Exploring the Digital Library E-Book

Kay Johnson

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Serie: Online Teaching and Learning Series (OTL)
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 265

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2009

Beschreibung

Exploring the Digital Library, a volume in The Jossey-Bass Online Teaching and Learning series, addresses the key issue of library services for faculty and their students in the online learning environment. Written by librarians at Athabasca University, a leading institution in distance education, this book shows how faculty can effectively use digital libraries in their day-to-day work and in the design of electronic courses. Exploring the Digital Library is filled with information, ideas, and * Discusses how information and communication technologies are transforming scholarship communication * Provides suggestions for integrating digital libraries into teaching and course development * Describes approaches to promoting information literacy skills and integrating these skills across the curriculum * Outlines the skills and knowledge required in digital library use * Suggests opportunities for faculty and librarians to collaborate in the online educational environment

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Preface

Acknowledgements

About the Authors

CHAPTER 1 - Digital Libraries: A Cultural Understanding

DIGITAL LIBRARIES IN THE MATRIX OF DIGITAL CULTURE

DEFINING DIGITAL LIBRARIES

TRANSFORMING THE ACADEMIC LIBRARY

DIGITAL LIBRARY CULTURE

CONCLUSION

CHAPTER 2 - New Dynamics for Scholarly Communication

MANY-TO-MANY RELATIONSHIPS IN THE DIGITAL LIBRARY

NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR SCHOLARLY COMMUNICATION

SHARING IN THE ONLINE COMMUNITY

ACADEMIC CULTURE MEETS DIGITAL CULTURE

CONCLUSION

CHAPTER 3 - Digital Libraries in Teaching and Course Development

THE DIGITAL LIBRARY AND TEACHING IN DISTANCE EDUCATION

COURSE DEVELOPMENT

CHALLENGES IN SUPPORTING STUDENTS AT A DISTANCE

LEARNING STYLES

FACULTY DEVELOPMENT

CONCLUSION

CHAPTER 4 - Beyond the Mechanics of Online Retrieval: Information Literacy

WHAT IS INFORMATION LITERACY?

LIBRARY LITERACY AND BEYOND

THE NECESSITY OF EVALUATION

INTEGRATING INFORMATION LITERACY

DEVELOPMENT OF SKILLS

INTEGRATING INFORMATION LITERACY INTO THE CURRICULUM

ASSESSMENT

CONCLUSION

CHAPTER 5 - Using the Digital Library in Higher Education

UNDERSTANDING ONLINE SYSTEMS

USING DIGITAL INFORMATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION

CONCLUSION

CHAPTER 6 - Faculty-Librarian Collaboration in Online Teaching and Education

COLLABORATIVE EFFORTS

LEADERSHIP ROLES

COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT

TEACHING AND INSTRUCTION

MARKETING THE LIBRARY AND ITS SERVICES

THE IMPORTANCE OF ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE

CONCLUSION

CHAPTER 7 - Collaborating on Information Literacy: Case Study 1

RESEARCH GUIDES

HELP CENTRE

THE DIGITAL REFERENCE CENTRE

INFS 200: ACCESSING INFORMATION

CONCLUSION

CHAPTER 8 - Collaborating on the DRR and Reusing Learning Resources: Case Study 2

THE DIGITAL READING ROOM

THE COLLABORATION

THE EVALUATION

BEYOND COURSE RESERVES: REUSABLE DIGITAL RESOURCES

CONCLUSION

CHAPTER 9 - Beyond Digital Library Culture Barriers

HUMANS AND COMPUTERS INTERACTING

EASIER-TO-USE DIGITAL LIBRARIES

CONCLUSION

Appendix: - Web Resources

References

Index

Copyright © 2005 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Johnson, Kay, 1963-Exploring the digital library : a guide for online teaching and learning / Kay Johnson and Elaine Magusin. p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

eISBN : 978-0-470-59658-6

1. Digital libraries. 2. Academic libraries—Information technology. 3. Academic libraries—Relations with faculty and curriculum. 4. Electronic information resource literacy—Study and teaching (Higher) 5. Information literacy—Study and teaching (Higher) 6. Libraries and distance education. 7. Scholarly electronic publishing. 8. Digital libraries—Canada—Case studies. I. Magusin, Elaine. II. Title. ZA4080.J64 2005

025’.00285--dc22

2005009301

PB Printing

To Neil and Tristan (Kit), and to Jim for all the books.

K. J.

For Mum, Dad, and Heather.

E. M.

Preface

Rapid advances in telecommunications and computer networks are altering the landscape of everyday life. E-mail, search engines, virtual realities, hypertextuality, cyberpunk, and the dot-coms have entered our lives. We live in an age in which governments, economic systems, social services, mass media—the very foundations of contemporary society—are plugged in to digital technology. This is not to say that our long heritage of print culture is no longer vital, but we are in the midst of a distinctive digital culture. As Charlie Gere, author of Digital Culture, observes: “Digitality . . . encompasses both the artefacts and the systems of signification and communication that most clearly demarcate our contemporary way of life from others” (2002, p. 12).

The advent of the Internet, the World Wide Web, electronic publishing, and digital libraries is having a tremendous impact on teaching, learning, and scholarship. New relationships, processes, and issues emerge with the ability to access worldwide digital collections from one’s desktop, to exchange ideas and data with colleagues around the globe almost instantaneously, and to publish in multimedia formats. Widespread use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has led to a growth in distance and online learning and a redefinition of the academic library.

Digital technology is transformational and transformations lead to complex human reactions. The range of responses run the gamut from the techno-whiz who embraces computers wholeheartedly and unquestioningly, to the modern-day Luddite who cautions that nothing good can come of this new machinery. In general, most of us have adapted to computers. We have learned the programs we need to know to complete our work and to amuse ourselves. The problem that we face is that with so many programs, so many ways of interacting with computers, and so many virtual spaces in which to seek out information, it is easy to become completely overwhelmed.

This is not a “how to build a digital library” book; instead, it is an exploration of digital libraries and digital library culture. When we speak of digital library culture we are drawing from anthropological concepts to illuminate the obstacles that users may experience in interacting with a digital library. Cultural barriers, such as not knowing the language, norms, or customs of a group, can impede understanding. Digital libraries, in addition to having a distinct culture, are characterized by diversity and by change. Searchers face a multiplicity of systems, interfaces, search protocols, and hyperlinked paths. It is easy to get stumped, dazzled, or just lost and bewildered in the electronic labyrinth. As information vendors compete in the marketplace, systems get new looks and other enhancements so that the system you know today may not be exactly the same as the one you log in to tomorrow.

Our experiences as distance librarians at Athabasca University (AU) inform much of what we have written here. Founded in 1970, AU is known as Canada’s Open University, a distance education university dedicated to the removal of barriers that restrict access to higher learning. Historically, the university has relied on the fixtures of traditional distance education, such as print-based course packages, contact with tutors by toll-free telephone, and use of the postal system. These methods continue today. But since the 1990s the university, along with distance education postsecondary institutions everywhere, has been working to incorporate online technologies in a manner that is cost-effective, is competitive with other institutions offering online courses, and provides students with a high-quality and flexible learning experience. University and departmental Web pages, learning management systems, e-mail correspondence, computer-mediated communication systems, electronic databases, and digital libraries are some of the new fixtures of distance education as well as of traditional universities as they too venture into online education.

Whether they are involved in distance education or teach on traditional campuses, faculty are increasingly expected to be fluent not only in print culture but in digital culture, and to ensure that their students are fluent as well. This book provides opportunities for faculty to explore the nature of digital libraries and digital library use in higher learning. A broad spectrum of competencies goes into the making of a digital scholar who is capable not only of using digital libraries effectively but of contributing to the scholarly online environment. The symbiotic relationship in which libraries serve the research needs of scholars and in which scholars write the publications that libraries acquire, manage, and provide access to makes a discussion of electronic scholarly communication crucial to our treatment of digital library culture. We offer models for faculty to integrate digital culture into their professional lives, to collaborate in the development of digital libraries, to use online resources to enhance the learning experiences of their students, and to participate in online scholarly communities. Librarians who are seeking to build collaborative relationships with faculty and to promote information literacy and digital scholarship in their institutions will benefit from discussion of these topics, as will university and college administrators and those responsible for faculty development.

Chapter One seeks a cultural understanding of the digital library. We look at the development of digital libraries, transformations in academic libraries, and cultural barriers to successful digital library use.

In Chapter Two we discuss how information and communication technologies, and electronic publishing in particular, are transforming scholarly communication. This brings many opportunities to disseminate ideas and to be creative with media, but there are issues pertaining to the acceptance of electronic publication in the promotion, tenure, and review process.

Chapter Three provides suggestions for faculty to integrate digital libraries into their teaching and course development, so that students have contextual, seamless access to online library resources and services. Faculty play an important role in promoting library use to their students and have an opportunity to model a relationship with the digital library that students can be encouraged to emulate.

In Chapter Four we describe approaches to promoting information literacy skills, and most importantly, integrating these skills across the curriculum. Information literacy is sometimes seen as the responsibility of the library; the reality is that for information literacy initiatives to be truly successful, faculty involvement is crucial.

Chapter Five considers the skills and knowledge required in digital library use. An understanding of principles common to information systems enables searchers to move beyond dependence on a few key systems and strategies and toward a deeper comprehension of information retrieval. The information-seeking behaviors of faculty and students are changing in response to the availability of electronic resources. Access to scholarly and unique digital collections should be increasing the breadth of information resources available to students, yet many instructors find themselves struggling with the poor quality of work their students are turning in. We explore some key challenges that faculty and librarians are facing, including plagiarism and overreliance on limited digital collections.

Chapter Six focuses on the topic of collaboration as we consider opportunities for faculty and librarians to work together in the online educational environment. Collaboration between faculty and librarians, as well as other institutional stakeholders, ensures that the academic digital library meets the needs of its community. This chapter is followed by two case study chapters, in which we use our projects at AU to illustrate models for collaboration.

Chapter Seven looks at how AU librarians and faculty are working together to promote information literacy skills. Chapter Eight focuses on AU’s collaboratively developed enhanced electronic course reserves system, the Digital Reading Room (DRR). The DRR provides opportunities to share and reuse learning resources, and we consider how the development and use of learning objects is a growing trend in education.

Chapter Nine concludes our book by addressing the question: “Does using a digital library get easier?” Overcoming digital library cultural barriers enables academics, and other digital library users, to become active contributors to worldwide digital repositories of knowledge. To be a successful digital library user it is necessary to understand the culture and have the skills to access, retrieve, evaluate, and use digital information. This will not change, but there are developments that promise to make the online environment a friendlier place.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank all of the faculty, staff, and students at Athabasca University who have helped me develop as a distance librarian by sharing their insights into what it means to teach and learn, and provide student support, in a distance learning community. A special thank-you goes to members of the INFS 200 course development team—Jeremy Mouat, Billy Cheung, Ian Grivois, and John Ollerenshaw—who demonstrate what collaboration is all about, and to Susan Moisey who responded so quickly to a last-minute request for a paper.

K. J.

I would like to thank all the people who provided assistance and support to me in the writing process and let me talk endlessly about this project. Special thanks go to Gilda Sanders, Geoff Peruniak, and Vincent Ambrock, who answered my questions. Your assistance proved invaluable.

E. M.

About the Authors

Kay Johnson is head of Reference and Circulation Services, Library Services, Athabasca University.

Johnson received Bachelor of Arts degrees in English and history from the University of Ottawa and a Master of Library and Information Studies from McGill University. She has been with Athabasca University since 2000, working with students and faculty to make sense of online information, contributing to the development of the library’s digital gateway to resources and services, and coauthoring and tutoring the AU course INFS 200: Accessing Information. She has presented at the Eleventh Off-Campus Library Services Conference (2004), the Nineteenth Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning (2003), and the ICDE/CADE North America Regional Distance Education Conference (2002). Johnson is a contributing author to Theory and Practice of Online Learning, published by Athabasca University and available to readers online at no cost.

Elaine Magusin is a reference services librarian with Library Services, Athabasca University.

Magusin holds a Bachelor of Arts in music from the University of British Columbia and a Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Western Ontario. She has focused her career on providing reference and bibliographic instruction services to patrons in a variety of environments, including government, public, and academic libraries. Prior to joining Athabasca University Library she worked as a music reference librarian in the Boston Public Library’s Research Library.

Magusin’s recent publications include “Library Services: Designing the Digital Reading Room to Support Online Learning” in Proceedings from the 19th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning (Madison: Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, 2003) and “Collaborating on Electronic Course Reserves to Support Student Success,” in Patrick B. Mahoney (Ed.), Eleventh Off-Campus Library Services Conference Proceedings (Mount Pleasant: Central Michigan University, 2004).

CHAPTER1

Digital Libraries: A Cultural Understanding

In the novel Galapagos, Kurt Vonnegut has one of his characters invent a device called “Mandarax.” This pocket computer not only functions as a simultaneous voice translator but can diagnose 1,000 common human diseases, teach the delicate art of flower arranging, and display on command any one of the 20,000 popular quotations stored in its memory. Mandarax is eventually marooned on a remote island for 31 years with the last 10 human survivors on earth. The Captain destroys it in a final rage at its useless knowledge and failure to make sense of information, not to mention its little beeping sounds: “As the new Adam, it might be said, his final act was to cast the Apple of Knowledge into the deep blue sea” (Vonnegut, 1985, p. 62).

As an apple of knowledge, digital technology has tremendous potential. It has altered the way people access, use, create, distribute, and store information, and it has had a far-reaching impact on almost all facets of society. Yet it seems to be in the very nature of computers to rankle and try the patience of the human beings who use them. Often one may, like Vonnegut’s angry Captain, want to cast the apple out to sea. It is in active roles—as participants, contributors, and informed critics—that it is possible for us to make sense of digital information and help build a global digital repository of useful knowledge. This chapter seeks to define what we mean by digital library, looks at how the academic library is changing to meet the needs of distance learners and remote users, and considers cultural barriers to effective digital library use.

DIGITAL LIBRARIES IN THE MATRIX OF DIGITAL CULTURE

In considering digital libraries and their role in higher education, it is important to keep in mind that they represent only one component of the broader digital environment. Digital technology is all around us, and extends far beyond the most obvious emblem, the personal computer. From DVDs and wristwatches to banking systems and electricity grids, humanity is increasingly reliant on digital technology.

Technically, the word digital refers to the binary digits, the zeroes and ones, that represent data manipulated and stored by a computer. The term is more broadly used to refer to anything relating to computers. It is often said that this is the digital age, a statement that conveys the extent to which computers and technology are pervasive.

Since the introduction of relatively affordable personal computers and the development of the Internet and the World Wide Web, increasing numbers of individuals are using computers at work, school, and home. In September 2001 the Department of Commerce’s Census Bureau found that 50.5% of U.S. households had an Internet connection (National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Economics and Statistics Administration, 2002a). There has been a dramatic rise in household Internet access in other nations as well (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2002). Internet use is spreading into everyday life, with 88% of online Americans reporting that the Internet plays a role in their daily routines, such as communicating with family and friends and looking up information (Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2004). Today’s mass media is bursting with excitement about such things as the “knowledge economy” and the “information society,” indicating further the extent to which information and communication technologies have penetrated almost everywhere. Of course, where there are haves, there are also have-nots. There is the gap between the “information rich” and the “information poor,” and various organizations are working to bridge the digital divide—to address inequities in the ability to access and effectively use information technologies.

The digital environment extends beyond technological issues. Gere identifies a digital culture that has emerged out of a complex set of interactions among elements such as “nineteenth-century capitalism, twentieth-century warfare, the postwar avant-garde, the counter-culture, post-modern theory and Punk,” revealing digital culture to be not merely a product of technology but rather part of a cultural continuum (2002, p. 15). Digital culture influences not only the production and distribution of music, film, literature, and art but even the themes of our cultural products.

Libraries have traditionally represented a culture of the book, and call up for many the tactile associations of pages, bindings, and dust jackets. Libraries have been places of quiet reflection, inquiry, and sustained reading. They not only are timeless and comforting in a too-hectic world but also have preserved the human record through the ages. At the same time, libraries have entered the information superhighway and have come to represent digital culture as much as book culture.

DEFINING DIGITAL LIBRARIES

The antecedents of the digital library can be found in the writings of Vannevar Bush and J.C.R. Licklider. In a 1945 issue of The Atlantic Monthly, Dr. Bush envisioned the development of a device that he called the “memex,” a mechanized system based on microfilm technology used to store, search, and display humanity’s knowledge. In Libraries of the Future (1965), Licklider took the concept further and crafted the vision of a computer-based library. Librarians were early adopters of computers, with library automation beginning in the 1950s in the form of punched cards. Printed catalogue cards were replaced by machine-readable cataloguing format (MARC), which made it easier for librarians to share cataloguing data. Librarians converted their card catalogues to online public access catalogues (OPACs) and began using computers to manage the circulation of materials to borrowers. When the online information retrieval industry was in its early years librarians became expert searchers, using terminals to access remote computers to conduct information searches on behalf of library users. Librarians purchased indexes and other information products on CD-ROM to enhance their collections. With the development of the World Wide Web, and the move in the online industry to Windows-based, mouse-driven graphical user interfaces, librarians began designing Web sites to manage and provide remote access to online collections.

Librarians have been “digital” for some time, but it was not until the 1990s that the subject of digital libraries began to receive significant attention. A growing number of journal and monograph publications as well as conferences are devoted to the topic, and initiatives have grown up around research and development. The Digital Library Federation (http://www.diglib.org/), founded in 1995, is a consortium of American academic libraries, the British Library, and other agencies that are “pioneering in the use of electronic-information technologies to extend their collections and services” (Digital Library Federation, 2005, para. 2). Chowdhury and Chowdhury (2002) outline some of the major global initiatives, which include the Digital Libraries Initiative, Phase 1 (http://www.dli2.nsf.gov/dlione/) and Phase 2 (http://www.dli2.nsf.gov/) in the United States, the Electronic Libraries (eLib) Programme in the United Kingdom (http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/services/elib/), the Delos Network of Excellence on Digital Libraries (http://delos-noe.iei.pi.cnr.it/), and the Canadian Initiative on Digital Libraries (http://www.collectionscanada.ca/cidl/). Academic Info (http://www.academicinfo.net/digital.html) provides a directory of digital library collections and resources, organized by subject.

Digital library projects are spread around the globe and present a diverse experience of what is meant by a digital library. Consider the digital libraries described in Exhibit 1.1. Each varies in the communities it serves, its purpose, the material formats and subject areas it includes, and many other aspects, yet each may still be called a digital library.

ACM Digital Library, the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative, and the New Zealand Digital Library are purely digital libraries. However, many, such as the California Digital Library (CDL), are frequently found as components in hybrid library models that provide access to online resources and services to both on-site and remote users while at the same time providing users with access to physical resources housed in library buildings. CDL is a University of California library and collaborates with and assists UC campuses and their libraries.

The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, holding millions of physical objects, such as books, manuscripts, drawings, sound recordings, and films. Not surprisingly, the Library of Congress Web site functions as a gateway to search the vast physical collections using online catalogues. Although the digital collections make up only a fraction of its holdings, the Library of Congress offers an

Exhibit 1.1.A Sampling of Digital Libraries

impressive digital library. American Memory (http://memory.loc.gov) is the “flag-ship” of the library’s digital collections, providing access to millions of digitized documents, photographs, sound recordings, motion pictures, and text from the American historical collections of the library and other institutions. THOMAS (http://thomas.loc.gov/) is the entry point for full-text legislative information, bills, and congressional records. Digital images accompany most of the records in the library’s Prints and Photographs Online Catalog (http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/catalog.html). The Global Gateway (http://international.loc.gov/intldl/intldlhome.html. ) links to international digital library collaborations and to the library’s digital collections focusing on history and cultures around the world. The library also offers an “Ask a Librarian” e-mail-based reference service.

What the libraries shown in the exhibit all do is provide access to organized collections of information resources in digital format that users are able to access over an electronic network. Numerous definitions of digital libraries appear in the literature, and this can cause some confusion. It may help to offer the observations of Christine L. Borgman, who has identified two main streams in digital library definitions. One stream represents a technical focus and is put forward primarily by digital library researchers. Their emphasis is on “digital libraries as content collected on behalf of user communities.” Generally, these definitions include technological capabilities such as methods for creation, organization, maintenance, and access and retrieval of information collections. The other stream identified by Borgman addresses the practical challenges of transforming library institutions, and is advanced by librarians who focus on “digital libraries as institutions or services” (1999, p. 229).

Borgman notes a third usage of the term that, for the most part, falls outside of the research and library communities’ definitions. These are the Web sites, online databases, and CD-ROM products that identify themselves as digital libraries. The extent to which these electronic collections are organized, or designed for specific user communities, varies. Our concern here is primarily with the digital library as an extension of the academic research library. However, when we address digital library culture we are mindful that faculty and students encounter diverse types of digital libraries in their research activities. These electronic information collections may or may not be associated with a library.

All types of libraries are applying online technologies to their resources and services. Synonyms for the digital library include virtual library, electronic library, and library without walls. As the growth of electronic networks became a hot topic in the library literature in the early 1990s, D. Kaye Gapen defined the virtual library as “the concept of remote access to the contents and services of libraries and other information resources, combining an on-site collection of current and heavily used materials in both print and electronic form, with an electronic network which provides access to, and delivery from, external worldwide library and commercial information and knowledge sources” (1993, p. 1). It is this type of library—a hybrid of the print and the digital, including a gateway to online resources that extends the library collection beyond its physical walls—that researchers most frequently encounter in academic libraries today.

TRANSFORMING THE ACADEMIC LIBRARY

Academic libraries usually use their Web sites as gateways to various online resources that include research databases, library catalogues, electronic books, electronic journals, electronic course reserves, selected Web sites, and locally developed digital collections. Some of these resources are made available on the basis of licensing and are restricted to faculty, students, and staff associated with the institution; others are freely and publicly available. Some of the digital resources may be full-text versions of print equivalents; others are “born digital,” existing in electronic form only. Some may be digital surrogates, records that represent the physical items that are accessible through the library’s holdings or from other library collections. Exhibit 1.2 lists the main categories of physical and digital materials students or faculty members can expect to access through their academic library.

Significant changes are taking place in the academic library in response to available technologies, the needs and wants of remote users, and the increasing popularity of distance and online learning. William Y. Arms tells us, “The fundamental reason for building digital libraries is a belief that they will provide better delivery of information than was possible in the past” (2000, p. 4). Researchers can access a digital library anytime and anywhere that the necessary technology is available. A digital library delivers to the user’s desktop not only bibliographic data about library collections and journal publications but also abstracts and full-text documents. It can link researchers to unique collections and archives from all over the world. Digital libraries are capable of delivering services as well as information. A digital library user may take an online library orientation or tutorial, renew materials online, use e-mail to request particular materials or services, or interact with librarians in real time using chat-based reference services.

For colleges and universities whose students and professors meet on-site, remote access to the library from home or work offers a flexible, convenient approach to accessing library services and resources. As traditional institutions expand their programs to incorporate distance and online learning, the digital library is becoming an increasingly important component in the support they offer their students. For distance education institutions and virtual universities, digital libraries are a significant element in their ability to provide their learning communities with “library services and resources equivalent to those provided for students and faculty in traditional campus settings” (Association of College & Research Libraries, 2004, para. 12). Digital libraries offer flexible approaches to delivering library materials and course reserves anywhere in the world. Many of the resources required to support university-level studies are not available digitally, but the number, depth, and scope of scholarly resources available online is improving as demand for electronic access increases. Communication tools such as e-mail, chat, and discussion boards enhance interactions among distance librarians, faculty, and students. Web-based forms streamline processes for requesting materials and services from libraries. Digital library users also benefit from the online search tutorials developed by librarians.

Exhibit 1.2.Physical and Digital Materials in the Academic Library

In the United States, distance education course enrollments at the undergraduate and graduate levels increased from 1.7 million to 3.1 million between 1997-98 and 2000-01. In 2000-01, 56% of all postsecondary institutions offered distance education courses, compared to 34% three years earlier (National Center for Education Statistics, 2004, para. 2-3). A picture of the range of distance and online learning options available worldwide can be had by visiting some of the online education directories available on the Web, such as World Wide Learn (http://www.worldwidelearn.com/) and Peterson’s Distance Learning (http://www.petersons.com/distancelearning/), and the Web sites of organizations such as the International Council for Open and Distance Education (http://www.icde.org/).

The roles of academic libraries are changing to meet new needs in higher education. The collection of books, manuscripts, and other physical materials continues to be important, but acquisition of resources in digital form involves a shift from ownership to access. Much of this digital content is not owned by the library but is made accessible on the basis of licensing agreements negotiated with publishers and vendors. This changes the library’s relationship to its collection, with a significant loss of control over how material is organized and accessed, and in the case of bundled resources, over what is added or removed or duplicated in the collection.

Librarians’ roles are also changing, as librarians are increasingly required to offer technical support to users accessing online libraries and to provide instruction in locating and using electronic information resources. The reference and instructional services that librarians traditionally provide are being transformed by an absence of face-to-face interaction as e-mail and chat are used more and more to connect with remote users. Librarians are responding in creative ways to the need to support learners and faculty in an online environment. There has been a dramatic rise in publication on the subject, which, as Alexander Slade and Marie Kascus note, reflects the changing role of the library and “the convergence of on- and off-campus library services as the electronic era blurs the boundaries between conventional and distance education and between remote and in-person users of libraries” (2000, p. xiv).

Digital culture has penetrated libraries to the effect that the future of the traditional library has come into question. It is true that in many cases information that was once accessed through the library may now be found on a Web site and the library can be bypassed altogether. What can be found through a search engine, however, can hardly be said to meet the full requirements of a scholarly approach to research and inquiry. Digital libraries are gateways to scholarly materials that have been selected by librarians and academics, and they have the power to connect researchers to librarians who offer personalized assistance and instruction. In The Enduring Library, Michael Gorman writes of the harmonious integration of digital technology into libraries: “Digital media will find their place and level in society and will be incorporated into the ever-evolving library” (2003, p. 31).