The Spellings Commission: Challenges to Higher Education and Academic Libraries

2007 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Budd
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Academic Libraries ◽  
Spellings Commission

Truth without Action

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (10) ◽  
pp. 93-96
Author(s):  
Theodore Sawruk
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Education Department ◽  
President Obama ◽  
Post Secondary ◽  
Spellings Commission ◽  
Education Report ◽  
Federal Agents ◽  
Tuition Costs

This reflection utilizes Kevin Casey’s 2007 article, Truth without Action, as a springboard to address contemporary issues related to autonomy, accountability and accreditation in higher-education. With escalating costs, rising unemployment and deepening consumer debt, it is natural for government officials to seek out a cause, or more accurately, a scape-goat for the evolving crisis. Over the last few decades, starting with A Time for Results in 1980, following with The State Post-secondary Review Entities (SPREs) in 1992; and continuing with the Spellings Commission on the Future of Higher Education Report in 2006, federal agents have politicized American education and issued indictments against higher-education. Tuition costs are too high, graduation rates are too low and student learning-outcomes remain ineffable. With the recent re-election of President Obama, “the Education Department will continue to play an active role in regulating and attempting to influence colleges and universities.” (Nelson, 2012) Amy Laitinen, deputy director for higher-education at the New America Foundation and former Education Department policy advisor, recently stated, “The President himself, not just his advisors, is very interested in the college cost and the college outcome issue.” (Nelson, 2012)

scholarly journals Academic Libraries in For-Profit Schools of Higher Education

2011 ◽  
Vol 72 (6) ◽  
pp. 568-582 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinnie Y. Davis ◽  
Mignon Adams ◽  
Larry Hardesty
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Academic Libraries ◽  
The United States ◽  
Colleges And Universities ◽  
Library Services ◽  
Profit Motive ◽  
Proprietary Schools ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Proprietary Colleges ◽  
Considerable Controversy

For-profit schools constitute the fastest-growing sector of higher education institutions in the United States.1 Yet accompanying the phenomenal growth of these proprietary colleges and universities has been considerable controversy over the role that the profit motive should play in higher education.2 The literature of higher education contains increasingly more works about proprietary schools. The library literature, however, offers little in this arena. Through this article, the authors seek to introduce the library readership to U.S. for-profit colleges and universities. We summarize their history and their characteristics, and we explore reasons for their success and present areas in which these schools appear to excel. With regard to their library services and resources, we focus on issues of concern based specifically on our experience with academic libraries in proprietary schools operating in the state of Ohio. Finally, we suggest ways in which these for-profit institutions can address the challenges faced by their libraries.

Succession Planning and the Talent Management Toolbox

2014 ◽  
pp. 133-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Simpson ◽  
Patricia J. West
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Human Capital ◽  
Succession Planning ◽  
Academic Libraries ◽  
Talent Management ◽  
Decision Science ◽  
Education Environment ◽  
Effectiveness And Efficiency ◽  
Strategic Success ◽  
Science Framework

This chapter defines succession planning as a key component of talent management and explains its relevance for academic libraries. With a combination of unique human capital challenges and the current higher education environment, academic libraries are now facing risks that require special considerations as they plan for the future. In this chapter, the authors define talent management and succession planning and review the major models that are currently in use. They then discuss the “decision-science” framework, which they propose is best suited for addressing future talent needs in academic libraries. Such elements as resources and processes, organization and talent, and sustainable strategic success are highlighted as avenues to linking overall decisions around impact, effectiveness, and efficiency. The final aspect of the chapter includes techniques for developing the talent pipeline, identifying “pivotal” positions, and developing strategies and practices. Assessing progress against talent management goals, including identifying specific metrics, is also outlined.

Assessing the Composition Program on Our Own Terms

2011 ◽  
pp. 167-184
Author(s):  
Sonya Borton ◽  
Alanna Frost ◽  
Kate Warrington
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Composition ◽  
English Departments ◽  
Large Scale Assessment ◽  
University Of Louisville ◽  
Spellings Commission ◽  
The University ◽  
Theoretical Foundations

As Jacqueline Jones Royster articulated at the 2006 Conference on College Composition and Communication, English departments are already assessing themselves and should resist suggestions by the Spellings Commission on the Future of Higher Education that a standardized method of assessing students and programs in higher education is needed. In the fall of 2006, the University of Louisville was due to be reviewed by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). The First-Year Composition program chose to conduct an internal assessment in the fall of 2004. This chapter details the Composition program assessment conducted at the University of Louisville and includes a comprehensive analysis of its rationale, theoretical foundations, methodologies, and results. This chapter also articulates the difficulties of such a large-scale assessment as well as the uniquely local challenges faced during the process.

Evolving Roles for Electronic Resources Librarians

2011 ◽  
pp. 105-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debra Engel ◽  
Sarah Robbins
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Organizational Structure ◽  
Academic Libraries ◽  
Core Competencies ◽  
Electronic Resources ◽  
Research Libraries ◽  
The Core ◽  
Job Advertisements

This chapter examines the evolution of the electronic resources librarian position within academic libraries as a result of increasing demands for electronic resources and the need for librarians devoted to planning, selecting, implementing, and evaluating electronic resources. The authors discuss the core competencies of electronic resources librarians and analyze the content of job advertisements for electronic resources librarian positions published in the College & Research Libraries News and The Chronicle of Higher Education between July 2001 and June 2006. The analysis reveals that electronic resources librarians are expected to be skillful communicators and collaborators as well as experienced with technology and versed in the issues surrounding electronic resources. Implications of these findings on the organizational structure are discussed.

scholarly journals 2020 top trends in academic libraries: A review of the trends and issues affecting academic libraries in higher education

2020 ◽  
Vol 81 (6) ◽  
pp. 270
Author(s):  
ACRL Research Planning and Review Committee
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Academic Libraries ◽  
The Past ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Academic Librarianship ◽  
Trending Topics

This article summarizes trending topics in academic librarianship from the past two years. These highlights provide a starting point or an update, depending on one’s familiarity with the topic. Overarching themes across the profession continue to emphasize the significant amount of change our institutions are driving, managing, and navigating.

scholarly journals Knowledge management in practice in academic libraries

IFLA Journal ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Shropshire ◽  
Jenny Lynne Semenza ◽  
Regina Koury
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Academic Libraries ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Academic Library ◽  
Basic Knowledge ◽  
Technological Innovations ◽  
Knowledge Management Practices ◽  
Ways Of Thinking ◽  
Institutional Initiatives

Developments in higher education present disruptions in the normal operations of an academic library. Shrinking budgets, technological innovations, and changes in staffing each cause organizations to question traditional mores and can motivate managers to utilize new ways of thinking to manage workflow and to address evolving institutional initiatives. Knowledge management has emerged as one such way of thinking about management challenges. The authors present basic knowledge management principles, and identify and analyse knowledge management practices at two academic libraries.

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