S.05-58
• ?
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
MEMORANDUM
To:
?
Senate
From: ?
R. Blackman, Chair
Senate Committee on Undergraduate Studies
Subject: ?
Revised Procedure for Library Course Assessments
(SCUS Reference: SCUS
05-7)
Date: ?
February 18, 2005
For Information
Acting under delegated authority, at the February
15,
2005 meeting, SCUS approved the revised
procedure for Library Course Assessments.
Documentation is attached.
Note: The revised procedure for Library Course Assessment was considered
by the Senate Graduate Studies Committee at the February 14, 2005
meeting.
0
MEMO
?
SCUS
05-7
WAC Bennett Library
Simon Fraser University
?
S
To: SCUS, SCGS
From: Gwen Bird, Head of Collections Management
Re: Revised Procedure for Library Course Assessments
Date: January 31, 2005
Background
The Library participates in the course approval process at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. By Senate
motion (S.93-1l) "no new course should be approved by Senate until funding has been committed for necessary
library materials." The SFU Library addresses this policy by preparing for the relevant Senate committees
(SCUS and SGSC) a report on the adequacy of the library's collections to provide support for the students in the
course, and the cost of any new resources required. The Library also seeks agreement from the department
involved to cover any attendant costs.
Since the inception of this policy in 1993, the Library has been conducting detailed assessments of all new
courses at the proposal stage. During 2004, more than 100 such assessments were conducted. For the majority
of these, the analysis of SFU Library's holdings and collection development activities resulted in the conclusion
that no new resources were required. For others, in subject areas new to SFU and ranging up to full graduate
programs in scope, amounts from $500 to
$95,000
per year have been assessed and negotiated with the
departments and Faculties involved. This financial support has been vital the Library's collection growth in
important new areas Of activity at the university. The goal of these assessments is to ensure that the Library is
adequately resourced to provide the required support for new academic activity at the university, where no other
source of funding for such library development is provided. This goal remains constant.
Although the majority of assessments conclude that no additional funding is required, in the past a full report
with detailed holdings information had still been prepared. These reports list 10-20 Library of Congress Subject
Headings and SFU's related monograph holdings, often compare SFU's holdings to those at benchmark
universities, and list SFU's serial holdings and licensed bibliographic tools in the subject area covered by the
course.
Revised Procedure
Beginning in 2005, in cases where no additional resources are required, no formal library report will be
prepared. Instead, once the Library has verified that existing resources are adequate, the course will be added to
a list of courses on which the Library has signed off, and the requesting department will be notified. The list of
these courses will be maintained on the Library's web page for course assessments, along with the detailed
assessments [www.lib.sfii.caiabouticollections/courseassessments/Index.htm}. The presence of a course on this
list will replace the formal report as evidence that the Library is satisfied by existing resources for a given
course proposal. In these cases, informal notes of the assessment work leading to the conclusion that no new
resources are required will be kept on file in the Collections Management office, for future reference.
This revision does not change the requirement that the Library vet all new course proposals. As before, a
statement from the department that no library resources are required is not adequate to address the Senate
motion; this position must be confirmed by the SFU Library.
Full detailed reports will still be prepared for all courses requiring additional library resources, or where there
are specific issues or resources the Library wishes to bring to the attention of the department.
Rationale
The revised procedure will permit library personnel to spend their time working on course assessments where
additional funding is required, doing detailed bibliography and costing, rather than preparing reports in areas
where existing resources are adequate.
S
.
0?.
S.93-11
. ?
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
Office of the Vice-President, Academic
?
MEMORANDUM
TO:
Senate ?
FROM: J.M. Munro
Vice-President, Academic
RE:
Library Resources
?
DATE: January 19, 1993
At the May 11, 1992 meeting of Senate, the following motion was approved:
"that Senate establish regulations which will ensure that no new or
revised courses and programs, or offerings of existing courses and
programs at new locations, including individual offerings of special topic
courses, can be offered unless adequate library resources are in place, or
funds for them guaranteed in the base budget of the Library".
Subsequently, the Chair of Senate asked me to develop a proposal in response to
this motion.
Two questions must be answered to deal with this issue:
(1)
Who decides what additions to library materials are needed to mount new
courses or programs?
(2)
Who pays for the additions?
The following proposal has been approved in principle by the Senate Committee
on Academic Planning and is forwarded to Senate with my recommendation
that it be approved in principle:
1. No new course should be approved by Senate until funding has been
committed for necessary library materials. The definition of "necessary"
will be made by the Senate Committee on Undergraduate Studies for
undergraduate courses and the Senate Committee on Graduate Studies
for graduate courses based on reports by the Library and responses from
Departments or Faculties which are proposing new courses. For library
materials which involve continuing commitments, the source for this
funding will be transferred from the base budget of the Faculty concerned
into the Library acquisitions budget or from the current acquisitions
allocation for the department. For one-time funding needs, the Faculty
concerned shall transfer an appropriate one-time amount into the Library
acquisitions budget or there shall be a transfer within the current
acquisitions allocation for the department.
5'
-.2.
?
a
2.
Off-campus programs willnot be initiated until;
.
there has been
appropriate consultation with the University Librarian with respect to the
availability of library materials and .services The Vice-President,
Academ shall determine the required level of library resources, and
- .necessary funding will
be
provided from the program budget.
3.
Spediall tdics courses which have not previously been offered shall be
presented to the
Library
for an assessment of the availability of library
materialsas eariy as possible
4
Nc new program should be approved by Senate until funding has been
committed for necessary library materials. The definition of "necessary"
will be made by the Senate Committee on Academic Planning based on
reports by the Library and responses frorn Departments or Faculties
which are proposing new programs. For library materials which involve
continuing commitments, the source for this funding*
.
will be transferred
from the base budget of the Facu1t; concerned into the Library
acquisitions
budgeL
or from the ctrrent acquisitions allocation for the
• department. For one-time funding needs, the Faculty concerned shall
transfer an appropriate one-time amount into the Library acquisitions
budget or there shall . be a transfer within
:the
current acquisitions
allocation for the department. (Funding to support this and other needs of
new programs may in some cases be provided from central University
budgets)
In discussions concernrng this matter, the isue of the allocation among
diciphnes of the current Library accuisitions'budget was raised I intend to
address this through the Senate Library Committee
LI
