AN EVALUATION OF STANDARDS FOR ACADEMIC LIBRARIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

Abstract

The contention of the paper is that given the changes in the educational system, the measures for evaluating the performance of libraries should also have been modified to address these changes. The determined changes in the educational system include demands for more globally competitive graduates and the widespread use of information technology in education. The existing standards for academic libraries in the Philippines have been studied to determine the focus of these and whether they address the said changes. It also presents arguments on the perceived accuracy, applicability and relevance of these standards to the present educational system. The standards referred to here are the minimum standards set by Commission on Higher Education (CHED), the Philippine Association of Academic and Research Libraries (PAARL) standards for Academic Libraries, and the accreditation standards from Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU) and Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities Commission on Accreditation (PACUCOA).

The study found out that the standards for libraries are more concerned with the inputs such as collection, staff requirements, physical facilities and services offered. There is also minimal focus on measures of efficient service and efficient use of library resources or in other words, output of the library in terms of the teaching-learning process to which the library should take active part on. It was also observed that the CHED minimum requirements for libraries stipulated in the curricular guidelines for respective courses vary in terms of space requirements, size of collection required and the mode of statement of the guidelines. PAASCU and PACUCOA and PAARL standards also vary with each other in terms of the extent of their requirements for the library.

The paper thus proposes that there should be more focus on the outputs of the library in relation to the teaching-learning process in order to help in producing more globally competitive graduates who are able to effectively use information in the so called information age.