ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


C&RL News ■ February 2000 / 99

College & Research Libraries news

The library's Web site is the library

Designing for distance learners

by Julie Linden

A
s if it w e r e n ’t a lr e a d y  c o m p lic a te d  
e n o u g h  to d esig n  y o u r library’s Web 
site for y o u r p atro n s, alo n g  co m es a n e

d ie n c e — d istan ce learners. It is a safe b et that 
w h e th e r th eir e d u c a tio n  is d eliv ered  in lim ­
ited o n -c a m p u s sessions, o v er th e In tern et 
o r th ro u g h  video, d istan ce learn ers will in­
creasingly lo o k  to th e Web for acad em ic s u p ­
p o rt services, su c h  as registration, co u rse  in­
form ation, an d  th e library. In fact, for d is­
tance stu d en ts w h o  seldom  o r nev er visit your 
library physically, th e library’s W eb site is the 
library.

W hen d esig n in g  y o u r W eb site to a c c o m ­
m o d a te  th e se  stu d en ts, th e first a n d  p e rh a p s 
m ost o b v io u s step  is to a c k n o w le d g e  their 
existence. Even if y o u r library’s policy is to 
p ro v id e all stu d e n ts w ith th e sam e reso u rces 
a n d  services, so m e o f the details will n e c e s­
sarily b e  different. D istance stu d e n ts d o n ’t 
n e e d  to k n o w  w h e re  interlibrary lo an  is lo­
cated  in th e library building; th ey  d o  n e e d  to 
k n o w  w h e re  to mail, e-m ail, o r fax th eir in­
terlibrary loan requests.

F u rth erm o re, u n less you say so o n  y o u r 
W eb site, it is n o t necessarily clear to d is­
tance students w h e th e r library’s resources an d  
services are available to them . T hey d o  not 
w an t to m ak e a p h o n e  call (p o ssib ly  lo n g ­
distance, possibly o v er several tim e zo n es) 
to find o u t w h e th e r they can use y o u r ILL.

Even if y o u r library d o e s n ot offer a p a r­
ticular service o r re so u rc e  to d istan ce le a rn ­

w  

ers, say so, and, if possible, su g g est an alter­
native. Spell it o u t for e v e ry  reso u rce and 

a us­ervice in clu d ed  o n  y o u r W eb site. T he fol­
low ing ex am p les suggest specific inform ation 
to in c lu d e  for v ario u s ty p e s o f library re ­
so u rces an d  services; you can cu sto m ize an d  
e x p a n d  u p o n  th e s e  re c o m m e n d a tio n s  o n  
y o u r o w n  library’s Web site.

C irc u la tio n
Can d ista n c e  le a rn ers b o rro w  b o o k s from  
y o u r library? For h o w  long? Will you mail 
b o o k s to th em  o r m ust they b e  c h e c k e d  o u t 
o n  ca m p u s only? Must stu d e n ts pay the cost 
o f m ailing th em  back, an d  w h at is th e av er­
age cost? H ow  are recalls h a n d le d , a n d  w h at 
is th e  tim e p e rio d  for re tu rn in g  recalls? If 
p ossible, p ro v id e a w ay  for stu d e n ts to re ­
n e w  th eir b o o k s o n lin e  (this is p o p u la r w ith 
residential b o rro w ers, as w ell).

D o y ou have a rran g em en ts w ith o th e r li­
braries from  w h ich  y o u r stu d e n ts can b o r­
ro w  books? W hat k in d  o f identification will 
th e stu d e n t n e e d  to b o rro w  from  o th e r li­
braries, an d  h o w  will th ey  o b tain  it?

In te r lib r a r y  lo a n /d o c u m e n t d e liv e ry
Can d istan ce learn ers u se y o u r library’s ILL, 
o r are they e x p e c te d  to use their local library’s 
ILL? Will y o u r ILL d e p a rtm e n t retrieve a n d  
s e n d  articles from  y o u r o w n  collection? W hat 
is th e tu rn a ro u n d  time? Is d o c u m e n t delivery

(continued on page 101)
About the author

Julie Linden is research library resident a t the University o f  Massachusetts, Am herst; e-mail: jlinden@library.umass.edu. She 
earned h er MLS in 1998 as a distance s tu d e n t in Syracuse University's Inde p en de n t Study Degree Program.

mailto:jlinden@library.umass.edu


C&RL News ■ February 2000 / 101

workshops presented to OHR and some of 
our ‘affiliates’ were an unqualified success! I 
continue to hear praise for the information 
presented and the on-the-job usefulness of 
this particular workshop. . . . ”

Research libraries ought to consider them­
selves the “special library” for the university 
administration. Any library not pushing its 
client institution forward can be perceived 
as holding it back.

It is important, therefore, to pay attention 
to the administration as the “other client.” 
Ironically, this often-ignored client is the one 
w ho pays the bills. If the adm inistration

(T he lib r a r y ’s W ebsite . . . c o n t .f r o m p a g e 9 9 ) 
available to distance students? What, if any­
thing, does it cost? Provide an online form 
for making ILL/document delivery requests.

Reference services
D on’t make distance students phone for ref­
erence help— they probably w on’t. Provide 
e-mail service, whether you have designated 
one librarian or all your subject specialists to 
provide reference for distance learners. Let 
them know whether and how they can re­
ceive in-depth online consultations.

A cce ssin g  o n lin e  d atab ases
W hich databases can students access re­
motely? Must they have an Internet account 
from your school or can they access the da­
tabases using any Internet service provider? 
Tell them how to get an account from your 
school and note that it may involve long­
distance charges for out-of-area users. If you 
have a proxy server for remote access, give 
them instructions on how to access it. In­
clude an e-mail address and a phone num­
ber for technical help— and expect to get at 
least e-mail. When you’ve identified a tech­
nical problem and solution, add it to the in­
structions or to a troubleshooting section.

If you are able to provide access to only 
a subset o f the databases, suggest alterna­
tives. Will you provide letters o f introduc­
tion so that students can use their local co l­
lege or university libraries? Will you run 
searches for students, and if so, what are the 
parameters o f that service? Encourage stu­
dents to e-mail you for research assistance if 
they cannot access your databases, as you

may be able to suggest other resources that 
will suffice.

Web site o rg a n iza tio n
Putting all this information in one place, on 
a distance learners page, is efficient and will 
be easy to update. Remember, however, that 
W eb users are accustomed to following dif­
ferent paths to reach the same information; 
they will not necessarily start with the dis­
tance learners page. For example, a distance 
learner looking for borrowing policies might 
start on the circulation W eb page. Therefore, 
on the circulation page, create a “circulation 
for distance learners” link to the circulation 
section of your distance learners page.

In those instances where policies are equal 
or very  similar for on-campus and distance 
students, you may wish to say so, in addition 
to providing a referring link. For example: 
“The online ILL form may be used by on- 
campus and distance students with a current 
university ID .”

In creating multiple approaches to the 
same information, the challenges are to pro­
vide useful, but not excessive, redundancy 
and to avoid conflicting information. As poli­
cies change, com b the site to make sure in­
formation is updated throughout; if you have 
a database-driven site, you need only to up­
date the information once in the database. 
The creation of a distance learners page, with 
links to it throughout your Web site, is the 
easiest way to meet these challenges.

And although you want to avoid forcing 
distance students to telephone you for help 
or information, provide phone numbers just 
in case they want to.

Research lib ra rie s o u g h t to 
co n sid e r th e m se lve s the "special 
lib ra ry" fo r th e u n iv e rsity  
a d m in istra tio n . A n y  lib ra ry  not 
p u sh in g  its clie n t in stitu tio n  
fo rw a rd  can be perceived as 
h o ld in g  it back.

knows how valuable the library is from its 
own experience, those bills are more likely 
to get paid. ■