SFCC Library Accreditation 2020

Last updated November 20, 2020

	2019-2020	2018-2019	2017-2018	2016-2017	2015-2016	2014-2015	2013-2014
Faculty Librarians
Full Time - tenured / tenure track	4	4	4	4	3 - SFCC	2 - SFCC 1 - shared	3
Full Time - annualized	0	0	0	0	0	0	?
Full Time - adjunct	0	0	0	1 (Fall)	1 (Winter & Spring)	0	?
Part Time - adjunct	2 (total: 12 hrs/wk)	1 shared (Fall 2018: ~3 hrs/wk @ SFCC) 2 (Winter/Spring 2019: total 15hrs/wk)	1 shared (Fall 2017:~6 hrs/wk @SFCC; Winter/Spring 2018: ~6 hrs/wk @ SFCC)	1 (Winter & Spring: 9 hrs/wk)	4 (Fall: total 24hrs/wk) 1 (Spring:12hrs/wk)	5 (Fall: 42hrs/wk Winter: 45 hrs/wk Spring: 33 hrs/wk)	5 (Fall, Winter & Spring: 24hrs/wk)
Library Staff
Full Time	2  *no full time staff members between June - November 2020	1 - SFCC 1 - shared	1 - SFCC 2 - shared	2 SFCC 1 - shared	2 - SFCC 1 - shared	2 -SFCC	2 - SFCC 1 - shared
Part Time	2 (Fall 2019 and Winter 2020: total of ~36/wk) (Spring 2020: 0 hrs) (Summer 2020: total of 32 hrs/wk)	2  (total of ~16 hrs/wk)	3	1 (16hrs/wk) 1 classified (~20 hrs/wk)	1 (16hrs/wk) 1 classified (~20 hrs/wk)	2	2 (?)

 

Organizational Changes

In Spring 2019, the Community of Colleges of Spokane re-organized its district led CCS Libraries department and returned the library management to their respective colleges. As of July 1, 2019, the SFCC library joined SFCC's Business, Professional Studies and Workforce Education Division. The CCS Library Director position was eliminated and the SFCC Library is now led by the Dean of Business, Professional Studies and Workforce Education. In Fall 2020, the division was renamed Professional Studies, Library and Workforce Education. 

Staffing Concerns

Circulation 

The staffing of the SFCC library's circulation department has been difficult over the past few years. 

Shared positions & Cataloguer: 

When SFCC library was a district department, the circulation department shared a full time Circulation Services Supervisor position and a full time cataloguer with SCC library.  The cataloguer resigned in November 2018.  Library administration tried to fill the cataloguer position, but to no avail. Cataloguing responsibilities were incorporated into the shared Circulation Services Supervisor position in January 2019. While the Circulation Services Supervisor at that time had some cataloguing experience, they did not possess the cataloging experience and skills needed by the Collection Development Team to improve user experience with the library's discovery system. On paper it appears the SFCC library has a staff member to catalog, in reality the SFCC library has been without a qualified cataloguer from November 2018 - November 2020.

Full Time Circulation Staff:

As of July 2019, the SFCC library had two full time circulation staff members, the Circulation Services Supervisor and a Library Technician.  The Circulation Services Supervisor position was empty from September 2019-November 2019 and again from May 2020 - November 2020. The Library Technician position has been empty since June 2020. Despite the library not being physically open for Spring and Summer 2020 quarters, the circulation department was still navigating pandemic protocols and coordinating technology check-outs. From mid June 2020 - November 2020, SFCC library had no full time circulation staff to oversee circulation services. A new Circulation Services Supervisor started in November 2020.

Part Time Circulation Staff: 

In 2017, library administration reduced its part-time hours by about 50% by eliminating its LAPP1 classified position (~20 hrs/wk). This left one full time Library Technician to cover the circulation desk from 7a-4p.The Circulation Services Supervisor (which for awhile was shared with SCC library and then assumed all cataloguing responsibilities) also had to regularly cover the circulation desk.

Vacation & Sick Leave: 

The lack of part-time and full-time staffing has made it extremely difficult for circulation staff to cover vacation time or sick leave. It has resulted in extremely long days for staff members on a number of occasions. Fortunately in August 2019, the Circulation Services Supervisor was permitted to hire another part-time staff member to work ~16 hours/week during the day to help with coverage, but this still doesn't adequately provide vacation or sick leave coverage for full-time staff.

Staffing during the Pandemic: 

Both full time circulation staff members (Circulation Services Supervisor and Library Technician) resigned in May and June 2020 respectively. Two part-time staff members were called back to work (with no direct supervisors) to help with coordinating technology check-outs and many other circulation services for which they had no training. It is only because the library has been physically closed for the most part, that the circulation services department has been able to function at a basic level. A new Circulation Services Supervisor started in November 2020. Despite Herculean efforts by part-time staff and library faculty to help with circulation services, the circulation department struggles to provide comprehensive services and therefore the library overall has suffered.

Training:

Numerous organizational changes, budget reductions, retirements and other staff turnover has impacted circulation staff training at all levels. Reducing staff positions and hours means that other staff members have assumed additional responsibilities vital to providing library services (ex. ILL, cataloguing). Unfortunately since circulation desk coverage is the priority, there has been no time for staff members to receive any training for their new responsibilities or to adequately train new hires In addition to a lack of training, there is no time to create or update circulation processes and procedures. This lack of staff training, cross-training and overall planning directly impacts library services as well as staff turnover. 

 

Faculty Librarians

Since last accreditation, librarian staffing at SFCC has gone through a number of iterations. Fortunately the library has four tenured faculty librarians and often has adjunct librarians as well.

 

Tenured Faculty Librarians:

Primarily, these concerns are based on past numbers of tenured librarians staffed concurrently and the ability of those librarians to meet a quality level of service and programming This has results in continued issues with workload and work/life balance.

 

Concerns over total number of library faculty, as well as the training of said faculty in library systems and software persist since the 2013 accreditation. Primarily, these concerns are based on past numbers of tenured librarians staffed concurrently and the ability of those librarians to meet a quality level of service and programming. This has resulted in continues issues with workloads and work/life balance. The lack of a consistent and systematic training for faculty in library systems, particularly the CCS library’s discovery system, ALMA/Primo, and resource sharing systems and software has resulted in difficulties with managing basic library functions.

While SFCC library is currently fully staffed with four faculty librarians; the number of full time faculty librarians has varied since our last accreditation. In AY 2013-2014 there were three faculty librarians, in AY 2014-2015 there were only 2 faculty librarians until a third faculty librarian was hired for Spring 2015. By Fall 2016, four faculty librarians were on staff. Less than four faculty positions create gaps in library services, acutely affecting both students and faculty; particularly, adequate levels of information literacy service, instruction, reference, collection development, and library advocacy in various campus committees, task forces and the shared governance of Spokane Falls Community College.

Adjunct Librarians:

For a number of years, SFCC library relied on adjunct librarians to provide reference services allowing faculty librarians to focus on instruction and assessment, collection development, cross-district library collaboration and other college task force/committee work. With four faculty librarians and budget cuts, the number of adjunct hours has varied over the years directly impacting the workloads of the faculty librarians. The inconsistency of adjunct hours also effects library projects and services that adjuncts are working on. 

Training

Adequate training of faculty librarians in library systems and software is also an ongoing issue. No systematic or comprehensive training is offered to faculty librarians on the library’s discovery system, ALMA/Primo; the foundational software for searching and accessing the entirety of the library’s collection. In addition to being the primary access point to the library’s collection for users, ALMA/Primo also serves as the primary tool for managing the library budget, usage data, and analytics; though these functions have now been set up and are providing the librarians with the infrastructure necessary to effectively manage the library, if the training would have been offered at the time ALMA/Primo was adopted and upon the hiring of new faculty since 2015, greater progress could have been made in the areas of collection development and fiscal management.