164 · Representative Documents: Regional Accrediting Agency Reports
Texas A&M University
SACS Reaffirmation of Accreditation. Comprehensive Standard 3.8.3
Section 3: Comprehensive Standards Standard 3.8.3, Page 1
Comprehensive Standard 3.8.3
Qualified Staff
The institution provides a sufficient number of qualified staff—with appropriate education or
experiences in library and/or other learning/information resources—to accomplish the mission
of the institution. (Qualified staff)
Judgment of Compliance:
In compliance
Rationale for Judgment of Compliance:
Executive Summary
All Medical Sciences Library (MSL) staff are encouraged to enhance and build their professional
knowledge and skills. MSL librarians must meet requirements for promotion and tenure, and are
subject to post tenure review. Paraprofessionals on the MSL staff are encouraged to develop and
enhance their skills through a library career ladder. MSL staffing levels are stable, having only a
4% turnover rate for each of the past three years. MSL staff are experienced and well-trained
the composite years of library experience represented by all MSL staff is over 230 years. Results
from 2010 LibQUAL+® survey questions on Customer Service as well as 4 of the 7 satisfaction
questions indicate that the library’s users, both students and faculty, are very satisfied with the
personnel and the services that the MSL provides.
Institutional Response
The Medical Sciences Library (MSL) at Texas A&M University (TAMU) has served as the
library of the Texas A&M Health Science Center (TAM HSC) since its beginnings as the
College of Medicine within Texas A&M University. The growth of TAM HSC and its
separation from the university led to the development of a formal agreement between TAMU and
TAM HSC to clearly define and ensure established library services from the MSL and its parent
organization within TAMU, the Texas A&M University Libraries (TAMUL). Through an
Intrasystem Cooperation Contract (Agreement), the TAMUL provides a full complement of
library resources and services to TAM HSC users regardless of their physical location. The
contract establishes the annual TAM HSC financial support for TAMUL, an amount indexed to
total TAMUL budget but which may not fall below a level of at least $1,500,000. It also
provides a cost sharing basis and process for developing collections as new TAM HSC programs
are added [TAMU-TAM HSC Intrasystem Cooperation Contract]. The TAM HSC Institute of
Biomedical Sciences and Technology, located in the Texas Medical Center in Houston, has also
maintained membership in the Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center, with its
associated library service privileges, since the institute began. The TAM HSC Baylor College of
Dentistry (TAM HSC-BCD) located in Dallas, has long been served by the Baylor Health
Sciences Library (BHSL) in Dallas.
SACS Reaffirmation of Accreditation
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