Author: Margaret Small

University of New England

Keywords: Australian Library and Information Association, Open Learning Australia, virtual libraries, virtual teaching, virtual university, Internet, collaboration, distance education, Open Learning Agency Canada, University of Pheonix Online Campus, University of California Berkeley Extension, Mind Extension University of Denver, International University, Colorado State University Fort Collins, California State University Monterey Campus.

Article style and source: Moderated. Original ultiBASE publication.

Contents

• Background
• Changing role of libraries
• Virtual universities and their information services
• What is the role of libraries in virtual universities?

Background

In June and July 1996 I was fortunate in being able to visit a number of universities in the USA and Canada, as part of the 1996 Australian Library and Information Association Study Grant Award. My travel was also supported by Open Learning Australia. The purpose of my trip was to investigate the role of libraries as electronic services and as physical facilities in the context of the virtual university. I visited ten institutions in California, Colorado and British Columbia, which together gave me a number of perspectives on developing virtual teaching and virtual librarianship.

The Author outside the National Technological University

Changing role of libraries

Collaborative arrangements between university libraries (largely at the initiative of librarians) have developed to allow resources to be shared - for example the Metropolitan Universities Borrowing Agreement (MUBA) scheme which allows the students of any university in Sydney to borrow from the library of any other university at a nominal annual cost to the student. Another is the Electronic Library Network (ELN), which provides access to the collections of sixty-four post-secondary and public libraries throughout British Columbia and to a range of electronic databases and online document requesting and rapid delivery services. The rapid growth of inter-library loan is also an indication of the inter-relationship of information resources. The number of items supplied to other libraries by my own institution, the University of New England, rose 288% from 1976 to 1996 while the number received from other libraries rose 344% in the same period.

Libraries are changing rapidly in the way in which they provide information. In my own library, a computerised catalogue for the use of our clients was introduced in 1984. For some time, a lone terminal was the sole on-line access point to the catalogue, which most users consulted in a microfiche version. Today the microfiche catalogue is a dim memory and our clients consult the catalogue from numerous terminals scattered around the library building, from public computer laboratories around the campus, from networked computers in their offices and college rooms and via the Internet from home.

Not only has access to libraries' own catalogues changed fundamentally, so has access to other databases and full text versions of serials and monographs. The University of New England purchased its first CD-ROM database (ERIC) in 1988; today a large number of print bibliographies have been replaced by CD-ROMs or by subscriptions to databases mounted elsewhere (eg Current Contents and Carl UnCover). Publishers are now offering electronic access to the texts of their serials either with a subscription to the print version of the publication, or as a substitute for it. Public Internet terminals are commonplace, not only in university libraries but also in public, school and TAFE libraries.

Virtual Universities and their Information Services

Some virtual universities and their approach to the provision of information services are described below.

The National Technological University was founded in 1984 to serve the advanced educational needs of engineers, scientists and technical managers and is a consortium of educational institutions and industry organisations. Courses are delivered to television receive-only terminals in corporate sites. Sponsoring organisations provide classrooms, computer access to selected equipment, laboratories, telecommunications equipment and educational personnel. Electronic mail and other more conventional communication media are the principal means of interaction between students and instructors.

NTU students are, for all intents and purposes, students of the institution teaching the course which they are currently studying, even though NTU actually enrols them and confers their degree. Given the very large number of courses on offer, individual students may be dealing with a number of institutions during their period of enrolment with NTU. This has the potential to cause difficulties for library support, as many participating institutions do not provide an off-campus library service. NTU will provide letters of introduction to libraries upon request and it is expected that in most cases the student's employer will have a technical library which the student can use. NTU's view is that increasing availability of electronic resources will meet students' needs without NTU's intervention.

Although its use of the Internet for teaching purposes was not large in 1996, NTU is representative of emerging virtual universities. The model of a coordinating institution (in NTU's case, also an award-granting institution) drawing courses from a range of participating institutions is that also adopted by Open Learning Australia and the Open Learning Agency, Canada. The difficulties of providing good library support may be illustrated by considering the approaches adopted by these two institutions.

Open Learning Australia originally contracted with the libraries of the various course providers to supply a library service to any OLA student wishing to use that library. From the beginning of 1997, a contract has been awarded to the University of South Australia, which now offers a library service to all OLA students.

The Open Learning Agency, Burnaby, British Columbia also contracts a single library to service its students, in their case the library of nearby Simon Fraser University. The Agency has staff who work in the Simon Fraser library servicing student requests for material, and pays in addition a fee for the use of facilities.

The University of Phoenix Online Campus is another model for the virtual university. The University of Phoenix has forty-seven campuses, of which forty-five are on-campus teaching institutions located mainly throughout the south-western USA. A conventional distance education campus operates from Phoenix, while the Online Campus is located in San Francisco. UP was founded as a private university in 1976, aimed specifically at adult students. With around 36,000 students, it is now the second largest private university in the USA.

The Online Campus has around 1500 students in business and management programs. Students log in using a modem or the Internet, to download teaching material, participate in discussion groups, consult bulletin boards and contact fellow students and teachers by email. Assignments are transmitted electronically.

The University of Phoenix does not have a library at any of its campuses, although some have appointed librarians to their staff. The Learning Resource Center (LRC) with a staff of nine is located in Phoenix and provides a virtual library of Internet based links to information resources including a number of electronic databases. The various campuses have public terminals which students may use to consult the LRC and UPO students can access it directly. The LRC will undertake subject searches and will deliver photocopies of journal articles by fax or mail. Links are also provided to some commercial document delivery services (eg CARL UnCover) from which students may obtain journal articles directly (at their own expense). This approach to a library service has been accepted by the accrediting agency (North-Central Association) as meeting students' needs.

Other virtual universities (and conventional universities seeking to teach virtually) have sought other solutions to the provision of information to their students. Some of these are:

The University of California Berkeley Extension, which teaches extension courses using traditional print distance education materials, evening and weekend classes and via the Internet, does not provide a library service or access to such a service.

The Mind Extension University (now JEC College Connection), Denver delivers courses using cable television combined with other distance education methods: the courses are provided by accredited colleges and universities. JEC does not provide a library service, depending on the course providers to do so for their students.

The International University (IU), like JEC College Connection is a member of the Jones International Group of companies and offers courses through that organisation. IC does not provide a library service, but it does have an arrangement with the University of Denver to do so.

Mainstream universities, such as Colorado State University Fort Collins and Simon Fraser University, Vancouver offer their "virtual" students the same services as are available to their regular off-campus students

California State University Monterey Campus is a campus which is consciously electronic. Implicit in their plans to develop extensive off-campus programs is the expectation of providing similar access to distant students as are offered for those who are on-campus.

What is the Role of Libraries in Virtual Universities?

If educators in virtual universities see libraries as physical stores of recorded information, it is understandable that they reject the idea that they need to establish libraries for their students and staff.

It is important to look beyond this view of libraries to their central functions of:

• identifying and collecting information (in any form) relevant to the needs of their clients;
• providing access to this information in ways which are efficient and effective for their clients;
• training their clients in efficient and effective ways of accessing and using this information.

A library could, therefore, consist of a WWW homepage with links to relevant resources including information held at other WWW sites; library catalogues; electronic databases; full text publications, some of which the library would purchase as locally mounted CD-ROMs or as subscriptions to services mounted elsewhere.

It would also have forms with which users would request the loan of books found in library catalogues (not necessarily that of the institution with which the user is associated), printed copies of journal articles identified using electronic databases and advice on finding information. The homepage would also provide information on search strategies, the library's policies and other matters of relevance to users.

In many ways, such a service may seem to resemble many homepages established already on the WWW. There are two crucial differences:

1. The specific information skills which librarians have in terms of the selection of sources, the organisation of access to them and instruction in their use
2. The physical resources which are available through the cooperation of libraries world wide.

The challenge for libraries of all universities, virtual and real, is to find ways in which printed and electronic sources of information can be integrated in a coherent and seamless way. University academics and administrators must be prepared to work with librarians in meeting this challenge through:

• a team approach to course development involving librarians and information technology staff;
• provision of adequate level of funding for libraries;
• provision of excellent electronic access to the university and hence to the library;
• acceptance of the library's role in developing the information literacy skills of students.

Virtual universities cannot ignore the fact that their students need access to information beyond the course material provided and that this access is not easily or cheaply provided. Virtual universities are well advised to include on their staff experienced librarians and to plan to provide access to information sources in a more coherent way than does unguided use of the Internet.

About the author

Email: msmall@metz.une.edu.au