ABSTRACT
The regional accrediting associations and the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) have developed standards to evaluate the performance of academic libraries. This brief historical sketch provides a summary of regional accreditation standards and the ACRL standards. Quantitative goals were a hallmark of earlier higher education standards, but qualitative standards have assumed more importance in recent years along with an emphasis on outcomes assessment, information literacy, and student learning outcomes. The first ACRL standards were developed for college libraries, followed by 2-year college standards, and then university standards. Recently a single comprehensive standard was developed by ACRL for all academic libraries, culminating in the 2004 Standards for Libraries in Higher Education.
