City College of San Francisco - California Competes

INTRODUCTION | ABSTRACT
ing the prestigious Association of College and
Research Libraries (a division of the American
Library Association) Award of Excellence in 2002
and the ACRL-EBSCO community college award
for excellent programming (June 2005), awards
to the Language Center’s website, and the
2002-03 Learning Support Centers in Higher
Education Award for Excellence to the Learning
Assistance Center for its website.
The institution has made significant progress in
expanding the quantity of, variety of, and access
to many library and learning support services by
(1) collaborating with academic and vocational
programs and other campus departments to plan
and develop services (e.g., library faculty offering
faculty technology training as part of the FLEX
professional development days, the Technology
Learning Center’s workshop series, etc.); (2)
creating a distance learning library position;
(3) providing more services and resources online
with student-centered websites; (4) creating new
facilities, such as computer labs with upgraded
equipment and connections to the College network;
(5) providing a dependable intra-campus
library delivery system to facilitate access to
library materials; and (6) planning for two new
campus buildings that will contain libraries,
computer labs, and tutoring centers, where
either none or an inadequate number have existed.
Concerted efforts have been made by staff in
all of the library and learning support services
units to better utilize their staff and resources to
improve services for students and to focus on
outcomes.
Several areas are in need of improvement. The
College needs to develop strategies for more
consistently providing adequate funding to
maintain an up-to-date library collection,
particularly in areas where the currency of information
is crucial to the quality of the program
(e.g., health and medical programs, computer
science and technology, etc.). The continuing
state budget limitations have also had a significant
impact on the hours of operation for the
Rosenberg Library and Learning Assistance
computer labs as well as the maintenance and
replacement of the equipment and furnishings
in library and learning support services facilities.
The College should establish a regular cycle for
replacing computer lab equipment. While the
library and learning support services departments
have used evaluations by student and staff
extensively, these programs should establish a
regular cycle for assessing needs and satisfaction
among faculty, students, and staff.
Standard III.A: Human Resources
The District has developed clear policies and procedures
governing the employment, retention,
evaluation, and professional development of its
personnel. The institution demonstrates,
through policies and practices, an appropriate
understanding of and concern for issues of equity
and diversity and regularly assesses its
effectiveness in this area consistent with its mission.
The District has established procedures and
guidelines to hire highly qualified individuals to
respond effectively and sensitively to the educational
needs of students of diverse ethnic,
socioeconomic, sexual orientation, disability,
and educational backgrounds. The Human
Resources Department, in conjunction with
College constituents, has made a concerted effort
through its hiring procedures to maintain the
highest levels of commitment to academic excellence
as well as to diversity and equity. Hiring
processes for each employee category are aligned
with institutional planning and budget cycles.
Despite difficult restrictions on hiring resulting
from funding limitations in recent years, the
quality of educational services continues to
improve and the number of students served continues
to increase. This is a direct reflection of
the quality of faculty, staff, and administrators
employed by the College.
The College demonstrates integrity in the treatment
of its employees and promotes a
supportive work environment that fosters collaboration
and improved levels of communication.
The institution is committed to building effective
staff development programs, ensuring
healthy working conditions, and fostering an
environment of respect and trust. Unfortunately,
with the discontinuation of state funding,
AB1725 travel funds were eliminated and the
quality of FLEX day events were directly impacted.
Through the efforts of the Chancellor and
the leadership of the Office of Professional
74 CITY COLLEGE OF SAN FRANCISCO