To assess the effectiveness of its collections, services and facilities, Syracuse University will be conducting an external review of its libraries in the fall.

Suzanne Thorin, the dean of libraries at SU, said a review team consisting of librarians from schools such as Dartmouth College and Columbia University will be at SU Oct. 14-17. During this time, they will inspect the facilities and interview members of faculty, chairs of departments, deans and various associations on campus.

These types of reviews are usually conducted for accreditation purposes, but Thorin said the feedback that is received will be used to make SU’s libraries better.

‘The review gives insight into where we are doing a great job and where to continue along that path, or perhaps a disconnect where we have barriers, such as not the right staff, not enough money or not enough attention paid to something,’ she said.

Vice Chancellor and Provost Eric Spina said while he is very optimistic about the current state of SU’s libraries, the review will chart the course to take by the university’s libraries for years to come.

‘Under Dean Thorin’s leadership, the libraries have come a long way and are now much more deeply engaged with the faculty and students, trying to ‘meet them where they live,” he said. ‘So this can be thought of as a status report: How are we doing? What needs additional attention or investment? What does the next five to 10 years look like?’

Spina and Thorin, along with associate deans, are working to formulate an outline for a self-review that will be presented to the visiting review team. Thorin said the document, approximately 50 pages long, will be completed by the associate deans during the summer. It will be given to the members of the review team about a month before their visit to explain the context and background information through which the libraries are operating.

Thorin said these reviews are conducted by peers from the Association of Research Libraries, an organization to which the SU libraries belong.

‘We do this for one another,’ she said.

The review team consists of the chair, Jim Neal, vice president for information services and university librarian at Columbia University; Jeff Horrell, dean of libraries and librarian at Dartmouth College; Joan Lippincott, associate executive director of the Coalition for Networked Information; William Walker, dean of libraries at the University of Miami; and Sara Lowman, vice provost and university librarian at Rice University.

Thorin emphasized the importance of having an external team come to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the university’s libraries.

‘It’s positive and helpful, even if it’s criticism,’ she said. ‘Getting opinions from people outside of the institution is very important because it helps us to benchmark where we are as an institution so we can learn where we need to grow and where we are doing well.’

Thorin said about a month after the review ends, the chair of the committee will draft the findings of the review. These findings will be available to the entire university community.

nxsmith@syr.edu 

Published on April 12, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Nick: nxsmith@syr.edu