to Evaluate Junior Col- lege Library Holdings" (Ph.D. diss., Wash- ington State Univ., 1968). · 7. Richard W. Hostrop, "Teaching and the Community College Library" ( Ed.D. diss., Univ. of California-Los Angeles, 1966). Published as a book under the same title in 1968 by the Shoe String Press. 8. Elizabeth Woodfin Matthews, "Characteris- tics and Academic Preparation of Directors of Library- Learning Resources Centers in Selected Community Colleges" (Ph.D. diss., Southern Illinois Univ., Carbondale, 1972), p.129. LC is used by 56.4 percent of the libraries in this study, and Dewey used by 42.9 percent. 9. Catherine Johnson, "Classification Systems Used in Illinois Public Community College Learning Resource Centers" (M.S. research report, Southern Illinois Univ., Carbondale, 1974 ), p.16. LC is used by 70 percent of the community college libraries in Illinois. 10. For a more detailed account of services to students, see Dale, "Questions of Coneern'' p.81-84. 11. A Place to Learn (Glen Ellyn, Ill.: College of DuPage, Learning Resources Center, 1973 ). 12. Multi Media Individualized Instruction. 1976 Catalog (San Jacinto, Calif.: Mt. San Jacinto College, Multi Media Office, 1976). 13. For a good description of an instructional design system, see Jerrold E. Kemp, In- structional Design: A Plan for Unit and Course Development (Belmont, Calif.: Lear Siegler/Fearon Publishers, 1971).