Northern Maine Technical College takes great pride in providing

is to provide students with an opportunity to develop as individuals and

to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for employment or for

mission through its holdings, diversity of services and programming, and

a recently expanded physical space. A list of programs planned and

strategic plan calls for the development of lifelong learning skills,

student library and information competency, and for research assignments

in 50 percent of the credit courses to increase to at least two per term

Library policies and procedures are revisited on a regular basis, and

those policies are available through the college web site. 

The library provides an in-house collection and remote access via shared

database resources, shared on-line cataloging and interlibrary loan. The

physical collection consists of 13,000 titles, including books, VHS

Maine state library consortium system Minerva (Maine Info Net Electronic

including college, hospital, public and high schools, have shared their

collections. In addition there is a direct link to the collections of

Access to indexing and full text periodicals is available through the

Maine Database project.    The state signed a new two-year contract with

other libraries in the technical college system, subscribes to the CINHL

allied health databases and Proquest Trade and Industry. Other

databases are frequently examined for cost and relevance to our programs. 

The library is housed in facilities completed in 2002. The main reading

and stacks room is 18,432 square feet. There are also staff offices and

workroom space, two group study rooms and a large periodical and archive

storage room. The configuration of the new reading/stack room allows

for comfortable seating in the periodical area as well as tables and

conferencing equipment, and one includes an Arkenstone reader/printer

group activities such as poetry readings, lectures and group

discussion. The reading area is also wired to provide ports for those

In support of the expanded mission of the college and the expanded

library facility, funds were allocated to expand the scope of the

collection and the areas of liberal studies in allocating these

financial resources. A list of new titles may be found in the workroom.

During FY 02 $30,000 was allocated for books, with over 600 new titles

added to the collection. $20,000 has been allocated for FY 03. 

Library staff consists of one full-time professional, the assistant dean

of learning resources; one full-time Librarian I; and contract and

instruction is provided both on campus and at off-campus centers by the

assistant dean. In addition, search aids and instruction are provided

via self-directed presentations through the Internet site.

As listed above, the library participates in the Maine Infonet project

regularly attends meeting with these organizations as well as with the

to off-campus users via the Internet, email and visits by the assistant

The assistant dean for learning resources provides written and verbal

reports to the academic dean on a frequent and regular basis. A

learning resources committee exists and meets in response to requests by

committee has been identified and plans have been made to meet. Student

surveys conducted by various departments include questions regarding

A variety of methods for appraising library services and functions

exist. Student satisfaction surveys and data collected in support of

program accreditation highlight the use of and appreciation for the

library. Feedback from faculty and students following bibliographic

instruction sessions indicates satisfaction with the material presented.

Financial support for the library is adequate to maintain the present

size of the collection and to maintain current staffing levels.

professional standards for evaluating two-year college libraries are the

ACRL Standards for Community, Junior and Technical College Learning

falls far short in terms of staffing (minimum seven recommended vs. two

present) and collection size (minimum 30,000 volumes vs. current

13,000.)   However, the standards are dated and do not address issues

such as guaranteed access and automation which reduce the over all need

For the foreseeable future the library and information services at NMTC

increase the collection to meet the needs of the college. Participation

with statewide information resources will be enhanced by the addition of

state level of a courier service to provide document delivery among the

constituent members may also lead to enhanced response time for requests

Staffing, particularly for weekend and evening hours, will continue to