The Challenge and Practice of Academic Accreditation: A Sourcebook for Library Administrators

Recent years have seen numerous and substantial changes in the processes, expectations, and criteria that inform the work of regional accreditation commissions and professional accreditation associations. This sourcebook offers an overview of the accreditation process focused specifically on contemporary expectations for and challenges to libraries, information technologies, and academic computing, and offers practical advice to those librarians involved with academic accreditation activity.

Chapters in this professional reference book overview and discuss the principal issues and challenges of academic accreditation, the process of accreditation, and the role of libraries in that process. Throughout the book, attention is given to changing student demographics, the impact of new technologies on the mission of the university, and the evolving expectations placed on the library and other campus information centers. Chapter authors include several executives associated with regional accreditation commissions, library administrators who have extensive experience with accreditation, and university administrators knowledgeable of accreditation issues.

EDWARD D. GARTEN is Dean of Libraries and Information Technologies at the University of Dayton. He is a consultant-evaluator with the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Institutions of Higher Education, where he currently serves on the Commission’s Accreditation Review Council. His many publications include Using Consultants in Libraries and Information Centers: A Management Handbook (Greenwood Press, 1992).