The Eleventh Off-Campus Library Services Conference Proceedings

This book is the result of the conference held in May, 2004 in Scottsdale, Arizona, focusing on librarians' challenges providing service to nontraditional faculty and students. Respected authorities discuss in detail specific problems—and fresh strategies and solutions—to further promote service to distance information users. Each chapter tackles a particular issue such as collaboration outside the contributor's organization or how services can be monitored and assessed to gauge quality, and fully explains what can be done to address those issues. Each distinguished contribution was carefully selected by a 26-member advisory board using a juried abstracts process. Thorough bibliographies, useful figures, tables, and graphs provide accessibility and clarify ideas.

Some of the topics in this book include:

• the promotion of library services to Native American students
• the planning and development process of a project to create a Web-based multi-media instruction tool for off-campus graduate students
• an examination of direct linking tools provided by major aggregators
• distance learning for the learning disabled
• distance learning implementation strategies for institutions
• course management software (CMS) and library services integration
• a survey of Association of Research Libraries offered services
• the do’s and don’ts of videoconferencing on and off-campus
• an eBooks collection study
• one-on-one research coaching via digital reference service
• an online tool that assesses students’ research skills and attitudes
• creating a library CD for off-campus students
• expanding student and faculty access to information services
• the collaboration with faculty on electronic course reserves
• developing assessment questions for services supporting off-campus learning programs
• providing secure off-campus access to library services beyond proxy servers
• and much, much more!

Mahoney (off-campus librarian, Central Michigan University) presents the results of a May 2004 conference focusing on librarians' challenges providing services to nontraditional faculty and students. Each contribution tackles a particular managerial, population, or technical issue, such as collaboration outside the organization, promotion of library services to Native American students, and the advantages and disadvantages of direct linking tools provided by major aggregators. Our copy is falling out of its case; better to buy a paper edition and have it competently case bound. The book is co-published simultaneously as Journal of Library Administration, v.41, nos.1/2 and 3/4, 2004. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Kathryn L Fowler, MLS(Duquesne University)
Description:This book is a treasure trove for libraries and universities. Readers have the opportunity to discover how libraries and universities can successfully support nontraditional faculty and distance learners by reviewing the successes and failures of other institutions. The proceedings were published simultaneously as the Journal of Library Administration, volume 41, numbers 1/2 and 3/4, 2004.
Purpose:The conference proceedings describe numerous methods of providing library services to nontraditional faculty and distance learners. As the discipline expands and the population steadily increases, the proceedings' focus morphs to meet the changing users' needs, library technology, and accrediting agencies' expectations.
Audience:I recommend this very portable book not only to librarians and libraries, but also to college and university distance learning departments, as well as distance faculty. The authors provide the tools (bibliographies, URLs, surveys, assessments) to build strong library services programs for nontraditional users and perhaps to simultaneously enhance services to traditional library users.
Features:Topics covered run the gamut from virtual reference to library services assessment. Each contributed paper's abstract entices the reader and includes keywords to locate resources in addition to the works cited. The concise articles flow nicely from one to another, building the reader's interest. Before you realize it, you've read 10 papers! The author and content indexes are helpful, while the graphs and charts are easy to read and understand.
Assessment:Add this edition to your collection and don't pull the prior edition from your shelves. Many of the topics have a longer lifespan than one edition. If you read this book cover to cover and implement the suggested processes, your institution could become a contributor to the next Off-Campus Library Services Conferences Proceedings.