ONLINE INFORMATION ENVIRONMENTS IN THE UK FURTHER EDUCATION SECTOR

Abstract

This study reports the outcomes of two investigations funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) into the nature of the information environments provided by libraries and librarians in the further education sector in the United Kingdom. The work was undertaken as part of the EDNER+ project carried out by the Centre for Research in Library and Information Management to continue and complete the work of the EDNER project. Over a four-year period these two projects provided in-depth formative evaluation of the emerging JISC Distributed National Electronic Resource, which evolved into the current JISC Information Environment. The investigation sheds light upon the current state of online resource provision in the further education library sector, and in particular the urgent need for the development of new resources in specific subject areas.