 Last
updated:
September 8, 2003
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Director's Welcome
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A MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR Dear Members of The Claremont Colleges Community and the WASC Visiting Team: Welcome to the Libraries Self Study documents prepared by the Libraries Self Study Steering Committee. This Study is the culmination of more than a year of work by staff at the Libraries under the able guidance of a Steering Committee chaired by Associate Director, Alberta Walker. During that time, we have been intensely engaged in gathering information about the context in which we offer services and resources and about how well we meet the needs of our community. More importantly, we have taken advantage of this opportunity to reflect on four areas that we believe are especially important to the future of the Libraries. This review is being conducted under the auspices of WASC in somewhat peculiar circumstances. Although called a "Special Visit," it was not borne out of concerns raised in previous accreditation visits. Indeed, the Claremont University Consortium (CUC) of which the Libraries are a unit is an "educational support institution" and thus not eligible for accreditation under WASC standards. Nonetheless, it is "special" in that we welcome it as a unique opportunity for a thorough review of the Libraries and hope that one outcome will be documentation that can support future reaffirmation visits to each of The Colleges. We are appreciative of the willingness of WASC to guide us in this process and of the support of the seven institutions we serve in assisting us with our Self Study documentation. From the information gathered for the "Capacity" sections of the Self Study, we have learned a great deal about ourselves and about The Colleges. A significant amount of information about The Colleges as a collective group is presented here for, to my knowledge, the first time. Our four reflective essays set the stage for further introspection and future planning. The first essay, focusing on collaboration with faculty, reflects our belief that we can make significantly greater contributions to student learning. We especially hope that it will serve as a springboard for deeper discussions with faculty groups and administrators across The Colleges. Our collections were selected for the second reflective essay because this topic formed an important basis of previous reviews and remains of high interest across our community of users. The essay on digital libraries, while focusing to some extent on our collections, has far greater ramifications for how we deliver services as well as resources and is of vital importance to the Libraries as we plan for our future. Our last reflective essay, on our physical spaces, sprang from particular interests expressed by our primary community of users-our students. We look forward to interaction with the Visiting Team and to their Report. Most of all, we are eager to take what we have learned from the Self Study and will learn from the Team as the basis for renewing our Strategic Plan in preparation for furthering our mission in support of learning, teaching, and research at The Colleges. Sincerely, Bonnie J. Clemens |