While I thought that “Standards for Libraries in Higher Education” was a bit of a dry read, I think it is really important that we have standards to apply to our performance. We need to be critical of ourselves, and of our performances. It is important that we uphold standards of performances; otherwise we get sloppy.
Another reason I thought this article to be important is that these sorts of standards will be applied when we (hopefully) find employment after graduation. We need to understand and be used to having these sorts of standards applied to our performance as instructors.
However, I am still wary of rigorous standards such as these. If not implemented the right way, these standards seem like they could become stifling of creativity. I would hope that a good institution would hold its staff to standards and push them to be better teachers, but still allow them the space to create and experiment within the classroom.
The standards do present a bit of a challenge. We have to have some sort of measure that we can apply generally from library to library and campus to campus. The trick is to strive to meet the standards in a student-centered manner, taking into account the core curriculum of the academic programs that we are working with and the individual needs of each classroom. That is why it is always a good idea to write individual or departmental outcomes, using the broad standards as a blueprint, and then collaborate as a team to find creative and meaningful ways to meet our outcomes– ultimately meeting the broad standards!