2025 PASCAL Member Conference

The Lightning Talks session will feature four 20-minute presentations back-to-back in a 80 minute time slot, with a moderator for introductions, Q&A, and time keeping. Each speaker will give a 15-minute presentation with 5 minutes for Q&A.

Closing the Gap: How a community college balanced accreditation goals and a flat budget with one project
Prompted by a 3-yr cycle for SACSCOC administrative unit requirements, the Learning Commons (LC) at Tri-County Technical College, devised a Program Outcome Assessment Plan (POAP), which allowed the LC to better ascertain the state of their overall database environment, while accounting for a static acquisitions budget and limited digital resources. Structured around a curricular mapping project and gap analysis, the POAP revealed key areas of strength and weakness relative to the curriculum and created openings for in-depth liaison conversations with academic departments. The presentation will chronicle the project from initial planning to final execution, touching on several points of struggle that needed to be addressed. Those issues include data collection challenges, statistical relevance and comparability, and fiscal constraints, as well as stakeholder expectations. As a result of this initiative, the LC is better prepared to meet accreditation goals and has gained a more targeted approach to collection development.