Library receives third consecutive five-star rating

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Julius Delos Reyes
  • 95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  The Edwards Main Library achieved an Air Force five-star rating recently. This is the third consecutive year, in doing so. 

The library was also the best in Air Force Materiel Command for fourth year in a row. 

The five-star program was initiated by the Air Force in 2004 to represent the five different functions the library needed to comply, said Dr. Tatiana Verren, Edwards library director. 

"The departments represented are facility, service, programs, customer and technical support," Dr. Verren said. "Meeting all the requirements will guarantee a five-star. In order to get a five-star rating, the library should have 90-percent compliance. I am proud to say that Edwards had 99-percent compliance." 

One of the functions the Edwards library excels is its customer service, Dr. Verren said. 

"Our staff provides prompt, polite and timely customer service," she said. "We also have new items every day. There is a two-day maximum process for us where new materials are placed on our shelves." 

A full range of online and CD-ROM resources and databases are available for loan. The library offers a wide selection of books, periodicals, newspapers and audiovisual materials as well as features 20 new computers with wireless Internet connectivity. 

"We finally have an online catalog so everybody in the world can see what we have," Dr. Verren said. "I also created the library Web site with 50 pages inside. It has a lot of resources that people can access." 

The library also boasts online databases which provide full text article from most of the magazines and periodicals from around the world, Dr. Verren said. 

The library also has the inter-library loan services program where people can request materials not available in the base library. 

Ten staff members work to provide library service to more than 6,000 customers per year. 

The base library system is also unique in the Department of Defense as it is the only base with the Children's Library separated from the main library. 

More than 200 children use the library per day, Dr. Verren said. 

Dr. Verren credits the superior customer service because of the training. The staff is trained on all kinds of subjects. 

The staff has to know online databases so they can recommend, advice and refer all kinds of subjects which we don't have physically available, she said 

"We are trying to fulfill the Edwards community needs and wants," she said. "We are buying new materials for them. If they have requests, we get it for them." 

For more information, visit the library's Web site at www.edwardslibrary.org.