Libraries and Distance Education

Standards for Distance Learning Library Services emphasize an equal access of appropriate library resources and services for distance education students to ensure their superior academic achievement.

Twenty-first century technologies allow libraries provide their services 24/7 with the potential to achieve high level of expertise ( Guidelines for E-Reference Library Services ).
Middleton, M & Peacoc, J. in “Library Services to External Students from Australian Universities”(The Reference Librarian , No. 69/70, 2000, pp. 205-217) provide many examples how libraries meet the above mentioned standards, such as assigning distance student librarians, making arrangements with local libraries, videoconferencing, providing instructions how to use online databases, etc.
 Among other librarians and authors, Meredith Farkas (The Desk and Beyond) highlights the role of embedded librarian and embedded library in providing library services in online courseware, such as Blackboard, WebCT, and others. For online students a course management system (CMS) is the central space for learning, and, in many cases, the only one. Academic libraries invest a significant part of the budget into online library services, such as synchronous virtual reference, but if students are not aware of them, the investment is not worth it. The integration of the CMS and library would definitely bring undeniable benefits to distance learners.
Lockerby, R. & Stillwell, B. from San Diego National University Library (“Retooling Library Services for Online Students in Tough Economic Times”, Journal of Library Administration , October/December 2010, Vol. 50 Issue 7/8, p779-788) share the experience of meeting a challenge of providing quality library services to increasing numbers of online students within the  budget constraints. Just a few out of many successful decisions were a newly established Multimedia Department, developed tutorials and online learning materials, assigned an outreach librarian position, expanded the roles of liaison librarians.
The Brooklyn Campus library can serve as another positive example of integrating technological solutions into library services for online students (Wang, Z. &Tremblay, P., “Going Global: Providing Library Resources and Services to International Sites”, Journal of Library Administration; January/March 2009, Vol. 49 Issue 1/2, p171-185). LivePerson software is being used to chat with or send e-mails to a reference librarian; Interlibrary Loan Journal Request forms enable distance education students submit a request at any time.
Virtual reference services, simplified remote access to licensed indexes and full text, purchases of electronic texts for non-circulating print titles, patron-initiated requests, document delivery, reciprocal borrowing, library blogs, wikis, RSS, and other library services for distance learners are shaping and influencing the organization. Many more online services are to evolve over the coming years along with those that we already provide. Without a doubt, all of them are of great importance and value for distance education students.