Coastline College | Council of Chief Librarians - California Community Colleges

Cheryl Stewart Retires:

I am retiring from Coastline Community College on April 30, 2016. I was the first, and only, librarian at Coastline and was responsible for establishing Coastline’s Online Library in 1999. Coastline – once the “college without walls” and now the “college without borders” – was established in 1976 to explore non-traditional distributed education delivery modes. In 1999, over 50% of Coastline’s students were distance learners and ACCJC determined it was time for the college to have its own library. Since Coastline did not have a central campus, it was decided that it would have an online library. I have loved the challenges and the opportunities the online library provided during my 17 years of service. I was able to chair CCL EAR in the early 2000s and serve as Academic Senate for 2 years.

My final contribution to California community college libraries is Academic Libraries for Incarcerated Students (ALIS). I am indebted to Lisa Foley, director of Lake Tahoe CC library. I believe ALIS will grow as the number of community colleges serving students in corrections institutions grows. We need to provide adequate and appropriate library services and resources to incarcerated students and yet the impediments appear to be nearly insurmountable. In the short time that ALIS librarians have been meeting, we have accomplished quite a bit and are moving aggressively to enact some strategies that will enable librarians to serve all of their students!

I thank the Council of Chief Librarians and CCL EAR for providing me with the tools and resources I needed to survive at the beginning and to thrive throughout my tenure at Coastline. I am proud and grateful to have been associated with so many wonderful library leaders over the years.

In my retirement, I plan to research my family history; get my garage under control; install and maintain my drought-tolerant native yards; take art classes; workout at the gym every weekday morning; have exciting adventures with the grandkids; volunteer for a worthy cause; go to movies during the week; spend more time with friends and family; make bread, sauerkraut, cheese, and other foods from scratch; work part-time in college libraries from time to time; and, finally, take advantage of opportunities to discover new things, develop new talents, and laugh a lot!