ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries C& RL N e w s ■ F e b ru a r y 2001 / 147 C o l l e g e & R e s e a r c h L i b r a r i e s news Transforming library services to support distance learning Strategies used by the DePaul University Libraries by Frank Cervone and Doris Brown A s is the case in many libraries, the D ePaul University Libraries have b e e n d e v e lo p ­ ing programs an d services to facilitate the university’s overall strategic p lan n in g effort for quite som e time. As the largest C atholic university in the United States, grow th in total n u m b e r o f stu­ dents, course hours offered, a n d n u m b e r o f programs has increased at p h e n o m e n a l rates in the last several years. As a n exam ple, the School of C om puter Science, T elecom m uni­ cations, and Inform ation Systems, w hich is the largest program o f its k in d in the U nited States, experienced 31% grow th in enrollm ent the previous year. Vision 2006 Much of this grow th is attributable to past strategic planning at th e university level. Re­ cently, how ever, the strategic p lan n in g p ro ­ cess has becom e an ev en m ore am bitious activity as the university has m o v ed tow ard a more holistic ap p ro ach to strategizing an d planning for the future. The Vision 2006 plan is a com prehensive, un iv ersity -w id e level document to plan an d m an ag e the university in the next several years an d beyond. A critical an d integral p art o f th e p lan is how the university libraries can su p p o rt b o th the Vision 2006 plan in total a n d o n e o f its major com ponents, th e T echnology Initiative. In ad dition to gen eral issues o f technology, a large p ie c e o f th e T echnology Initiative is d ev o ted to discussing the issues related to providing W eb-enabled interfaces to tradi­ tional classes in addition to d istance learn ­ ing. A m ajor c o m p o n e n t o f the p lan is the rec­ ognition that the university libraries m ust co n ­ tinue to p erfo rm traditional services, b u t at the sam e tim e a d a p t a n d d ev elo p n e w ser­ vices to m eet th e ch anging n eed s o f students an d faculty as the university ex p an d s an d changes. S e r v in g s tu d e n ts a t a d is ta n c e B ecause o f their history in su p p o rtin g five su b u rb an cam puses, international program s, an d co h o rt gro u p s o f students at rem ote lo­ cations, the university libraries already had an infrastructure in place for dealing w ith stu­ d en ts at a distance. This infrastructure e n ­ ables great flexibility that can be a d a p te d an d further d ev e lo p e d to p ro v id e quality services for d istance e d u catio n students. A critical factor in providing distance e d u ­ cation services is the “reinventing” o f services th at ca n n o t b e deliv ered physically in a “re a ­ so n a b le ” am o u n t o f time. Exactly w h at co n ­ stitutes a reasonable am o u n t o f tim e d ep e n d s About the authors Frank Cervone is associate director fo r Library Information Technology Services, e-mail: fcervone@wppost.depaul.edu, and Doris Brown is associate vice p re sid e n t fo r Teaching an d Learning Resources at DePaul University, e-mail: dbrown@wppost. depaul. edu mailto:fcervone@mppost.depaul.edu mailto:dbrown@mppost.depaul.edu 148/C&RL News ■ February 2001 . . . it is critical th a t the libraries provide methods to ease access to the paper collections fo r distance learners. u p o n the service an d th e institution. The b a­ sic m etric against w hich w e judge is that ser­ vices pro v id ed to distance learning students m ust b e equivalent to those that are provided to students o n cam pus. This d o es n o t m ean that these services m ust b e th e sam e o r p ro ­ v id ed in th e sam e m an n er as is d o n e on- cam pus, just that they be equivalent. This reasoning is b ased u p o n the criteria described in th e G uidelines for D istance Edu­ cation o f o u r regional accreditation associa­ tion, the N orth Central Association. G uide­ line 11 is related to library services an d it states that the institution m ust “ensure that students have access to an d can effectively use ap p ro p riate library reso u rces.” Expanding digital collections To d o this, w e reco m m en d several steps and actions to en su re th at the n eed s o f distance learning students are met. R egarding collec­ tions, w e reco m m en d ed th e following: • C ontinue th e m ovem ent to replace or su p p lem en t p a p e r collections w ith electronic collections— this includes b o th b o o k s an d jo u rn a ls. E lectro n ic c o lle c tio n s a re m o re readily available to distance learning students an d are the preferred m eans o f delivery in several colleges a n d schools; therefore, they are the p referred m o d e o f delivery. • C ontinue to build a database o f digital im ages b ased on the existing slide library and pu rch ase digital images. This serves a n u m ­ b e r o f purposes, b u t it serves distance learn­ ing students especially b ecau se the nature of these collections m akes it im possible for them to b e used, in their p resen t form, outside of th e library. • C ontinue to build a n d m aintain th e d a ­ tabase o f selected Internet resources th at are especially ap p ro p riate for o u r curriculum . • Investigate rep lacem en t o f microform w ith digital m edia, as it b eco m es available. Again, b ecau se o f its nature, it is difficult, if not im possible, to u se m icroform outside of th e confines o f the libraries. • M onitor n ew video formats, as they b e ­ com e available, particularly video stream ing, as a m eans o f replacing physical m edia such as VHS. Physical access and delivery Physical access an d delivery is a critical com ­ p o n e n t o f library service. A lthough electronic collections can b e accessed anyw here, p a ­ p e r continues to b e a m edium o f storage an d m an y resources are n o t (an d m ay nev er b e) co nverted to a digital format. B ecause o f this, it is critical that th e libraries provide m eth­ o d s to ease access to th e p a p e r collections for distance learners. In this area, w e recom ­ m e n d e d th e following: • B ooks sho u ld b e sent directly to the d istance learn er by a carrier th at provides rapid service to th e specified location. • All journal articles, w h e th e r req u ested via ILL o r re q u e ste d from a D ePaul library, should be sent directly to the distance learner. T he m ost desirable solution w o u ld b e to e- m ail these items to the requestor, b u t this m ay n o t b e feasible d u e to copyright restric­ tions. • P rovide centralized telep h o n e service for all learn er inquiries. This w o u ld include all functional areas o f th e libraries: reference, circulation questions, general access q u e s­ tions. Ideally, this centralized tele p h o n e ser­ vice w o u ld be a toll-free n u m b e r for learners w ithin th e U nited States. • E nhance th e current e-m ail reference service by im plem enting an online reference chat service th at can provide quick, im m edi­ ate answ ers to learn er’s questions. G iven that m any learners will b e studying at nontradi- tional hours, consideration m ust b e given to h o w this service will address stu d en t’s needs o n a 24/7 basis. • Increase th e instruction role of the li­ brarian to include training in the use o f course m anagem ent software, both through seminars for faculty an d for o n e-o n -o n e help. • C ontinue digitization o f selected uni­ versity archives p a p e r collections. Many of th e collections h o u se d in th e university ar­ chives are unique, a n d providing greater ac­ cess to th em w o u ld b e a great service to dis­ tance learning students. • W ork w ith faculty to increase ado p tio n o f electronic reserves. Increasing the use of electronic reserves rem oves an o th e r barrier C&RL News ■ February 2001 / 149 to access and has the potential for alleviating some of the issues related to journal article delivery. Designing the Web site fo r patrons For all libraries, the W eb site is th e gatew ay to the electronic resources p ro v id ed by the library and is a major (if no t th e m ajor) in­ terface to the services o f th e library. T h ere­ fore, it is of great strategic im portance that the Web site reflects current tren d s in infor­ mation delivery an d h u m an -co m p u ter inter­ action. To do this, a library’s W eb site m ust be easily navigable, visually appealing, u s­ able, instructive for a w id e range o f users, and respond to user requests quickly. It can ­ not be designed for librarians; it m ust be designed for patrons. To accomplish this, w e m ade several rec­ ommendations: • Seek to m ore fully integrate electronic resources with each o ther an d w ith the li­ braries’ existing collections to provide users with an increasingly seamless inform ation e n ­ vironment that reduces, an d ultim ately elimi­ nates, the obstacles betw een information tools and content. This integration should occur through w hatever m eans is appropriate; that is, it may be through the library catalog or through another m echanism m ore a d e p t at integrating diverse forms o f materials. • Work with faculty to fully integrate schol­ arly electronic resources into courses and course content. This includes b o th providing technical assistance in the m echanics o f inte­ grating the resources an d collaboration w ith faculty to select an d integrate the best re­ sources based on particular courses an d fields of study. • Further develop a n d im plem ent online tutorials and online quick guides to electronic resources, research strategies, a n d inform a­ tion literacy. • Work with departm ents to integrate these online tutorials into program s for distance learners. • Expand the range o f resources that link users directly from a citation o r reference to the full-text o f the docum ent. • Continue th e o n g o in g an aly sis o f all service functions (e.g ., re fe re n c e , in s tru c ­ tion, interlibrary lo a n ) to d e te rm in e h o w com puter-based p ro c e s s e s c a n b e b e tte r applied. A lthough there are several signifi­ cant, and poten tially controversial, moves in our recommendations, perhaps the concept of expanding the role of instruction librarians into areas outside o f "inform ation literacy" is the most far-reaching. A lthough there are several significant, and potentially controversial, m oves in o u r rec­ om m endations, p erh ap s the co n cep t o f ex­ p an d in g the role o f instruction librarians into areas outside o f “inform ation literacy” is the m ost far-reaching. Libraries have b e e n buying electronic re­ sources for several years now , but th e inte­ gration of these resources into the teaching curriculum o f universities is n o t as straight­ forw ard as it is for text. Unless librarians are advocating a n d show ing faculty h o w to p e r­ form the integration o f these resources into their course Web sites, there is n o reaso n to ex p ect w ide-scale ado p tio n o r integration. If that is th e case, th e n a question will ev en tu ­ ally arise: W hy are w e ev en buying these things? With tangible materials, such as books, it is easier to justify purchasing m aterials that are rarely u sed , prim arily b e c a u se o f th e sm aller unit cost of each item. With electronic resources, the am o u n t o f m oney sp e n t is far g re a te r a n d m o re e x p o s e d to inquiry. As coursew are m an ag em en t co m p an ies m ake deals w ith preferred v en d o rs an d m ake it sim ple to integrate these preferred resources into faculty Web sites, there is a great danger that only those inform ation resources avail­ able from the preferred v en d o r will b e m ade available to students. It is clear that several transformations will take place in libraries as a result o f the in­ creasing adoption o f distance learning. Many of these transformations are causing a greater integration of services in areas w e thought of as separate individual units. In other areas, the m odes and m ethods o f delivery are changing. But in all cases, the fundam ental mission of the library rem ains the same: to prom ote, as­ sist, and provide access to information services for the entire cam pus community. 150 /C&RL News ■ February 2001 C&RL News ■ February 2001 I 757 152 / C&RL News ■ February 2001 C&RL News ■ February 2001 / 153