Providing Library Services for Distance Education Students: A How-to-do-it Manual: 108 (How to Do It Manuals for Librarians) - Tapa dura

A practical guide for librarians supporting distance education programmes. It describes distance education delivery systems and trends as well as requirements of various regional accrediting associations and guidelines. There are also chapters on PR, legal and financial issues, and more.

Distance education has exploded during the last ten years. This practical guide is designed to help any librarian charged with supporting distance education programs. The author begins with a brief description of distance education delivery systems and trends as well as requirements of various regional accrediting associations and professional guidelines (including ACRL's Guidelines for Distance Learning Library Services). The second chapter discusses the characteristics of distance learners, with advice on finding out where they are located and what resources are already available to them. This chapter will help readers asses their clientele and identify service gaps. The next chapter discusses strategic planning for supporting distance learning: how to plan and implement your program in collaboration with other campus units and other institutions; how to identify and describe the new program's impact on existing services and personnel. Staffing models, project staffing needs, space planning, contracting for services, and cooperative service agreements are all discussed with examples. The guide also covers such practical matters as relationships between distance learning services and the ILL unit; collection development, record keeping, copyright compliance issues, document delivery (physical & electronic, including related telecommunications issues for both libraries and users), courier services, remote access to databases on the Web (including password & proxy server issues). Chapters on marketing and public relations, reference service, and library instruction for remote students, legal and ethical issues (site licenses, liability issues, contracts), finances, and model programs,and resources complete the volume.