SPEC Kit 330: Library Contribution to Accreditation · 113
Brigham Young University
Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU). Library and Information Resources 5
The director of the library is a professorial faculty member who teaches substantive law
courses in addition to directing the library. The director reports to the dean of the law school,
who reports to the academic vice president.
Cooperation with Campus Community
The libraries value strong communication with the campus community as the basis for
aligning library programs with the university mission and for meeting student and faculty
information needs. To foster communication, the Lee Library participates on many university
councils, including the Dean’s Council, Faculty Advisory Council, University Curriculum
Council, and General Education Council. The assistant university librarian for collection
development/technical services sits on the University Curriculum Council to
represent library interests as new academic courses and programs are implemented. Likewise,
information literacy needs are addressed through the assistant university librarian for public
services who sits on the General Education Council. Involvement with faculty is further
strengthened through the Faculty Library Council, which is chaired by the university librarian
and includes a faculty representative from each college. This group meets monthly to provide
input on library programs. The university librarian meets regularly with the university Student
Advisory Council to seek student feedback.
The libraries recognize that they can best meet the needs of students and faculty by
collaborating with other campus units. In keeping with this objective, the libraries work closely
with the Office of Information Technology (OIT), the Center for Instructional Design (CID), the
Division of Continuing Education, and the Faculty Center. As a member of the university’s
educational resources group, the university librarian plays an important role in coordinating
support services for teaching and learning.
With provision of ready access to scholarly information as one of their primary goals, the
libraries work to leverage technology in every way possible. Deep collaboration between the
libraries and OIT has resulted in a strong technical infrastructure and capable staff that are
critical to an excellent teaching and learning environment. In recent years, the libraries and OIT
collaboratively developed the user interface now used in the Information Commons and all open
access labs. Similarly, the libraries and OIT jointly manage the servers and software that support
many Web-based information services. The libraries and OIT operate on the philosophy that
each organization should focus on what it does best and then cooperate with the other to improve
information services for the campus community.
BYU’s libraries and OIT are organizationally independent but collaborate on many
services fundamental to the university’s curricular and research programs. In fact, the close
working relationship between the libraries and OIT has become one of BYU’s strengths. It
enables the university to rapidly adopt and integrate proven new information technologies critical
to higher education in the twenty-first century.
Three OIT-managed open access computer labs that support 285 workstations are housed
in the Lee Library, demonstrating how the two organizations work together to maximize
convenient service for students. The Lee Library and OIT also collaborate in the Learning
Resource Center, where analog audio/visual equipment is being replaced with technology that
supports the growing demand for delivery of digital multimedia content. These programs, along
with efforts to integrate library resources with the university online course-management system,
Brigham Young University
Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU). Library and Information Resources 5
The director of the library is a professorial faculty member who teaches substantive law
courses in addition to directing the library. The director reports to the dean of the law school,
who reports to the academic vice president.
Cooperation with Campus Community
The libraries value strong communication with the campus community as the basis for
aligning library programs with the university mission and for meeting student and faculty
information needs. To foster communication, the Lee Library participates on many university
councils, including the Dean’s Council, Faculty Advisory Council, University Curriculum
Council, and General Education Council. The assistant university librarian for collection
development/technical services sits on the University Curriculum Council to
represent library interests as new academic courses and programs are implemented. Likewise,
information literacy needs are addressed through the assistant university librarian for public
services who sits on the General Education Council. Involvement with faculty is further
strengthened through the Faculty Library Council, which is chaired by the university librarian
and includes a faculty representative from each college. This group meets monthly to provide
input on library programs. The university librarian meets regularly with the university Student
Advisory Council to seek student feedback.
The libraries recognize that they can best meet the needs of students and faculty by
collaborating with other campus units. In keeping with this objective, the libraries work closely
with the Office of Information Technology (OIT), the Center for Instructional Design (CID), the
Division of Continuing Education, and the Faculty Center. As a member of the university’s
educational resources group, the university librarian plays an important role in coordinating
support services for teaching and learning.
With provision of ready access to scholarly information as one of their primary goals, the
libraries work to leverage technology in every way possible. Deep collaboration between the
libraries and OIT has resulted in a strong technical infrastructure and capable staff that are
critical to an excellent teaching and learning environment. In recent years, the libraries and OIT
collaboratively developed the user interface now used in the Information Commons and all open
access labs. Similarly, the libraries and OIT jointly manage the servers and software that support
many Web-based information services. The libraries and OIT operate on the philosophy that
each organization should focus on what it does best and then cooperate with the other to improve
information services for the campus community.
BYU’s libraries and OIT are organizationally independent but collaborate on many
services fundamental to the university’s curricular and research programs. In fact, the close
working relationship between the libraries and OIT has become one of BYU’s strengths. It
enables the university to rapidly adopt and integrate proven new information technologies critical
to higher education in the twenty-first century.
Three OIT-managed open access computer labs that support 285 workstations are housed
in the Lee Library, demonstrating how the two organizations work together to maximize
convenient service for students. The Lee Library and OIT also collaborate in the Learning
Resource Center, where analog audio/visual equipment is being replaced with technology that
supports the growing demand for delivery of digital multimedia content. These programs, along
with efforts to integrate library resources with the university online course-management system,
