Beth Schuck

Director of CSN

Libraries

Authored by:

College of Southern Nevada

LIBRARY SERVICES

Shining a Light on

Your Library:

Keys to SuccessRead through all accreditation

documents. Identify Standards which library contributes to and can provide

documentation.Write, rewrite library portion of

reports.Participate in site visit.

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Showcasing

strengths when

planning for an

institutional

accreditation visit

Save the Date: clear your calendar, be available to the planning committee, last minute needs do arise

Ensure all library venues are part of site visit. Make time to tour and allow for interaction with all staff.

As Dean/Director, stay out of the way. : )

ACRL has resources, use them. Check it out under Accreditation: http://www.ala.org/acrl/issues/infolit/standards

Let staff know that they should speak up during the site visit. This is time to be bold!

Share with staff the site visit schedule, who will visit and why. Get them involved and excited about the opportunity.

Follow up on anyIssues or questions immediately. Send out kudos and thank yous to library staff who played a role in the site visit and to administrators who included library.

Check and recheck your data and URLs in your documents. Meet all deadlines and volunteer to help. Leave enough time, as this is a big project.

Identify bragging points Make lists of important data Link these to Standards Draft report

Write as if they know nothing about your library, as they don’t. If you do something well, brag about it.

Use specific examples. Include data or refer to reports. Have information online, accreditors will check out your site. Provide data for every point in your report.

Be prepared to share data during site visit. Know what you submitted, and be prepared with statistics or reports.

Read through past reports, noting any concerns or areas that were lacking.

Share good and bad issues in your report. If there are needs and you can back up with data, then include those in your report. Be honest and forthright with the site team, they have seen it all and you have their attention. If you aren’t meeting a standard, this is your time to identify what you need or what you are doing (or would like to do) to address it.