Going the Distance: Library Instruction for Remote Learners

Citation

Secker, J. (2008), "Going the Distance: Library Instruction for Remote Learners", Program: electronic library and information systems, Vol. 42 No. 1, pp. 76-77. https://doi.org/10.1108/00330330810851618

I asked to review this book because I have been managing a project about supporting distance learners and from my literature review (Secker, 2007) found relatively few monographs on this subject. I also found most of the material is written by US librarians and, while being published by Facet, this book is clearly US in focus. Interestingly, I had also noted that library services targeted specifically at distance learners are typically a US, Canadian or Australian phenomena. Aside from the Open University, UK universities have very few librarians who deal exclusively with distance learners. Supporting users off‐campus or via various e‐learning systems has been integrated into the roles of many subject specialists in UK higher education. However, for those of us who are supporting distance learners, this book brings together a wide range of expertise and is a useful “one‐stop shop” for getting up to speed on the topic. Additionally, many of the information literacy issues associated with supporting distance learners do affect our face‐to‐face students, who, for various reasons, are spending less time visiting the library and more time accessing our resources remotely.

The book is an edited collection with an impressive number of contributors – the vast majority of whom are from the USA and have job titles such as Off‐Campus Services Librarian or Distributed Learning Librarian. For anyone wanting to learn more about the individuals, brief details about the editor and all the contributors are included in the back of the book. Overall, it is a hugely detailed book covering a wide range of methods and models for supporting distance learners. Something that was less clear to me when first picking up this book is that essentially it focuses on information literacy support or “library instruction” as it is also called. The first chapter provides an excellent overview of the models and methods for designing “library instruction”, including sample programme outlines from several universities. This chapter also provides some basic grounding in topics such as learning theory, instructional design and best practice when teaching. The second chapter is also useful for those new to teaching and supporting off‐campus users as it provides an overview of the “tools of the trade”. This chapter identifies nine tools, which include “determining learning outcomes”, engaging students, assessment techniques and marketing your programme.

The book is divided into four sections: designing distance instruction; delivering distance instruction; collaborating for distance instruction; and assessing distance instruction. Part I and part II are the most substantial and contain valuable chapters on topics such as: designing and implementing web‐based learning modules, teaching an online library instruction course and using virtual classroom software. I was particularly pleased to see part I also includes a chapter on understanding copyright and distance education and another on preventing plagiarism. Chapter 6, on “Understanding copyright and distance education” while hugely important, is one topic where the US focus of this book is particularly apparent. Despite having a small section on the global context, the chapter really only provides practical advice for a librarians working in the USA. I also felt that devoting just one chapter to preventing plagiarism and something called “library anxiety” (which was a term I was not familiar with, but a concept that I think most of us can relate to!) was a little surprising. Many of us in UK academic libraries spend a lot of our time helping to deter plagiarism and teach students referencing skills.

Chapter 8 particularly caught my eye, as it focuses on “Utilizing technology” (although that said, many other chapters also deal with this issue). The chapter claims to provide an overview of the “newest technology tools” however I was disappointed to find relatively little mention made of how Web 2.0 technologies might be used to support distance learners. Blogs and wikis both get a few entries in the index, but I felt the book did not always reflect the newest technology as it claimed. In fact, some of the chapters seemed to have dated rather quickly to me. I was also surprised that a contribution from someone like Meredith Farkas, who is a distance‐learning librarian and has written widely on the implications of social software, was not present.

Collaboration is something I believe librarians cannot do enough of and part III is devoted to this topic, although disappointingly only one real chapter (chapter 14) looks at this in any detail. The second chapter in this section is on marketing library instruction and, while useful, it does not focus in detail on collaboration. The final three chapters in part IV looking at assessment were particularly useful and thought provoking.

As with a few other edited collections I have reviewed recently, I am slightly surprised that this book does not include an introduction and conclusion to draw the collection together. This means, I feel, it reads less like a monograph, and more like a selection of articles on a related topic. The lack of editing also means that there is also some repetition between the chapters – although the index helps if you are interested in a specific topic or issue. Overall, I would say this is a useful book for someone who finds themselves having to support a group of distance learners. It is also useful for anyone developing information literacy support – which increasingly is produced in online format. US librarians will no doubt find this book extremely useful and the references to US information literacy standards and legislation mean that for this audience in particular, it offers valuable practical advice.

References

Secker, J. (2007), “Libraries, social software and distance learners: draft literature review”, July, available at: http://clt.lse.ac.uk/Projects/LASSIE_lit_review_draft.pdf