Distance Librarians Research Articles

On the Edge: How to Provide Course- and Program-Integrated Library Support Without Being Embedded

Distance librarians working with an online doctoral program at Johns Hopkins University are asked by both students and faculty to provide a large amount of library support – without being embedded into the curriculum or the individual courses. Program administrators and faculty were resistant to allow librarians into the course management system (CMS), denying them access to discussion boards, assignment updates, and course content, but still expected a high level of student support. Over a three-year period, librarians respond by creating a “halo” of library services to support students at point of need that existed outside of the CMS, but was still highly integrated into the program. Librarians explore the importance of scaffolding and linking disparate services to complement each other, building a halo of support. Student need is at the center of the plan, focusing on collaborative teaching and reflection as well as student centered learning.

Online students' use of virtual reference services

ABSTRACTCentral Michigan University (CMU) provides a unique opportunity to study the impact of the move from face-to-face to online classes on student use of virtual reference services. As enrollments in face-to-face, off-campus classes declined between 2010 and 2016, the number of reference questions asked of the distance librarians declined at a strikingly similar rate, despite the fact that online enrollments increased substantially during this period. This shift in the distance-student population has already had implications for the organizational structure of the CMU Libraries.

Retention of Adult and Traditional Learners: Library Strategies for Student Success

ABSTRACTNontraditional adult learners are often treated as separate and distinct in their needs and desires from more traditionally-aged college students. As retention continues to be a critical issue for colleges and universities, academic units and departments turn their focus to student success. This review article examines strategies that institutions have taken to increase students' self-efficacy and engagement, and compares their usefulness for both nontraditional and traditional learners. These strategies are viewed through the lens of the academic library with suggestions for how distance librarians can support the institution in its retention efforts and the students themselves in their own success.

Distance Educators and Librarians

Well-developed research skills are essential to our student's educational success. For a generation that will create more information than was created by all those who came before them access to information is not an issue, at least for those on the access side of the digital divide. However as that wealth of information grows so does the need for the skill sets that allows one to pull the drops of needed information from the ocean that they have available to search. Students, who have not known a world without Google, smart phones, and abundant wireless internet access, often feel their research skills are good enough but usually fail, not in the search for information, but in the ability to determine what the best information is and how to find it most efficiently. Online library research classes are one of the best methods for providing students with the skills they need to succeed. Designing, implementing, and teaching library research classes allows librarians to communicate research skills that meet our students at their point of need. This paper will provide an examination of the benefits for students, libraries and faculty in providing these classes, an overview on how they can be structured to meet the information literacy needs of any student and basic information on how to create library research classes at any institution of higher education.

Listen to What You Cannot Hear, Observe What You Cannot See: An Introduction to Evidence-Based Methods for Evaluating and Enhancing the User Experience in Distance Library Services

Distance librarians often do not have the opportunity to engage face-to-face with users of library services. Without this personal interaction, it can be difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of library services in meeting the needs of the distance learners. Distance librarians may not realize it, but most have a wealth of information at their fingertips. In particular, data can be extracted and behavior use patterns discerned through Web analytics, transaction log analysis, and qualitative analysis of virtual reference transcripts. In lieu of interpersonal communication, distance librarians can listen to and observe user behavior through these evaluation methods. This paper offers an introductory perspective of these methods for the purpose of measuring the effectiveness of various service points and planning a course of action for enhancing the user experience in distance library services.

Authentic Assessments: Praxis for the Distance Librarian

Distance librarians continually develop information literacy instruction in a variety of formats. Assessment, when it occurs, tends to be of the traditional multiple-choice variety and does not measure more complex skills. Authentic assessments offer the instruction librarian a way to re-think their instruction strategies and assessment of student learning. The characteristics of authentic assessments are presented along with the use of threshold concepts as a theoretical framework for making decisions about when to employ authentic assessments. In addition, a method will be presented for breaking down more abstract information literacy concepts in ways that yield measurable tasks for students to complete along with criteria for assessment.

Distance Students' Attitude Toward Library Help Seeking

Distance students' attitude toward seeking library help was examined in a medium sized university. A web-based survey was conducted for indentifying library help seeking attitudes among distance students. A 30-mile radius of the campus was used to arbitrarily distinguish between near campus and far campus groups. The study concluded that distance students who visit library and seek help more frequently are more likely have higher self-efficacy on learning. Among all types of library help sources, Libguides were the most used. Near campus students preferred face-to-face consultation more than virtual service, and they also tend to seek help from peers. However, far campus students were more likely seek help with a distance librarian. Email continued to be the most common way of distributing and receiving library information. Social network tools for information seeking were not appreciated as had been anticipated. Implications of the findings for providing effective reference service are discussed. There is not one reference service model that fits all. A library should determine the best reference service that meets the changes of their communities and library's function over time.

Free and Easy to Use Web Based Presentation and Classroom Tools

A number of free Web-based tools are available for distance librarians to create presentations and online assignments. The relative merits of presentation tools like Dabbleboard, Jing, Prezi, Tildee, 280 Slides, and Glogster, and classroom tools like Make Beliefs Comix, Picviewer, Photopeach, and Wordle are assessed for ease of use by distance librarians. Because most of these applications are cloud based, little or no downloading is required to use these applications from any PC. As long as one has an Internet connection, distance librarians can use these free and easy tools to reach out and touch students!

Collegial Librarians: The Faculty-Librarian-Student Partnership in Distance Education

Distance librarians working with graduate programs often discover many of their students have specialized information needs and require additional instruction. However, it can be impossible to discover these students without first becoming deeply involved with the program. Librarians at Benedictine University have developed a method for becoming professional colleagues with graduate faculty, which begins with identifying opportunities to form relationships with them and becoming involved with new programs. The second step is orientation, involving social contact and personalizing the librarian-student relationship, allowing students to realize their librarians are part of the community of engaged experts that they can draw upon. Step three is to develop an individual counseling/coaching relationship with those students who need additional mentoring. Distance services librarians can become empowered to act as instructional partners with both faculty and students through this personalizing approach to the research process.

Continuing Education for Distance Librarians

Distance librarians as engaged professionals work in a complex environment of changes in technologies, user expectations, and institutional goals. They strive to keep current with skills and competencies to support distance learners. This article provides a selection of continuing education opportunities for distance librarians, and is relevant for all practicing librarians. Suggestions include physical and virtual conferences, professional journals for reflective reading, short-term webinars about current topics and innovative approaches, blogs for sharing ideas, and discussion and interest groups for networking with colleagues about best practices, leadership, and serving academic populations.

Time Zones, Screencasts, and Becoming Real: Lessons Learned as a Distance Librarian

The library literature abounds with articles, presentations, and books on using various sorts of distance learning tools and techniques for library services. (I direct you to the excellent 5th Bibliography of Library Services for Distance Learning Resources from the Distance Learning Section of ACRL or practically any library conference proceedings for numerous examples.) Many of those resources will discuss how a particular type of tool, say, webchat, can be used for library services, with examples of successful, and sometimes unsuccessful, use in various types of libraries. I have, however, very rarely seen any discussion of when to use such tools, or any theoretical discussion of why some tools work better than others in different situations. This article lays out the conclusions and suppositions I have come to in 7 years of being a distance librarian (plus several extra years working intensively with commuter students and with the benefit of a Master’s degree in Adult Education and Distance Learning), in the hopes of spurring a new discussion and new research into both how and when to use different types of tools and techniques.

Outreach to Distance Students: A Case Study of a New Distance Librarian

This paper looks at the author's outreach efforts as a distance librarian to encourage library use among a distance student population that comprises satellite locations, students attending online, students attending courses through instructional television, and students attending hybrid courses. Outcomes of the author's outreach attempts and research demonstrating what other librarians have done to reach out to their distance population are discussed. Examples of outreach methods include: collaborating with faculty to blend information literacy instruction into a face-to-face subject specific distance classroom, embedding the librarian into a subject specific class via course management software, and using the reference interview to provide electronic research help to a class. Many distance students never enter the physical library. Librarians serving a distance population are forced to be creative in outreach efforts.

Spatial Metaphors and Distance Learning Library Services: Why “Where” Makes a Difference

ABSTRACT A close analysis of spatial metaphors used in distance education, such as “distant” education and “extended” courses, shows how these metaphors affect the design and goals of distance education library services. While some metaphors emphasize the possibilities of growth and communication, other metaphors continue to emphasize the isolation of distance learners. Distance librarians can reduce students’ confusion and forge new concepts about distance library services with thoughtful choices of metaphors.

Who Trains Distance Librarians? A Study of the Training and Development Needs of Distance Learning Librarians

ABSTRACT Distance librarianship is continuing to grow in importance in the life of academic libraries. Institutions are being driven to take their programs to the students as a matter of economic survival. In libraries with a history of serving distance learners as well as residential students, the service requests from off-campus audiences have long surpassed those on campus. In addition, academic institutions are offering online courses to their residential students at an ever-increasing rate, which creates a new category of distance learning student. How do librarians obtain the training they need to serve this growing user base? This article looks at the crosspollination of the variety of librarians and program foci targeted at reaching all students with quality support and service. The results of this study may provide a framework for training that can be developed by DLS, LITA, or suggested as an addition to library graduate education.

The Subject Specialist Librarian's Role in Providing Distance Learning Services

ABSTRACT Subject specialist librarians play a role in providing resources and services to distance students. The authors surveyed subject librarians and distance librarians, examining how and to what extent subject librarians provide service to distance learners.

Going the Distance: Library Instruction for Remote Learners (review)

Reviewed by: Going the Distance: Library Instruction for Remote Learners Thomas E. Abbott Going the Distance: Library Instruction for Remote Learners, ed. Susan J. Clayton . New York: Neal-Shuman Publishers, Inc., 2006. 225p. $65 soft cover (ISBN 1-55570-592-8) Going the Distance is a useful compilation of thoughts, ideas, and means of delivering instruction to the growing population of new distance learners. The 20 contributors are all in the business of delivering such instruction or otherwise playing a major policy role in the distance learning process at their institutions. The book provides insight about an array of useful tools and models for the distance learning librarian, academic and student development staff who support this growing population, and even distance students themselves. It is especially valuable for the librarian and off-campus administrator beginning or expanding programming for distance students. The book opens with chapters on designing effective instruction. The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Guidelines for Distance Learning Library Services are referenced, as are six model institutions. The value of matching distance delivery technique with individual learning theory, as well as the power of social learning experiences for adults, are emphasized. Authors discuss flexible teaching processes that open channels of communication and engage the student, including an in-person (or [End Page 496] at least personal) presence with distance students. Part 1 also includes chapters on copyright and plagiarism, focusing on how to deal effectively with what seems at times like a losing battle to maintain an ethical balance between "free" copying and the concept of reasonable fair use with attribution. Bravo to the authors of these two chapters for their direct approach to a growing problem. Part 2 of the book, "Delivering Distance Instruction," covers a wealth of practical techniques and Web-access ideas that will help make library instruction for the distance student useful and meaningful. Technology is vital to making things happen, but all contributors agree that technology tools are there to support ideas and make the approach more flexible and durable for different audiences; they are not a fixed set of "boxes" into which one must jam ideas. For my library colleagues, I would call attention to the great advice and examples provided in this part of the book. Contributors guide the reader from feeling like a non-techie to feeling comfortable with online tutorials, virtual tours, building Web sites for specific disciplines, and becoming a knowledgeable advocate for the distant student. Part 3 of the book, "Collaborating for Distance Instruction," provides a good summary of approaches for partnering with discipline-based faculty members and instructional designers, as well as means for marketing library instruction. Collaboration is a recurring theme in the publication and a worthy one; we need to engage students as well as the faculty members who teach the course content and the administrative leaders who, in many cases, rarely see what actually happens at the far end of the distance learning pipeline. In the ideal environment, the distance librarian is treated as a full partner with the discipline faculty member in the preparation of an information literate student. The book concludes with an important but often overlooked topic—assessment of what we do. For years, with the steady pressure from accrediting agencies, funding agencies, and legislative bodies, we have all begun work on assessment of student learning outcomes. Most of us have designed the data collection models and even collected some information. What has not happened to any great extent is the application of those findings—that is, how we make what we do work for the student. It is one thing to do a pre- and post-test before and after an instruction session and call it assessment. It is quite another to consider whether library-use instruction during orientation, writing classes, and even upper level research courses has had an impact on our students' information literacy and research ability by the time of graduation. Read these chapters carefully, design your outcome goals, and then figure out how to collect and use the information—and be sure to publish it for the rest of us. If there is a challenge presented in Going the Distance, it is the...

Assessing the Professional Development Needs of Distance Librarians in Academic Libraries

Professional development is essential for academic librarians to keep current with skills, knowledge, and competencies in rapidly changing times. The authors surveyed distance librarians in academic libraries to determine their professional development needs. Respondents were asked to indicate which professional development activities they are currently participating in and those they are likely to engage in within the next five years. Findings from the survey will inform library administrators, distance librarians, and professional associations of the professional development needs of distance librarians. doi:10.1300/J111v45n01_05

Creating an Informational CD for Distance Clinical Laboratory Science Students

Traditionally the distance clinical laboratory science students visit Winston-Salem State University three or four times during the course of the semester. These visits are usually for orientation and testing purposes. While the students are aware that there is a library on campus, they are not familiar with all of the library's electronic resources that they have access to from their home computers. The distance and health science librarians decided to collaborate to design an informational CD-ROM specifically for these students.

Blogging for the Distance Librarian

Based on user lookups, Merriam-Webster Onlineproclaimed “Blog” the word of the year for 2004.1 Distance librarianship, until mid-way through 2004, was a subject that was underrepresented in the blogosphere. The inception of a blog called The Distant Librarian: Comments on the World of Distance Librarianshipis chronicled in this article, along with suggestions for how and where to get started, as well as how to incorporate blogs that support library services for distance students.

Ask a UT System Librarian

SUMMARY University of Texas System libraries initiated a chat reference program to support distance learners enrolled at University of Texas component institutions, including the UT Telecampus Digital Library. Librarians at several geographically distant campuses staffed the collaborative chat reference service. Librarians assisted students at other UT System campuses, in effect becoming “distance librarians” who must have thorough knowledge of both their own library resources and the resources available at other campus libraries. Librarians at The University of Texas at San Antonio share their experiences with this collaborative chat reference service.