Kaua‘i community college

The Peer Assistant Program, funded by a Perkins grant, identifies potential tutors enrolled in courses that have high failure/attrition rates, and hires them to provide tutorial assistance for registered vocational-tech students. Classes are defined as high-risk if they have had a failure rate of 30 percent over several semesters, with failure being defined as all grades of D, F, and W. Peer tutors attend these classes with their tutees, and help with course-specific content as well as study habits and skills. The position is part-time and the Coordinator also serves as the Key-Train Coordinator (See Section II.B.1).

Computer Services

Computer Services supports the college’s computer technology needs by establishing, maintaining and updating hardware infrastructure, and by providing software support. There are 533 computer systems on campus, including 418 desktops, 100 notebooks, 15 servers, and 77 printers. They also support 200 notebooks and PDAs owned by students using the college’s wireless network. The unit has a current operating budget of $20,000/year and a $50,000/year equipment replacement budget (Computer Services APRU). The 2006 legislature appropriated funding for an additional position and a stable budget for equipment replacement.

Computer Services provides computer support to students, faculty, and staff, by phone, by web, and by a walk-up service location. Students can request assistance at a help desk window in the Natural Sciences building Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. or by phone. The Computer Services website also provides a link to online work order forms for faculty and staff.

Media Services

The personnel in Media Services include two electronic technicians, a graphic artist, and clerical support. The unit’s mission is to provide quality support in multimedia, graphics, educational technology and stage production that facilitates learning and communicates the mission of the college.

Media Services goals include providing technology –enabled environment in both the physical and virtual classrooms, support the college through print and electronic media, assist college and community groups in the delivery of seamless stage productions, provide and maintain state-of-the-art equipment, and provide and support an infrastructure for electronic communication (Media Services Program Review). Media Services tracks age, usage and replacement costs for equipment, usage of services by students and faculty, and surveys faculty and students for evaluation of their services and equipment needs (faculty). Media Services personnel also offer new faculty who teach evening classes an orientation session on their services.

Self Evaluation
Library
While the Association of College and Research Libraries’ (ACRL) Standards for Libraries in Higher Education no longer provide benchmark numbers for size of library collections, the libraries within the UH System can be compared on the size of their collections in relation to their enrollment. In 2004, Kaua‘i Community College’s closest peers in terms of size of enrollment (FTE) were Windward (1112) and Maui (1659) Community Colleges. Using FY2004 data, Kaua‘i’s book collection was 57,739 versus its closest peer Windward with 42,128 and Maui with 55,220. In fact, Kaua‘i’s numbers were much closer to a larger campus such as Honolulu (FTE 2448) with a book collection of 57,992.
The UH Systems Office, upon request, provides the Library with statistics showing the age (mean, median, mode) and circulation of the collection by broad call number classification. These statistics are used for the age analysis of the book collection. Based on an earlier collection age analysis conducted six years ago, it was determined that the library’s book collection is aging and certain areas, such as scientific subjects, need to be updated. Based upon the collection analysis, the Library was able to obtain funding to upgrade the health and science subject areas of the collection. A recent update of the study has indicated an improvement in the overall currency of the book collection (Library Program Review – Collection Age Analysis Statistics and Circulation Statistics 2001-2005).
The number and types of online databases, providing access to full-text journal articles, varies among the campuses due to different needs; but there are standard ones that are subscribed to by a consortium of all libraries in the state called the Hawai‘i Library Consortium. The UH System subscribes to the EBSCO Host databases, which provide full-text access to approximately 5,000 journals covering a broad range of academic disciplines. The consortium has also added additional databases such as Congressional Quarterly Researcher, ScienceDirect, and CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature) in the past few years. Kaua‘i has also recently joined another consortium consisting primarily of medical libraries in Hawai‘i. This consortium enabled Kaua‘i to bring in a medical full-text database, OVID, for the nursing program on campus and for distance students in the BSN and MSN programs offered by UH Hilo and UH Manoa.
Access to computers on campus is one of the most in-demand needs of students. The library has increased the available supply with the addition of nine laptop computers in 2004 via a Perkins Grant. Altogether, the library has 24 computers (8 of which are in a computer lab in the microfilm room) available for student use.
Results of recent surveys of KCC students have shown that students like the library as a place to study, and that they are satisfied with library resources and services, except for the book collection, where more than 10 percent of respondents indicated dissatisfaction (Library Program Review – Appendix 2 – KCC Library Student Surveys).
Results of recent surveys of distance students show that students were generally very satisfied or satisfied with distance library services. Results showed that over 95 percent of those who indicated they had asked librarians for help answered that they were “almost always” or “usually” able to help them. An analysis of trends over time in distance students survey responses, indicate a growing awareness and use of distance library resources, such as the KCC Library Web pages. The percentage of survey respondents using the KCC Library website has more than doubled from 35 percent in 2001 to 79 percent in 2005. Survey results have been used to increase the marketing of the full-text databases, online tutorials, and information on automated citation builder sites on the Internet to distance students and faculty.
Results of a faculty survey (Fall 2005) and a faculty focus group (Spring 2005) show that the faculty are very satisfied with the reference services, the online databases, the library web pages, library instruction, and the print journal, but 15 percent of the respondents indicated dissatisfaction with the book collection and 20 percent with the A-V (Video/DVD) collection (Library Program Review – Appendix 29 – Faculty Survey). The faculty focus group suggested that the Library should position itself as the intellectual, information center of the campus and should redefine itself in more of a bookstore model by reconfiguring space and by offering more community events (Library Program Review – Appendix 23).
The Learning Center
TLC created two booklets to assist students. “Resources for Self-Management” focuses on the development of skills associated with personal growth while “Resources for Academic Success” includes web sites appropriate for improvement of academic and personal skills. TLC is currently in the process of updating its website, including appropriate links to a variety of online resources for academic, personal, and college success.
In the academic year 2002-2003, The Learning Center counted 18,670 student visits for the purpose of using the facility’s equipment and resources. This reflected a weekly average use of 549 students with a daily average of 112. For the 2003-2004 academic year, there were 24,234 student visits. This represents a 30 percent increase in student usage from the previous year (Learning Center Program Review). In Spring 2006 the Learning Center offered test proctoring to 443 students, answered 395 service requests, assisted 70 students with computer help, administered 166 Compass tests and provided tutorial assistance to 191 students.