How May We Help You? Online Education Faculty Tell Us What They Need from Libraries and Librarians

ABSTRACT

With the rapid rise in distance education and online courses, the need to provide effective library services to the faculty and students involved in online courses is vitally important. Traditional services cannot always be transferred easily to the online environment and may need to be modified, or new services may need to be created to meet the needs of online users. This article examines the needs and wants of faculty involved in offering online courses. A Web-based survey was administered to faculty teaching an online course within the past 2 years at the authors’ organization. Faculty were asked a series of questions including their use of current library services, their emphasis on students using library services, and the services and resources they would like the library to provide in the future. Questions for the survey were inspired by LibQual comments received during our 2005 and 2007 surveys as well as comments received from both faculty and students while teaching and participating in online courses. Faculty who took the survey teach in a variety of disciplines and have different experience levels with teaching online courses. Results of the survey will be presented along with inferences from the current literature. The audience will be invited to share their innovative service ideas. Participants will gain ideas for updated or new services to faculty teaching online courses.

KEYWORDS:

• online courses
• library services
• Web-based survey
• library use