176 · Representative Documents: Regional Accrediting Agency Reports
University of Virginia
Comprehensive Standards 3.8.2 Access to Instruction
http://www.virginia.edu/sacs/standards/3-8-2.html
Comprehensive Standards, Institutional Accreditation, U.Va.
http://www.virginia.edu/sacs/standards/3-8-2.html[9/5/12 4:54:46 PM]
architecture, and drama) includes research strategies specific to each program and links to relevant databases for
each academic class. Library staff have created online Finding Aids (example from the Music Library) and Resource
Guides to assist students and faculty. The Health Sciences Library’s Information for Medical Students Web site
includes program curricula, which links to course Web sites, lists of library resources available for each course, and
user tutorials.
The libraries provide other online resources to students and faculty e.g., the Ask a Librarian and Searching the
Internet Web sites. Students and faculty may learn Refworks Bibliographic Software and Endnote Bibliographic
Software through online instruction. In addition, the Library maintains Subject Guides by academic discipline
identifying relevant internet and print resources
2. Library Reference Services
The University Library System offers reference services to University students, faculty, staff, and the public. During
fiscal year 2005, the University Library recorded 70,080 reference questions (including one-on-one tutorials) the
Health Sciences Library recorded 24,914 the Law Library recorded 18,400 and the Business Library recorded 5,800.
The University Library supplements its reference desks with an online E-mail Reference and Real-Time Reference site.
Real-Time Reference is an instant-messaging service available 11 a.m. 11 p.m., Monday to Thursday, 11 a.m. 6
p.m. Friday and Saturday, and noon to 11 p.m. on Sundays. The Reference Tutorial Service is a research tutorial
service that provides an introduction to the research of a discipline, assistance with specialized research projects, and
individual instruction in the use of online databases and other library resources.
The Health Sciences Library offers the Electronic Reference Desk, which provides up-to-date, health-related
information from the Internet compiled by the Library’s Information Services staff.
The major service point for law faculty reference questions is Refdesk, an e-mail address for the exclusive use of law
faculty. Refdesk can help with any inquiry about the Law Library, including acquisitions and circulation. Law Library
staff fields more than 2,000 faculty queries each year, ranging from simple case requests to complex, substantive
research projects.
3. Other Library Instructional Opportunities
Additional opportunities for library instruction include:
The Paper Clinic
The University Library collaborates with the Writing Center to offer the “Paper Clinic” to undergraduate and graduate
students at the end of each semester. Students receive help from library staff and tutors from the Writing Center on
refining their topics, finding books and articles, citing sources, and correcting grammar.
Harrison Partners
The University Library and the Undergraduate Research Network in the College of Arts and Sciences have established
the Harrison Partners program to provide select undergraduate students with assigned subject librarians. The students
conduct advanced research projects with the assistance of a subject librarian who can provide specific resources for
their project.
4. Instruction in Other Learning/Information Resources
In addition to instruction and assistance in use of the library, the University also provides regular and timely
instruction in the use other learning/information resources, which includes the information technology and software
that supplement and enhance the learning and research activities of students and faculty. The University’s central
information organization, the Department of Information Technology and Communication (ITC), provides specific
training programs for students on how to access the University network (e.g., password retrieval) how to configure
personal hardware to conform to the University’s technology infrastructure (e.g., laptops) and instruction in the use
of institutional administrative technology (e.g., online registration). Comprehensive Standard 3.4.14 describes these
programs.
Many University departments and units offer technical training to faculty, staff, and students, ranging from online tips
to more formal skills-development programs. Centrally, the University’s Office of Learning and Development provides
fundamental skills classes. The following are examples of the various opportunities at the University of Virginia for
regular and timely training in the use of a variety of learning/information resources.
Information Technology Short Courses
ITC provides targeted information technology courses and certain information technology training programs designed
to meet the needs of medical and nursing students and persons conducting high-end computational research.
Educational programs include one-on-one specialty classes, brief seminars, conferences, online videos, and computer-
and video-based training. Programs cover such topics as Excel, PowerPoint, Web design and certification, and
Dreamweaver. More advanced topics include animation and 3D, user collection tools, sound, still images, and video.
During 2004-05, for example, ITC’s Training Services Group conducted 113 classes, training more than 550
participants. During that same time period, the Office of Learning and Development offered 867 events to the
University community.
Online Help and Training
The University Library system, ITC, and the Office of Learning and Development have extensive Web resources for
online help and training. For example, ITC’s Web site comprises some 11,000 pages of technical and IT security
information, software distribution, and application tips, among other information. ITCWeb serves more than 1 million
page views per month and people outside the University also use it extensively.
Web-based Training
The Office of Learning and Development’s Web-based training service offers course content from the National
Education Training Group (NETg KnowledgeNow). The program, which has been offered since 2003 to all University
employees, includes access to more than 1,300 courses covering such topics as desktop applications, IT applications,
and IT concepts and tools.
Advanced Research Topics
Staff in the Research Computing Support Center and Academic Computing for Health Sciences provide doctoral-level
assistance for IT-intensive research. They also offer workshops, colloquia, and a monthly research computing
newsletter. They train research assistants and provide workshops on the use of software for mathematical, statistical,
and data analysis, among other topics. During 2004-05, the group logged 5,750 user contacts, a 27 percent increase
over the previous year. Data from the fall 2005 semester showed that both students and faculty use the group’s
services, with 42 percent of contacts being with graduate students and 19 percent undergraduates.
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