BACHELOR OF APPLIED SCIENCE PROGRAM
Library Support Services

General Overview
 It is the mission (1) of the Edison Learning Resources to support college-wide learning outcomes through its collections, bibliographic instruction, information literacy courses, reference services and community outreach.   
  These services more than adequately support the Level II application for the proposed Bachelor of Applied Science(BAS) degree in Management, Public Safety Concentration, as exemplified by statewide partnership agreements, automation and electronic resources and regional reciprocal borrowing agreements.  Further, the College’s library has adequate funding, a strong and capable staff, rich technological resources and a growth management design based on long-range planning.

Facilities
The Lee Campus Library covers 31,187 square feet on two floors.  It houses five study rooms, 136 study spaces, 60 floor computers, 16 lab computers for ELF teaching lab, 15 for word processing lab, student research papers and projects. The libraries at the Charlotte and Collier sites have 11, 833 square feet and 7, 314 square feet respectively, with similar lab components. (2) Edison’s libraries remain open 76 hours each week on the following schedule:
Monday – Thursday	7:30 am-9 pm
Friday			7:30 am-9 pm
Saturday			10 am-4 pm
Sunday 			Noon-4 pm
Hours and reference service are extended during the week of final exams, Fall and Spring semesters.

Resources
The May 2005 inventory of resources included:
•	84,000 monographs
•	398 DVDs
•	5,987 VHS tapes 
•	343 sound recordings
•	250 print journals, 35 of which directly support the baccalaureate program
•	402 full-text online business, management, law, public administration journals 

Edison subscribes to 68 electronic full-text subject databases. (3) Databases which support the Business and Management and related subject areas include:
•	Ebsco Academic Search Premier
•	Business Source Elite (Ebsco)
•	Business and Industry (Gale)
•	Custom Newspapers (Gale)
•	Lexis and WestLaw (paralegal program)
•	Gale Academic ASAP
•	General BusinessFile ASAP (Gale)
•	PAIS, EconLit and WorldCat via OCLC FirstSearch
•	Criminal Justice (Proquest)
•	New York Times Historical (Proquest)
•	Lexus and WestLaw (paralegal program)
•	Jstor Business Journals Back Files  

A complete list, including all full-text electronic journals, which support the BAS, appears in Appendix (3).

Reciprocal Borrowing

The College’s participation in the state’s College Center for Library Automation in Tallahassee, grants Edison students access to over 4 million records for monographs, journal holdings, audio visual materials, and electronic books, including the holdings of 28 Level I and II Florida colleges. The system allows Edison students seamless, user-driven search and interlibrary loan request capability   Lending among colleges is routine, as is reciprocal borrowing among member institutions in the Southwest Florida Library Network.  The College subscribes to a rapid statewide courier (DLLI) system for interlibrary loan among state universities (4).

Staffing
        The LR staff at the Lee Campus consists of three full-time and one part-time reference librarians, all of whom hold Master of Library Science degrees from ALA-accredited institutions. The Collier Campus Library employs one full-time librarian; the Charlotte Campus Library retains one full-time and one part-time librarian.  Support staff at the Lee Campus consists of six full-time and one part-time cleric and four student assistants.  Appendix 5 contains the staffing plan and an organizational chart.
	The Library staff has a long-standing reputation for exemplary service to students.  Librarians serve on college committees, regional consortiums and state-wide professional organizations, and have demonstrated their commitment to implementing the proposed Bachelor of Applied Science degree.
 Collection Development
	The library’s Materials Selection Policy guides the faculty/administrative team in the acquisition of materials.  The team frequently reviews the collection for academic currency, relevance to the curriculum and physical condition. 
The collection is intended to support teaching and learning at Edison College.  The library provides books, periodicals, audio-visual materials and databases to sustain the integrity of academic scholarship at the baccalaureate level.  Faculty research has the additional under girding of an extensive interlibrary loan service.  
Librarians work closely with faculty to purchase materials that hold relevance and currency.  De-selection is on-going, and adheres to library guidelines.    The Materials Selection Policy is contained in the library’s Policies Manual (1).

Advisory Committee and Faculty Input
The Library prides itself on a solid working relationship with Edison faculty in all curriculum areas. A formal Library Advisory Committee acts as liaison, setting collection development parameters.  A faculty librarian sits on the Curriculum Committee. The Faculty Assessment showed a high percentage of satisfaction with library services.  The Library has responded to several special collection initiatives (the Rauschenberg, Holocaust and Criterion Film) as it will to the Bachelor of Applied Science program development. The Committee Mission and the current committee list is in Appendix 7.

Library Skills Instruction and Reference Services
Edison librarians offer live bibliographic instruction to assist students to refine research skills and satisfy learning outcomes in a variety of disciplines, including ENC 1101 English Composition.   Some 4,000 students enrolled in and passed the bibliographic instruction class in 2004-2005. 
	Faculty librarians also teach a one-credit course in Internet Research, LIS 1004. Enrollment has grown 15.6 % in the last three years as students become increasingly appreciative of internet navigational skills the course affords.
	The Library participates in the statewide Ask-a-Librarian online reference service, which provides virtual access to professional librarians around the state.  They help students launch an online search, suggest research strategies, point out which databases to use and guide students to relevant documents.  Since inception in 2003, this service has grown from 6,680 sessions to 12,155 sessions— a 100% increase.  (6) 

Surveys and Assessments
          The Library actively seeks input from users through a variety of means, including survey responses, unsolicited comments, a user opinion form and the annual Student Review of Instruction questionnaire distributed each semester.  Further, Edison participates in the Academic Library Survey distributed by the National Center for Educational Statistics.   The Library is particularly responsive to suggestions offered by faculty.  As a result, the library recently doubled the number of freestanding computers available to students, installed six new databases in 2004, and added the Gale Virtual Reference Collection in the fall of 2005.  Survey results are available in Appendix 9.
Units Plans and Measurement Outcomes

Edison librarians work closely together, meeting frequently to review Unit Plans for each campus and make decisions that reflect district-wide goals (Appendix 1).  For example, collaboration led to the decision to allot 40% of the 2004-05 book budget to the Collier Library to refurbish its aging collection.  The Unit Plans reflect faculty input garnered through assessment surveys, advisory committee meetings and information requests, as well as the College’s commitment to building a baccalaureate-level collection. (See Appendix 6 for Titles and Cost)
	In response to user requests, the library purchased JStor back files in Business and Management, Arts and Sciences and NetLibrary Business e-books. In addition, the librarians purchased Serials Solutions and OCLC’s WorldCat Analysis software, aids for reviewing depth and currency of collection in given subject areas and benchmarking against peer institutions.  The 2005-2006 Unit Plans reflect intentions to convert library handouts to an electronic format and to create e-learning assessment tools.  With the increased interest in bibliographic instruction, librarians have embedded information literacy outcomes into the curriculum.
	The Edison Learning Resources staff is dedicated to excellence in service and instruction with the electronic platforms required of a vibrant academic environment.  Unit Plans and assessment surveys reflect our response to the urging of students and faculty to move forward while maintaining a firm grounding in traditional library materials and services.