By Billie Peterson, Baylor University

Dear Tech Talk--

I work in a medium-sized public library in a community of about 100,000. Recently we've been getting requests for assistance from teachers who are enrolled in Master's and Ph.D. programs offered through distance education at a university in another part of the state. We simply don't have the depth or level of resources to help these students. In some instances we don't even have the resources to help them find materials that will meet their needs. The local community college is facing the same problem. Needless to say, frustration on all sides is running rampant. What are we to do?

--Distantly Disturbed

Dear DD--

A very timely question as colleges and universities are increasing their activities in this seemingly new form of education. In reality, distance learning has been around for a long time, if you consider the use of correspondence courses. It is the advent of new technologies (such as two-way, interactive video technology) and the wide accessibility of the Internet, that are changing how academic institutions choose to deliver instruction to an increasing number of students. In addition, it's much more enticing for career-track individuals to pursue additional degrees when they don't have to quit their jobs, uproot their families, and move in order to pursue these degrees. Historically, colleges and universities offered single courses via distance education; now entire degree programs are available. Historically, libraries didn't have to be overly concerned about support services to the relatively few people who were taking correspondence courses. Likewise it was unlikely that local libraries would be overwhelmed by students who might be taking these courses. It appears that those idyllic days are in the past, both because of the increased number of degree programs and courses offered via distance education and because of the need to demonstrate to accrediting agencies that equitable library support services are available to the students enrolled in these programs. These remote users must now be considered an integral part of an academic library's primary clientele.

So what are local libraries to do when hit with the very real needs of these distance education students? Under the best of circumstances, library administrations will be proactive as distance education initiatives are developed on their campuses. Whenever possible, they can establish policies and procedures which will provide needed services to the distance education students from the campus library, rather than expecting the students to use local libraries for their academic research needs.

Ideally, these policies and procedures should be jointly developed by librarians and the faculty actively involved in establishing the distance education programs. The first step is to open communication between the two groups. The teaching faculty may be unaware of the variety of ways that the library can meet the research needs of their distant education students; and librarians may be unaware of the extent of the distant education programs already in existence on the campus.

In developing these policies and procedures, there are at least four areas of service that might be addressed:

User surveys, both before services are formalized and after they are established will help identify additional services to consider.

Some of the above examples of extended services may fly in the face of current library policies and, no doubt, will add additional work to already overburdened library staff. Here is another reason why library administrations have to be proactive with the distance education initiatives on their campus. If the administration is strongly committed to these initiatives, then the libraries need to be sure the administration is cognizant of the financial and staff costs associated with the provision of equitable support services for these students. Without demonstrable, equitable support, it will be difficult for distant education programs to obtain accreditation and therefore shouldn't be offered, until the appropriate support can be provided.

In addition to the services outlined above, libraries can establish formal relationships with other libraries. In some instances, such relationships may already exist because of long-standing consortia or other traditional relationships. However, there may be occasions when new and unusual alliances may have to be established. Under the best of circumstances, reciprocal arrangements may be possible; but alliances based on one library paying another for services rendered to the students may also need to be considered. Who picks up these fees: the library; the school offering the program; the university; the students who are in the program? On the other side of the spectrum, the local library has to decide if it is necessary to charge fees for these services, and if so, how much and what kinds of services should and can be offered?

Back to the original question. . . what can a local library do if it is suddenly faced with an onslaught of distant education students? Use the same approach used when students repeatedly come to the reference desk with an unreasonable library assignment. Go to the source: identify the institution that is providing the instruction and contact the director or dean of that library. Through no fault of her/his own, s/he may be unaware of the program, much less the impact that program is having on a local library. There are several resources listed below that will be helpful in identifying the issues surrounding library support services for distant education programs. In particular, look at the most recent draft of the "ACRL Guidelines for extended Academic Library Services" which have been developed by the ACRL Extended Campus Library Services Section; the second edition of Alexander Slade's bibliography, Library Services for Off-Campus and Distance Education, published in 1996; and the ARL SPEC Kit, Role of Libraries in Distant Education. Also, listed below are some library web sites at which some procedures or policies are available: Simon Fraser University; Indiana University; and the University of Northern Colorado. Finally, consider subscribing to the electronic discussion forum: offcamp (Off-Campus Library Services list). Send the standard subscription message to: listserv@lists.wayne.edu

Additional Information --

ACRL Extended Campus Library Services Section (ECLSS)
URL: http://ecuvax.cis.ecu.edu/~lbshouse/home.htm

" ACRL Guidelines -- Guidelines for Extended Academic Library Services: A Draft". College & Research Libraries News (February 1997): 98-102.

Bazillion, Richard J. and Braun, Connie L. " Building Virtual- and Spatial- Libraries for Distance Learning." CAUSE/EFFECT (Winter,1995):51-54.

George, Rigmore and Adela Love. " The Culture of the Library in Open and Distance Education Contexts ". Australian Academic and Research Libraries (June 1, 1995):129-136.

Indiana University - Library Resources for Distance Education Students
URL: http://www.indiana.edu/~libdist/

International Centre for Distance Learning
URL: http://www-icdl.open.ac.uk

In particular, you may want to search the ICDL Distance Education Library
URL: http://www-icdl.open.ac.uk/icdl/ICDLlib.htm for specific publications related to library issues and distance education.

Journals in Distance Education
URL: http://www-icdl.open.ac.uk/info/journals.html

Latham, Sheila, Alexander L. Slade, and Carol Budnick. Library Services for Off-Campus and Distance Education: An Annotated Bibliography. Ottawa, Canada: Canadian Library Association, 1991.

Library Guidelines for Distance Education: posted June 4, 1996.
URL: http://library.lib.binghamton.edu/aperry/distance_ed/summary.html

Off-Campus Library Programs in Higher Education. Library Trends Spring 1991):366-557.

Off-Campus Library Services Publications
URL: http://www.lib.cmich.edu/ocls/oclspub.htm

Off-Campus Library Services: Selected Readings From Central Michigan's University's Off-Campus Library Services Conferences. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow, 1991.

Rodrigues, Helena F. " The Role of the Library in Distance Education". Microcomputers for Information Management: Global Internetworking for Libraries (March 1, 1996): 21-29.

Role of Libraries in Distance Education: A SPEC Kit. Washington, DC: Association for Research Libraries, 1996.

Rosenquist-Buhler, Carla. "New Partners in Distance Education: Linking up to Libraries". Library Administration & Management (Fall 1996): 220-225.

Slade, Alexander L. and Marie A Kascus. Library Services for Off-Campus and Distance Education: The Second Annotated Bibliography. Libraries Unlimited, 1996.

SUNYLA Distance Education Program
URL: http://library.lib.binghamton.edu/aperry/distance_ed/

Telebook -- Library Services for Off-Campus Students (Simon Fraser University Libraries)
URL: http://www.lib.sfu.ca/kiosk/other/telebook.htm

University of Northern Colorado Libraries -- Extended Campus Library Services
URL: http://www.univnorthco.edu/library/offclib.htm

Witucke, Virginia. "On My Mind: Invisible Clientele, Invisible Services?" Journal of Academic Librarianship (November 1993): 308-309.

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