Dear Participants of VC-LI.

Greetings from Neela and Elizabeth.

All good things come to an end and so has this Virtual Conference on Library / Information System and Student Support (VC-LI). In the three months of planning prior to the VC Elizabeth and I had some anxious moments, as it was to be our first experience in moderating such an event. Looking back, we feel that the event was a worthwhile professional experience, we have all learnt from each other, your comments, suggestions and observations have certainly been useful and the VC has certainly given us all a new method of networking and keeping in touch.

Our VC discussions divided distance librarianship into three areas, over the first 3 weeks and the last week served as a means of allowing people who had not been able to make a contribution in time to do so. While we were not able to either cover everything or discuss any particular topic in detail, we covered a lot of ground. A number of persons made some useful suggestions and recommendations for further activities in this area. As President of the Commonwealth Library Association, Elizabeth has undertaken to hold discussions with COL on some of your suggestions with the hope that there can be some sort of further action. Results will not be immediate because of her other commitments but she will so my very best to have something concrete arranged as soon as possible. We were particularly delighted at the large number of registrants, there were more than 150 subscribers from around the world, of whom about 50 of us were active participants. To use this says that there is a tremendous interest in the field. During the last week, while Elizabeth was in Trinidad she was able to speak to some of the participants of the VC, all of them were enthusiastic about the VC and they felt that it was a useful experience. Please remember that the VC has been archived by COL and it is accessible to all VC participants. Elizabeth and I have both experienced the plights of distance learners, as we have been distance learners ourselves. We are therefore able to speak not only from a professional perspective but also as insiders as have had many of the experiences that our students have encountered. Over the last couple of weeks we have learnt a lot from each other. We see the closing of this VC-LI not as an end but a beginning for future contacts as we seek to render quality library and information services to distance learners.

Publicity

The Conference was administered by COL; direct contact by the staff at COL and by the moderators. Electronic postings; print and word-of-mouth were the principal methods used.

Participants

This virtual conference (VC) had 173 participants registered.

Schedule

The time-table (menu) for the VC was as follows:

Week 1: Introduction and overview to DL; Distance librarians and relationships with the other DE stakeholders; and, Management issues and patterns.

Week 2: Services - what is needed; how do you provide them; new strategies and new developments including custodial vs. Facilitating role. Internationalization of DL.

Week 3: Research in DL - what is needed and what are you doing?

Continuing education - CE for DL. Copyright, WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation) and the Y2K and Y2006K requirements (dates by which countries must enact legislation that meets the basic requirements of the WIPO agreement which they have signed).

On a weekly basis the moderators presented the menu with a "teaser" (leader) which served as an appetizer to the "flavor of the week" (topics). This approach was adopted for two purposes:-

1. To serve as a means of having a cohesive discussion; and
2. To encourage and stimulate discussions and comments on specific issues.

In the words of the moderators this approach was designed "to cover a number of issues that we see as being important. This is not to say that comments on other issues will not be appreciated or encouraged at anytime during this VC. We warmly invite you to make any suggestions/comments that you have on any aspect of library and information services to distance learners. Please share your thoughts and views with us. This is what VCs are all about. Our aim is simply to provide a setting for the many important areas that need to be covered by the introduction of issues and topics in a timely and manageable fashion".

From: VC Introductory - Comments: http://www/col.org/forums/vc2

Scope of the Conference

The following topics were the main issues that were raised over the three week period.

Introduction and Overview to Distance Learning

Several key characteristics of distance learning were identified. These were:-

1. The impact of distance education as a system on library delivery, availability and access to library services;
2. The nature of the client base of distance librarianship; the impact of the "invisible" characteristics of distance learners; the fact that services had to be taken/sent to these library clients; and the composition of the client-base;
3. The international spread of distance education and the commercial aspect of distance education services and their impact on library services;
4. The diverse range of subjects taught at a distance, the different levels and terminal points of programmes offered via distance education;
5. The increasing role of information technology (IT) in every aspect of distance education;
6. The challenge to make distance learners information literate;
7. The development pattern of distance education was also seen as impacting on distance librarianship. I.e. dedicated distance education institutions c.f. dual mode educational institutions;
8. The nature of relationships between distance librarians and other distance education stakeholders;

            Management Issues and Policies

The issues indicated above were the major ones raised by the moderators and served as points of departure for discussion and contributions by the participants of the VC.

CONTRIBUTIONS

Issues that evoked considerable participation were:- Management, Services; Research and Continuing Education.

Management

One particularly interesting contribution came from a participant located in Mongolia. The challenges facing the delivery of distance library services in Mongolia were listed as "poor and out-of-date libraries; insufficient texts in the native language; limited access to the Internet - especially challenging for Nomadic communities; low income; an acute paper shortage and the high cost of paper". These challenges adversely affect the delivery of library services to distance learners. They also impact on management studies. While these challenges were from a Mongolia perspective a number of these issues existed in many other Third World Countries. Mention was made of the "hype" associated with electronic communications, for distance learning was not relevant in many Third World contexts.

How large operations are run in developed countries was also shared. A number of institutions shared the home page addresses and some participants reported on their visit to these sites.

Services

A number of participants shared with the VC how they provided services to their students. In developed countries there is a heavy reliance on electronic based service systems. This is supported by post, e-mail, fax, phones - including toll-free activities and/web page contact. In the Third World participants reported that traditional methods, including the postal services, were more prevalent than the higher forms of technology.

Classes in generic library skills are provided through the following modalities - face-to-face; printed material; video or CAL programs. This was seen as an important need.

The use of readers for core materials was suggested - however, attendant issues such as copying, duplication, collation, distribution and copyright were raised. A loan of readers of core materials was reported on by one member of the conference, whereas in many situations these became the property of the student.

A recent graduate requested better guidelines to electronic resources; and also asked how students who are not fortunate to have electronic services readily available might have access to library services. The cost of on-line services was seen as a challenge for many students. A Mega Electronic Library was also recommended instead of having several small electronic resources which duplicated each other.

Collaboration efforts between DE institutions and other libraries - particularly public libraries was also reported on. In addition, we learnt that many DE institutions have satellite collection which provide services to students in remote locations.

A pertinent comment from a participant was "it is clear that the library services offered by the various DTI’s are fundamentally affected or enhanced by the infrastructural facilities that are available in a particular country. There is a wide disparity between multimedia services provided to learners of the developed countries and those of the developing or newly-developed countries. Even amongst those in the later category there are some countries which are far more advanced in using information technologies than others".

Some DE institutions base their services around their web pages. To access these services students need to be registered so that they can get the appropriate protocols to log-in to these services.

The development of user-friendly information packages was also reported on e.g. ROUTES currently under development at the Open University (UK). The activities of the Learner Support Team of this library was also detailed.

An important issue raised was "can the curriculum be defined to include library related work as a compulsory component in DE to encourage the use of the library?" To which a participant replied: "If we do not find a way to make the full range of library resources known and readily available, our collections will become marginalized".

The use of on-going seminars for all on-line students at the end of which two simple assignments were given to test the students comprehensive of the services given by the library, was also shared.

The institutions of some participants were just beginning to organize the collections.

The use of radio as a service facility was discussed. As many people have access to radios, integrating this relatively low-cost medium into library services was raised.

Research

A call was made for more reporting in the literature of what people were ACTUALLY doing instead of what SHOULD take place. The important role of research in distance librarianship was recognised. Distance librarians were encouraged to conduct research in a number of areas. Among the topics highlighted for future research were:-

How students receive material;

• Delivery of reference services, nature of services available/constraints;
• Population served; usage statistics;
• Reader education;
• How best to establish partnerships with the DE stakeholders, e.g. academics and producers.
• Impact of DE on traditional librarians;
• Impact of digital librarians on DE;
• Electronic library and learning issues;
• International issues/perspectives on distance librarianship;
• Information service issues;
• Copyright issues;
• Information needs of distance learners;
• Information seeking behavior of distance learners using institutional, gender, programme and geographical, contexts as comparative points.
• Research in ‘learning environments’ of distance librarianship, libraries, tuitional support, discussion groups etc. How they impact and interact with each other.
• Professional education needs;
• User survey;
• Comparative studies between developed and developing world experiences in all areas.

Continuing Education

Conferences, seminars and other training modules were seen as being very important. The CE aspect of this VC was also highlighted.

One of the suggestions was to have specialized courses in library schools on distance librarianship. Some members felt that this was not necessary as DL’s were not different from other learners. However, given the many issues that were unique to distance librarianship all participants felt that continuing education devoted to distance librarianship was necessary. One participant suggested 2 possible courses. They are:-

1. Administration of distance learning library progress (with funding strategies as a major concept)
2. Services to distance learning students and faculty.

Another participant indicated that the following topics should be included in a curriculum that focuses on DL:

• Introduction to DE system.

• Characteristics of DE librarianship and services for distance learners.

• Skills in information consolidation and re-packing.

• Developing libraries as multimedia resource centres.

• Digital/virtual library systems and their application in DE system.

• Collection development of electronic material.

• Services in digital/virtual library environment: online reference service; interaction through e-mail, list-servers and bulletin boards; online document delivery services; Internet based information services.

Attention was also drawn to the ACRL Guidelines inclusion of a call for library schools to offer distance learning courses in their curricula.

One participant suggested the creation of a list serv. However, reference was made to the existence of several other list serv’s to support the discipline. It was generally felt that such duplication was not necessary. Those participants of the VC who were not already members of a list serv were encourage to become participants of the existing networking channels in the field.

Contributions and Observations

The VC had 173 signed up participants, however many people were "silent" observers in that while they received all of the contributions made to the VC a number of them did not post messages/comments.

From the responses and contributions made to the VC it was clear that there was considerable variation in the distance librarianship background and experiences of participants; for example, two participants indicated that they were not distance librarians but had an interest in the field. A student requested information about training for librarianship which was later followed up by one of the moderators.

Among of the greatest things about this VC were people’s willingness to share ideas, experiences and information. Many participants posted their URL’s and other information about useful sites. Many positive comments were posted to the VC about the exchanges and inter-changes. The challenges of time management made a number of registrants part-time participants, however, many of them stated that they would archive the VC postings with a view to reading them at a later date.

Several encouraging messages/comments/questions were posted by the moderators which seem to have been effective. There were no negative comments.

It was observed that during the first week there was a small number of postings. Towards the end of the VC the number of people actively involved had grown. This is not an uncommon feature of VC’s.

Archive Address

The contributions to the VC are archived at - http://hub.col.org/li/index.html

Follow-up activity by COL in Distance Librarianship

From the discussions and comments it is clear that library and information services to support distance learning is an important issue. COL’s initiative to host this VC is to be applauded. Based on the exchange of ideas that took place during the VC, the moderators would like to suggest the three activities listed below to COL for follow-up activity.