Distance Learning and Libraries Thomas W. Shaughnessy University Librarian, University of Minnesota For several decades, colleges and universities have been engaged in distance education, although it is only in recent years that this terminology has come into widespread use. Previously, correspondence classes were the major vehicle for serving students who, because of distance, work schedules, or other reasons, were unable to attend traditional classes. More recently however, distance education has come to encompass the entire range of arrangements for delivering instruction via printed or electronic media to students at a place and/or time different from that of the instructor. [1] Indeed, the greater focus on the needs of students has caused "distance learning" to become the terms of choice instead of "distance education." Because of a number of factors, many of which are cited below, distance learning has moved rapidly from being at the periphery of higher education to the foreground. Moreover, some experts are predicting that most college and university classes will be offered to distance learners in addition to traditional classroom presentations. Among the several reasons for this dramatic shift are: (1) The changing nature of the student body: from 18-23 year old full- time students to part-time students who are life-long learners, but who cannot easily travel to a campus and/or whose work schedules or other responsibilities prevent regular class attendance. (2) Advances in (or at least the promise of) telecommunications and multimedia technologies: video server models along with fiber optics and ATM applications can provide interactive, full motion video. Students from virtually any place on the globe will be able to participate fully in classroom presentations, discussions, and other avenues for learning. (3) The wide availability of Internet access: while not nearly as effective an educational delivery system at this time as full motion interactive video, the Internet has been found to be a very important supplement to packaged or modularized instruction. Electronic mail via the Internet is increasingly being used to make learning more accessible. (4) Instructional multi-media courseware packaged on diskettes or on CD-ROM (or videotape, audio tape, or combinations of formats): allows for some degree of interaction, learner involvement, and feedback while providing a rich array of information resources, including the texts of articles, photos, audio, film and video excerpts, images, etc. One of the major advantages of multi-media courseware is that it can be accessed at any time, at any place, and at any pace, provided the learner has available the prerequisite equipment (e.g. CD-ROM reader). (5) Cost savings or cost efficiencies: achieved by reaching many more students at sites around the world. (6) Competition for students and market share: not simply with other universities, but with commercial providers of educational courses and products. Models of Library Support for Distance Learning Programs For the most part, the record of library support for distance learning has been mixed. With all too few exceptions, students enrolled in these programs have had to fend for themselves with respect to acquiring relevant library services and collections. Public libraries appear to have borne the brunt of service demands from distance learners, but other types of libraries have also struggled to meet the needs of students who often have no affiliation with the particular library they are using. It is ironic for some academic libraries to protest the heavy use made by students who are enrolled in courses offered by other institutions of higher education, when they make no provision to meet the library needs of their institution's students who are enrolled in far-flung distance learning programs. Some of these issues were addressed by the Association of College and Research Libraries, which issued in 1981 Guidelines for Extended Campus Library Services (revised and updated in 1990). The Guidelines underscore the parent institution's responsibility "for providing support which addresses the information needs of its extended campus programs." [2] Before the advent of systems for remote interactive electronic delivery systems, libraries supported distance learning by compiling packets of course related readings, by placing deposit collections at the sites where classes were offered and which could easily be moved or refreshed as needed, and by providing interlibrary loan service via a library that was close to where classes were being offered. In some instances, particularly where there was not convenient access to a local library, books and articles were mailed directly to the student, or copies of required readings were attached to course syllabi and mailed to students. None of these approaches, however, resulted in library services that approximated those that were available at the campus library. There was always a lack of interactive service: reference service that could provide point-of-need assistance, instruction, and orientation to a research topic. Consequently, there tended to be a definite qualitative difference between courses offered to distance learners and those offered in a traditional campus setting. The conversion of library card catalogs to a machine readable format helped narrow this gap to some extent. Distance learners are now able to search the catalogs of libraries by means of computers equipped with modems and to request items found therein via interlibrary loan. (Document delivery continues to be a weak link in library service effectiveness, however, and will require considerable improvement.) Moreover, many online library catalogs now include citations to periodical articles and even the full-text of some articles, as well as electronic dictionaries and encyclopedias. These online systems deliver information to the student when it is needed in electronic text and/or image files. However, students need to have access to computers at the local level and the necessary connectivity if they are to take advantage of these capabilities. As distance learning programs become more technology-based and more interactive in real time, the services that support student learningQ library services as well as counseling, advisement, and other student servicesQneed to be made available to these learners in as transparent a manner as possible. Otherwise, these programs will continue to run the risk of being inferior to those offered in a more traditional manner. More importantly, as distance learning begins to take center stage on some of our campuses, the delivery systems associated with it are likely to become the instructional methods of choice for most higher education courses! Several studies have shown that whereas students retain only a small percentage of what is presented via the lecture method, considerably more is retained when students are more fully engaged in the educational process. The ability of educational delivery systems to integrate sound, video, text, and image, and to make the information available at a pace suitable to individual learning patterns and styles is expected to revolutionize on-site classroom instruction as well as distance learning. From the library's perspective, text and digitized image files, sound recordings, videos, and CD-ROM resources can easily be incorporated into this new learning environment. Many libraries are already offering reference services via electronic mail, while others are designing user- friendly front ends to facilitate unmediated access to databases and other online resources. For more specialized assistance, it is possible for students at remote locations to link with librarians in jointly searching online files in real time. In these situations, the information appearing on the librarian's computer can be simultaneously viewed and manipulated by the student using his/her own computer. Reference service offered in such an individualized manner would be superior, in many instances, to the service offered on-site in many libraries. Issues for Libraries Although distance learning enjoys an extremely bright future because of the growing numbers of non-traditional students and life-long learners, the development of the National Information Infrastructure, and the implementation of new technology-based delivery systems and networked access to information resources, it will require considerable investments in campus infrastructure, telecommunications, digital libraries, computing, and faculty and staff re-education. Faculty will need to learn, for example, how to incorporate information technologies into their classes and educate students in entirely new ways. Librarians will need to participate on instructional design teams so that appropriate library resources might be delivered to remote students as integral parts (versus the supplemental readings approach) of their instruction. Copyright and fair use are additional issues that need to be resolved. Libraries must operate within the law while at the same time they work to make their resources as accessible as possible to all of their respective constituents, regardless of their location. In institutions that are not as far along the instructional technology continuum, it will continue to be important for librarians to identify those on their campuses who are engaged in distance learning and to suggest how students might access appropriate library resources and services from the institution's library or through arrangements that have been made (or will need to be made) with local libraries in the area where classes for distance learners are offered. If it is true that distance learning programs are a model for the future of higher education in that they are distance and time independent, customer focused, and more relevant to the needs of the workplace, then our libraries need to find ways of more effectively meeting the needs of this new type of education. New cooperative agreements and alliances among libraries will need to be established and distinctions among types of libraries and library jurisdictions will need to become blurred if we are to more effectively meet the needs of our student-customers. These political issues will need to receive much more attention than they have thus far. A Scenario for Future Development As higher education becomes viewed as being a commodity which customers (students) may buy from a variety of sources - higher education institutions and corporations - it is possible to visualize a situation in which students may enroll for classes taught electronically by a variety of institutions. The concept of "classroom time" may come to be viewed as a quaint anachronism when considered against the capacity of universities and their competitors to deliver instruction electronically.[3] It is possible to imagine, furthermore, that the very best faculty from around the world will offer classes via full- motion interactive video, through packaged instruction on CD-ROM, or through some other combination of computing and telecommunications systems. Classes that are now offered electronically to the staff of multinational corporations may also be offered for credit to students from around the world. A number of software suppliers and cable conglomerates have already indicated a strong interest in the educational market. These firms have substantial capital and talent to invest, possibly "more capital than higher education has invested in instructional programs over the last three decades."[4] It is conceivable that in the future, universities will have tens of thousands of students from around the world, most of whom may never set foot on a campus. In fact, distance learning may become the standard method by which learning takes place, rather than a secondary or fringe activity. As new developments continue to occur in areas such as wireless communication, multi-media applications, simulations, and virtual reality, it is likely that even laboratory-intensive classes will be offered electronically. Some experts in higher education are suggesting that distance learning will bring about a major shake-out among comprehensive research universities, and that in 20 to 30 years, their numbers might significantly decline. While these universities possess the intellectual capital to compete in the emerging educational marketplace, too often they lack the leadership or incentive to adapt.[5] The search for a more accessible set of educational products has not been translated into a sense of urgency within most institutions. It seems safe to predict that those institutions which will flourish in this changing environment will have capitalized on distance learning to meet the needs of the marketplace, and will have formed alliances through which their individual human, technological, and library resources might be leveraged to meet the needs of society. This is clearly an agenda to which librarians have much to contribute. There are few groups on our campuses that have as much experience as librarians in meeting the individual needs of learners, in capitalizing on new technologies to meet those needs, or in crafting and operating inter-institutional programs. Distance learning provides opportunities to libraries and librarians that they cannot afford to miss! Footnotes --------- [1] Michael G. Moore, "Introduction," in Contemporary Issues in American Distance Education, edited by Michael G. Moore. New York: Pergamon, 1990, p.xv. [2] "ACRL Guidelines for Extended Campus Library Services" C&RL News, (April, 1990), p. 354. [3] "To Dance with Change." Policy Perspectives (The Pew Higher Education Roundtable Sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trust). 5,3 (April 1994), pp. 3A-4A. [4] Ibid., p. 3A. [5] Ibid., p. 4A.