The Main Library of the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez (UPRM) attained its first certification, awarded by the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) after having met with the 12 standard requirements of the association. The UPRM branch received the certification along with all of the other academic libraries of the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) system.

Irma Ramírez, interim director of the UPRM Library, mentioned that the evaluation process came about after the University of Puerto Rico’s (UPR) president, Antonio García Padilla, made a request to the academic community, to each entity or organization within the University system that were suitable for this process, that it submit to the evaluation of corresponding agencies.

Ramírez added that this petition formed part of Certification 138 (2003-2004) of the UPR Board of Trustees, known as the Institutional Politics for the Accreditation of Academic Programs and Services that are offered by the University of Puerto Rico.

As stated by the ACRL, they had never received a request by an academic library to be evaluated, as this is so the Libraries of the UPR System are the first, on a global scale, to be evaluated for certification by this association.

Franklin Irizarry, professor of the UPR Río Piedras campus, explained that the first step was to create 12 committees that worked on each one of the standards. Later, each committee prepared a report which was then submitted to evaluating agency offices in San Juan.

“As a result, the ACRL submitted nine recommendations in a final report, which will be looked after by each corresponding committee. The next step will be a comparison of all the libraries in the UPR System in accordance with the standards,” reported Irizarry, who is head of the UPRM evaluation committee.

The twelve standards are as follows: planning, assessment, assessment of results, services, information skills, resources, access, human resources, physical installations, communication and cooperation, administration, and budget.

From left to right: UPRM librarians Jeanette Valentín and Luis Marín; UPRM associate dean of Academic Affairs, doctor Darnyd Ortiz; executive director of ACRL, Mary Ellen Davis; interim director of the UPRM Main Library, Irma N. Ramírez; and UPR president, Antonio García Padilla.

Courtesy photo