Ferrum College is in the small town of Ferrum in Franklin County, Virginia, in the Appalachian Mountains' foothills. Ferrum has a population of 1,827 people, 24.6% of whom have a bachelor’s degree or higher (US Census Bureau, n.d.). Median household income is $33,967; 37.9% of the population lives below the poverty level, as compared to 10.6% of the state of Virgina. The population is predominantly white, with 1422 of the 1827 residents reporting as white / non-Latino (US Census Bureau, n.d.). In the fall of 2021 Ferrum College had 864 students, 755 of whom were undergraduates, a student/faculty ratio of 12:1 (Johnson, 2022). Demographically speaking, 59% of the students are male, and 88% of students reside on campus. 24.8% are first generation college students. 48.3% of the students identify as White, 25.8% are Black, 9.7% are Asian, and 6.1% are Latino (Johnson, 2022). The most common undergraduate majors are Business Administration, Pre-Professional Health Sciences, Health & Human Performance, and Criminal Justice (Johnson, 2022).
The Ferrum College campus is 700 acres (about the area of Central Park in New York City) in size, and features 50 different buildings that house its classrooms, residence halls, dining halls, museums, and other facilities. Stanley Library is situated on Wiley Drive in the middle of campus, immediately adjacent to several residence halls, the dining hall, the administration building, and the theaters. Stanley Library was built in 1970 and has three floors containing over 55,000 volumes and 400 periodicals. An 8500 square foot addition was added in 2003. The building features several classrooms, auditoriums, a computer lab, and study areas. The first floor of the library features the Learning Engagement and Practice (LEaP) Gaming Studio, a mobile green screen location, and the Reading Room for fiction. It also offers a Math and Writing Center, exam help, and study groups. The print collection is housed on the upper floor, which includes three private study areas. The Carter Center for Academic Success is located on the library’s lower level, which offers contains a tutoring area, the academic success coach's hallway which offers services like advising sessions and houses an outreach coordinator for first year students and military veterans.
The public school district, Franklin County Public School (FCPS), strives to uphold the Virginia Literacy Act, which was passed during the 2022 session of the Virginia General Assembly. The act aims to improve early literary outcomes for Virginia’s young learners. As part of their focus to not only enact but positively work within the act, FCPS created a literacy vision “...is a dynamic, science-based approach that empowers our students to become proficient readers, critical thinkers, and effective communicators”, which aligns with Ferrum College’s vision as well as Stanley Library’s vision (Franklin County Public Schools, 2022). A review of FCPS’s Standards of Learning (SOL) test reveals that: statewide students completed their English: Reading text with a pass rate of 73% which has held from 2021-2024. Students received their highest success rate, with 76% of students passing their English: Writing exams this previous school year (2023-2024), which was up from the past two years with a passing rate of 65% (Virginia Department of Education, 2024). Reviewing the last three school years, the passing rate for all students in English: Reading was 76% for 2021-22, 74% for 22-23, and 74% for 23-24; the passing rate for English: Writing was 55% for 2021-22, 59% for 22-23, and <50% for 23-24 (Virginia Department of Education, 2024).
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Stanley Library “...encourages inclusive learning, supports the dissemination of knowledge through a welcoming environment, and fosters a creative suite where ideas among every member of the Ferrum Community, campus and town, can blossom” (Ferrum College Stanley Library, 2024). With focused value statements on inclusivity, respect, community engagement, collaboration, dynamic learning, curiosity, stewardship, humility (Ferrum College Stanley Library, 2024). With these values in mind, the staff of Stanly Library has created a series of Escape Rooms and Educational Games for specialized topics. One such game is Misinformation in the Space Age which was created by Daniel Adams and Rachel Walton of Stanley Library as well as Sierra Alley, formerly of Stanley Library. The game focuses on creating a space that demonstrates how misinformation can impact participants in everyday life, training participants to evaluate both primary and secondary sources, help players gain a better understanding of biases, and facilitate the identification of fallacies (Adams et al., 2023).
In previous semesters, library staff have been requested to offer instructional content on how to use databases and search strategies in Ferrum College’s Gateway, Gateway, or GWS 101 is a seminar-based course, designed to assist new students (freshmen and at time transfers) in successfully transitioning to college and life at Ferrum College. The course is built around foundational academic skills, the fostering of social connections between students and faculty, and directional familiarity with campus resources and college policies (Ferrum College Curriculum Development, 2019d). Stanley Library also has a significant history of highlighting banned books, focusing on intellectual freedom and censorship issues with thought-provoking displays that encourage discussions about why certain books are challenged or banned, the individuals or groups responsible for the challenges and bans, as well as illuminate the implications of censorship on literacy, culture, and societal process (Hercyk, 2022). With three-dimensional exhibits, Stanley Library staff has encouraged interaction and sought to remind students that censorship is not an issue that started with the internet age. Some of the more intricate parts of the Banned Books display demonstrates the Nazi Burning Parties, with titles that were burned during Nazi control of Germany (Hercyk, 2022).
Ferrum College is “...a dynamic learning community where students enter with promise and leave with purpose” whose vision is to “...[i]nspire everyone to do good work, build good futures and live good lives”, with an eye on the goal of “...[p]roviding pathways to meaningful work, making education attainable, and connecting for a lifetime” (Ferrum College Marketing and Communications, 2024b). Ferrum College has a history of choosing Quality Enhancement Plans (QEPs) that focus on literacy and student success. QEPs are multi-year plan(s) that higher education institutions develop and implement to improve student learning and success. Although not required by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), most academic institutions within SACSCOC utilize them (The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, 2024). Literacy has been a focal point pf previous Quality Enhancement Programs (QEP). Ferrum has, as of 2022, an acceptance rate of 84.3%, with an enrollment of 855 students. Of this number, 89.5% are registered as full time (meaning they are enrolled in 12 credits or more per semester). The average graduation rate is 28.2% or about 127 students annually (Data USA, 2022).
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