Athabasca University Library:Services of a Global Proportion

athabasca university (au) is canada’s open university, specializing in the provision of distance education courses at the post-secondary level. the admission requirement for undergraduate students is that applicants to the university be 18 years of age. students may take courses leading to a number of certificates and degrees. au offers 14 university certificate programs, 2 university diploma programs, 13 undergraduate degree programs, and 5 graduate programs.

since 1995 the university has witnessed dramatic growth. course enrolments over the past 3 - 5 years have increased by more than 50%. undergraduate program registrations have increased by more than 41%; graduate-level registrations have increased by more than 289%. accessibility to courses, the ability to register in courses year-round, and fewer barrier to studying at a conventional university are the main reasons cited by students for studying at athabasca university. surveys of athabasca university students reveal that the vast majority of students would recommend au to a friend or colleague.

approximately one-half of the student body is comprised of visiting students – students who take an au course with the intent of transferring the credits to another university. reasons for transferring credits primarily are that courses are not always offered at the student's home institution, there may be time tabling difficulties at the student's home institution, or that students choose to take an independent study course in addition to the course load at the home institution, and without the apparent restrictions surrounding attendance in a classroom. the number of students who enroll in a course at au to transfer the credits to their home institution is also increasing at a steady rate.

the number of au graduates is increasing year by year – the number of credentials awarded in 1999 was 38% higher then the number of credentials awarded in 1998.

the growth rate in course registrations is now at an unprecedented level, and is largely attributed to the quality of the learning experience offered to the student. high-quality materials are prepared and provided in a complete package to students upon enrolment. high-quality support services are provided to registered student and are included in the tuition fee. among the various units in the university that provide support services to students, it is believed that quality library services contribute to the growth and success of athabasca university.

the findings in 1997 of a series of teleconference focus groups conducted by au library support the notion that quality library services are valued and contribute to the successful completion of courses. participants in the focus groups reported that they were highly satisfied with materials supplied from the library and that library staff are knowledgeable and helpful and “go the extra mile” to help. students reported that they appreciated that materials weresent to them could be returned to the library postage paid by the university. participants also confirmed the notion that more au students are acquiring computer equipment and obtaining connectivity to the internet. more au students, it is concluded, want to do more of their searching and researching. au library is working diligently in this regard by licensing more databases for remote access using the internet. most students were satisfied with the available on-line services and reported that some students may be unaware of such services. participants also reported that there is a need for more instruction and explanation of techniques to access the available services.

library services

athabasca university library provides a wide range of library services to students registered in au courses. every registered student may benefit by the following services provided to them by au library.

· students may borrow materials from au library.

· students may search aucat (the library catalog) and other information resources available on the au library’s web page.

· students may expect library instruction and research assistance.

· students may request interlibrary loan (ill) for journal articles.

· au library will strive to provide comparable service to students outside of canada.

since the early 1970s when the university was founded and the library was originally developed, the library has evolved and developed immensely. au library first occupied an area in the basement of the office building in edmonton, alberta. the collection at that time was quite small and supported but a handful of courses. in 1984 the university was relocated to the town of athabasca, alberta, and funded (with a one-time grant) to develop a collection to support course development for undergraduate degree programs. library services now occupies the largest area in the central office facility. the collection has been developed to about 130,000 items; these materials are used by faculty in the preparation and development of courses and by au students who are registered in one or more of the more than 400 courses offered by the university. most recently, while development of the print collection continues, the library is adding additional materials in electronic format. more than 40 databases are subscribed to, and au students on campus and off campus, across canada and around the world, can search and research these materials on their own.

in 1999 au library purchased a fully integrated and web based library system. the implementation is nearly complete, and now makes it possible for users to search the catalog and request materials directly from the catalog, to view their patron account and renew their materials, and to search other library catalogs, for users to search online databases from the library’s web page.

at the same time, the new system makes it possible for au library to catalog internet resources,to mount help sheets and user information, to gather more meaningful statistics regarding library usage, and to provide a means for au students to conduct their own research and retrieve some information online.

the library has established a service benchmark of responding to all requests to the library information desk within 24 hours, or the next working day. most recent data indicates that, not only are responses made to requests, but that about 85% of the time the materials to fill the request are sent out within 24 hours or the next working day.

the technologies and the processes used by libraries and information seekers have evolved over the years and now provide new and more efficient ways to conduct the core business of the library. many of the expectation of our user/students, however remain the same. students continue to expect to receive high quality service and materials in a timely manner. it may be argued that the service expectations of library users are higher than ever before.

at athabasca university library, we believe that we are keeping pace with the expectations of our students. at the same time we are cognizant of the fact that we (the library) must continue to provide services to the student who is not technologically advanced and who for one reason or another require library services of a more traditional nature. it is for this reason that the au library strategic plan to the year 2000 articulated four points regarding the development of library systems and the information gateway:

1. users who cannot connect to and search electronic sources directly will benefit by library staff doing so on their behalf.

2. users who have the facility to connect and search, but do not have the expertise, will benefit from library staff teaching them to do so.

3. users who have the facility and expertise to connect and search will be guided to apply this to their search for scholarly information.

4. users with a high level of expertise in electronic searching will benefit from subscriptions held by au and linkages to electronic resources.

the development of the library’s web page as an information gateway now makes it possible for the online catalog, online databases, selected internet resources, and user help sheets to all be brought together and accessed from one point. the library user may initiate this access either on- or off-campus. this access may also be conducted on a mediated basis. a web proxy server provides for automatic patron verification and authentication and makes it possible for users who have commercial internet service providers to access the system. this technology now makes it possible for users, regardless of their geographic location to access information when and where it is most convenient for them to do so. in this regard, the library is open 24 x 7, 365 days a year.

this said, and while the library is open at all times and to all authenticated users, it is our experience that users more than ever require help-- help connecting, help selecting an appropriate database, help refining a search topic, help preparing a search strategy, help conducting a search, help selecting appropriate search results, helps locating resources, and help citing their sources.

in this regard, the philosophy behind the services provided at the au library information desk remain quite similar to those provided in the early 1970s. now, however, more requests to the library information desk arrive via an electronic means, at a faster pace. if anything, the expectations of users are higher. it is not uncommon for users to conclude their request with a statement such as “i need it as quickly as possible — will you fax it to me?"

au library now makes more information available to users at their workspace than ever before. more than 40 online journal databases are accessible through the library’s information gateway. online databases provide bibliographic citations and some abstracts. in addition some of these databases provide the fulltext of journal articles. a recent analysis of journal databases that include fulltext reveals articles from more than 3000 unique journals are available online. this provides for a one-stop-shop, that is updated frequently, is searchable, and that provides the fulltext online.

the library has a number of mechanisms in place on its library system to capture data regarding connection to the library system and use of the electronic databases. recent analysis of user connections to databases on the library server clearly indicates that the databases that provide fulltext online are accessed the most.

recent analysis of service usage of the au’s library proxy server reveals that the system is accessed twenty-four hours a day. while the majority of use happens during the working hours of local time, there are connections occurring in the wee hours of the morning -- indeed, “around the clock”.

while in the early days of athabasca university the majority of students served by the university resided in
alberta, more students now come to au from across canada, and overseas. recent analysis confirms that
the majority of users continue to come to the au library information gateway from canada and north america. however, usage data confirm that users of au library’s information gateway/web pages come from all continents of the world. data collected also indicates that users are connecting with high-end graphical browsers and are using computers with high-end operating systems. this is no particular surprise as the cost of computer equipment and internet connectivity is coming down dramatically (in north america for sure).

an increase in global activity

over the recent years it has interesting to observe and track data surrounding the enrolment trends in the university and to monitor usage statistics of library services. while enrolments bystudents within alberta and across canada remain very strong, the potential for increases in course enrolments by students outside canada and north america is especially strong.

most recently the university has engaged in collaborative agreements and alliances with institutions outside north america. regarding the provision of library services, the challenge to deliver print materials to students outside canada remains. however the provision of library services using electronic means becomes more or less a non-issue.

online resources such as databases that include fulltext reduce the challenge of delivering some types of materials off-shore. au students who have an active status need only have sufficient computer hardware and skills and a reasonable internet service provider in order to do extensive searching and researching of resources. students who conduct a successful search may evaluate their search results and finally read, print, or download the specific search results to their pc workspace.

while online utilities and resources have become increasingly more ubiquitous, and while the educational environment has become increasingly more electronic, many of the underlying principles of library use and the quest for information remain the same. the saying “the more things change the more things remain the same” remains true. for example:

· users of au library services and materials continue to be able to contact the library information desk on an individual basis. a noted increase has occurred in the number of electronic (e-mail) requests. the use of the telephone remains a primary means for contacting the desk. this is evident in the increased number of messages that are left on the voice-mail answering system. the telephone also remains as a primary mode of communication as noted by the number of telephone called actually taken at the library information desk.

· users of au library continue to contact the library information desk for help. users have known that the library phones are open and that the desk is staffed at all times the university is open. just as users contacted the desk for help with their library-related questions, users now continue to contact the library with their questions concerning technology and electronic issues.

· users who have been satisfied with the library’s services continue to use the library’s information gateway. in this regard, staff members who serve on the library information desk are available to assist users in the transition from holdings to access, and from print-based to electronic resources.

· users who have benefited by the library’s commitment to respond to requests within 24 hours or the next working day continue to expect this high level of response to questions in the electronic environment.

· users who have requested books and articles on an individual (title) basis must continue to search and request materials on an individual basis. while the format has changed and the capacity to deliver materials has changed -- the item primarily remains as a distinct one.

· users must continue to cite their sources. scholarly communication and activity continues to require users to give credit where credit is due. in an environment in which students have the technology and skill to download and “cut and paste” it is more difficult to identify academic misconduct.

summary and conclusion

athabasca university library continues to be committed to providing high quality and expedient service to au students. the tools available to the library for it to carry out its core business are now more advanced and more accessible, yet continue to require strategy and clarity respecting their application. the amount of available information continues to increase at a phenomenal rate and consumers (students) who have busy lives with multiple responsibilities continue to require assistance with respect to their information needs.

with advances and changes in technology and with information available in even more different formats, the underlying academic research process remains a sophisticated one which requires accountability, critical analysis, responsibility, and skill and strategy.

analysis of online databases that include the fulltext of articles reveals that reasonable availability and access to more than 3,000 unique journals is available online. this provides for a one-stop-shop: one that is updated frequently, is searchable, and that provides the actual content by providing the fulltext online.

the library has a number of mechanisms in place on its library system to capture data regarding connection to the library system and use of the electronic databases. recent analysis of user connections to databases on the library server clearly indicates that the databases that provide fulltext online are accessed the most.

analysis of service usage of the au’s library proxy server reveals that the system is accessed twenty-four hours a day. while the majority of use happens during the working hours of local time, there are connections occurring in the wee hours of the morning -- indeed, “around the clock”.

while in the early days of athabasca university the majority of students served by the university resided in
alberta, more students now come to au from across canada, and overseas. recent analysis confirms that
the majority of users continue to come to the au library information gateway canada and north america.
however, a counter that records the country of the user account’s top domain confirm that users of au
library’s information gateway/web pages come from all continents of the world.

collected data also indicates that users are connecting with high-end graphical browsers and are using computers with high-end operating systems. this is no particular surprise as the cost of computer equipment and internet connectivity is coming down dramatically (in north america for sure).

it is anticipated that the provision of distance education will remain strong in the foreseeable future. it will be essential that quality library services be linked to the curriculum.