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Philippine Association of Academic and Research Libraries (PAARL) set up some

criteria or guidelines for evaluating academic libraries in the country. It is inevitable that the said
efforts have looked to foreign standards, particularly those from the United States, and other
developed countries for the manner and underlying principles in setting up their criteria or
guidelines. Likewise, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) standards for the different
program requirements were also consulted and referenced. Furthermore, the Board is aware of
the possible anxieties, misunderstandings, and misgivings that these standards may create. In the
eyes of the library managers, minimum standards can become maximum ones. It is possible that
a minimum standard in one library may be fairly adequate for another. And it could also be that
these standards are very much below what some libraries already have, so there is a tendency to
be satisfied and not to upgrade anymore (PAARL, 2000).
In the same manner, RA 9246 paved the way towards the professionalization of librarians and
the practice of librarianship in the Philippines. It looked some time to consolidate all the regulation
requirements of the law to formulate these Philippine standards for all types of libraries. It is crucial to
have such set of standards to serve as guides towards realization of ideas for librarians and information
professionals, and specifically, libraries in the country in the world of technological advancement.
Setting quantitative and qualitative standards set forth in Standard for Philippine Academic Libraries
(SPAL) aimed to improve the access, usage, administration, management and collection of academic
libraries. These will also serve as reference tool towards attaining quality service and to make the
libraries functional nationwide (Conti, 2010).
Moreover, Conti (2010) stated that Standard for Philippine Academic Libraries was established
to ensure a basic level of educational quality. The purpose is to evaluate educational institutions and
programs using peer evaluators, a process of an institution of postsecondary education undertakes to
evaluate its educational activities, in whole or in part, and seeks independent judgment to confirm that
it substantially achieves its objectives and is generally equal in quality to comparable institutions or
specialized units. It has been recognized as a means to establish educational quality assurance and
integrity and as a way to protect its members against encroachments that could jeopardize educational
effectiveness or academic freedom. Additionally, accreditation has been viewed as a mechanism to halt
or prevent proliferation of unneeded or inferior quality.
Academic library plays a momentous role in the framework and perspective of paradigm
shift. It varies to consider those who are not linked with their parent universities. Thus, Atienza
(2003) pointed out that library is the repository of knowledge, center of research information in
any forms. It is where library users seek information on the different fields of academic
endeavor. The library must therefore, be equipped with the needs and demands of the library
users. Moreover, Academic libraries will “increasingly focus on distinctive and unique
collections in service to regional and national scholarly users”. Technology continues to drive
much of the futuristic thinking within academic libraries. The key trends driving educational
technology identified are equally applicable to academic libraries, namely: people’s desire for
information and access to social media and networks anytime and anywhere; acceptance and
adoption of cloud-based technologies; more value placed on collaboration; challenges to the role
of higher education in a world where information is ever-present and alternate forms of
credentialing are available; new educational paradigms that include online and hybrid learning;
and a new emphasis on challenge-based and active learning.
Assessment of functionality is important to create and maintain standards among educational

institutions, graduates within a certain field, etc. According to Obille (2007) stated that it is also
important for promoting to profound deep analysis of each component of an academic institution that
we might put off indefinitely without upcoming inspections. Earning accreditation certainly does not
mean the work is done. It is one step in the process that we must continually strive to improve. An
ongoing benefit of accreditation is the development of new policies and procedures. One argument
against accreditation, just because an organization is accredited doesn't mean they actually put into
practice the policies and procedures they have in writing.
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Accreditation is a grueling ordeal, which involves every individual at an educational institution:

faculty, administration, staff, and even students. With the help of the Librarian and its subordinates, the
Library staff, creates a self-study of the entire department. No one questions the importance of libraries
in the educational responsibility of academic institutions. Matthews (2007) illustrated that libraries
consist of essential components in any accreditation survey visits and a major focus for the visiting team.
Generally speaking, each educational institution must meet standards, some quite specific.
Bopp (2001) revealed that most imperative assessment for academic libraries and the most
intricate – has to do with how they recognize and categorize the contribution and involvement they
make to institutional outcomes. How does a library contribute to the success of its parent organization?
Outcomes assessment tools have been more customary and prevailing in academic library community
has no set of tools available to use to demonstrate its contribution to learning, research, or institutional
outcomes. At the same time as accrediting agencies are beginning to provide some guidance as they
stress to institutions the need for the parent institutions to be explicit about their outcomes and how
they will measure them. That process will make it somewhat easier for libraries to determine the
appropriate instrument to demonstrate their contribution.
Assessing the functionality of the university library is an essential component of a

quality-oriented organizational culture where consumer of services becomes more critical of the
quality of services they receive and would complain when they are not satisfied. Without the
guidelines and criterion, an academic library cannot ensure minimum level of utilization of its
resources towards meeting the needs of their users. It is essential to preserve the viability and
visibility of academic libraries, especially in an age where there is increasing public believe that
the current physical library will be replaced by the digital library in a paperless society (Wallace
& Van Fleet, 2001). In essence, assessment and evaluation are simply an essential part of good
management practice and is used to describe the activity of using performance indicators. The
functionality of the university library is assessed in different ways. It is an integral part of the
aim to make decisions and objectives as well as set priorities based on information. It is further
minimizes errors and should enhance efficiency if handled well. The librarianship profession
must take responsibility for having criteria to assist libraries for evaluation and decision-making.
Consequently, to meet the established standards and raise the standards in line with the missions,
goals, and objectives, and functionality of academic library is designed. Whereas much work on
the functionality has been carried out over the past twenty-five years, these tool have not assisted
libraries in identifying quality, nor helped them determining the kinds of resources needed. Hare
and Cole (2005) identified critical processes, which they regard as important indicating the
viability in using this instrument to assess performance.
Local Study
Acre (2007) found out that the physical facilities of the Cebu City National Science High School
were a little below standard. However, standards for library collection and funds were not well
implemented. The school has good library programs for the students and faculty but its resources are
limited due to the lack of funds. The librarianship profession must take responsibility for having criteria
to assist libraries for evaluation and decision-making. Consequently, to meet the established standards
and raise the standards in line with the missions, goals, and objectives, and functionality of academic
library is designed. Whereas much work on the functionality has been carried out over the past twenty-
five years, these tool have not assisted libraries in identifying quality, nor helped them determining the
kinds of resources needed.
Hena (2006) revealed that collection development is moderately functioning and that a massive
task ahead to do to augment the observed discrepancies in each library component. In the same
manner, Cab (2013) dealt that CSU Library performance was functional. The Library does not have a duly
approved and widely disseminated Library Manual to be used in the library operation. However, human
resources of the library were very functional. In fact it is very fortunate to have library personnel
competent and considered very functional in performing their job well.
According to Gako and Las Piñas (2015) functionality of the CTU-Tuburan Campus Library was
Very Functional as identified by the faculty-accreditors and campus librarians. Thus, the nine
components of the library functionality play a vital role in the success of the whole operation of the
functionality of CTU-Tuburan Campus Library. The nine components of SPAL presented the mission,
goals and objectives; administration; human resources; collection development; services and utilization;
physical facilities; information technology facilities and services; financial resources; and linkages and
networking was rated very functional. The fact that the university is being accredited by Accrediting
Agency of Chartered Colleges and Universities of the Philippines (AACCUP) and it was supervised by a
full-time professional librarian with Master's degree. The library is in compliance with the standard
requirements in consonance with the ratio of library personnel and the number of students. Moreover,
it helped the library personnel and library administrators to develop, enhance and maximize the library
services, facilities and equipment, resources, etc to prepare the 21st century library users’ ideal
environment. This was validated the Utilization-Focused Evaluation (U-FE) theory of Patton which
contributed the judgment of the users based on the utilization of resources and services.
Obille, K. L. B. (2007). “An Evaluation of Standards for Academic Libraries in the Philippines.”
Journal of Philippine Librarianship, 27 (1&2): pp. 109-150. Available online at
http://journals.upd.edu.ph/index.php/jpl/article/view File/1146/1193. Philippine Association of
Academic and Research Libraries (PAARL). (2000b). Philippine Association of Academic Libraries in the
Philippines (PAARL) Standards for Academic Libraries for 2000. Available online at
http://www.dlsu.edu.ph/library/paarl/activities/proje cts.asp
Atienza, L. P. (2003). Basic Communication and Thinking Skills for College Freshmen. Bulacan:
Trinitas Publishing
Conti, E. l. (2010). Standards for Philippine public libraries. Available online at

http://paarl.wikispaces.com/
Acre, J. B. (2007). An Evaluation of Cebu City National High School Library: Basis for an Action
Plan. Unpublished Master’s Thesis. Cebu Normal University, Cebu City.
Hena, O. J. (2006). An evaluation of the University of Eastern Philippines main library: A

development plan. Unpublished Master’s thesis, Cebu Normal University, Cebu City.
Cab, N. F. A. (2013). SPAL-Based Assessment of University Library Performance. Unpublished

Master’s Thesis. Cebu Normal University, Cebu City.

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Local Literature

Philippine Association of Academic and Research Libraries (PAARL) set up some

Assessment of functionality is important to create and maintain standards among educational

Accreditation is a grueling ordeal, which involves every individual at an educational institution:

Assessing the functionality of the university library is an essential component of a

Conti, E. l. (2010). Standards for Philippine public libraries. Available online at

Hena, O. J. (2006). An evaluation of the University of Eastern Philippines main library: A

Cab, N. F. A. (2013). SPAL-Based Assessment of University Library Performance. Unpublished

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