Primary Research Group Inc. has published The Survey of Library Services for Distance Learning Programs, 2014 Edition, ISBN 978-157440-263-6

[James Moses]

Primary Research Group Inc. has published The Survey of Library Services for Distance Learning Programs, 2014 Edition, ISBN 978-157440-263-6

The study examines how academic libraries are serving their institution’s distance and blended learning programs, including the impact of the rapid development of MOOCs and the increasing use of lecture capture in online courses.  The study looks at staffing, budgets, salaries and other nuts and bolts aspects of college library programs to serve distance learners.  It also probes how librarians communicate with distance learners – through online information literacy courses, online tutorials, instant messaging and a strong presence on course management systems, among many other ways. 

The study offers hard data on the percentage of distance learning librarians that archive and use lecture capture materials, their spending on licensed films and other intellectual property for distance learners, and the ways that librarians track contacts with distance learning students and much more.

Just a few of the report’s many findings are that:
•	27.5% of the programs in the sample offer some kind of information literacy course online.
•	7.5% have a library blog or listserv that caters to distance learning students.  All were larger colleges with more than 10,000 students, of which more than 21% had such a blog.
•	Private colleges were somewhat more likely than public ones to consider text messaging an important means of communicating with distance or blended learning students.
•	47.5% of the colleges sampled have licensed films and videos from commercial providers so that they may be viewed by multiple distance learning students as part of their coursework or for preparation and research.  
•	Nearly 27% of the private colleges in the sample say that they have already developed their own MOOCs.
•	32.5% of librarians sampled said that the library’s relationship with the distance learning program was better than with other academic departments and only 7.5% said that it was not quite as good as with other departments – a ratio of nearly 5:1.  

For further information view our website at www.PrimaryResearch.com.

============================

To unsubscribe: http://bit.ly/web4lib

Web4Lib Web Site: http://web4lib.org/

2013-10-24