Library Services

In the traditional academic environment, library services have been closely associated with the physical library building(s) on campus, both representatively and as the location where collections of printed materials are maintained, reference assistance and instruction are delivered, and access to electronic resources is provided. In the distributed education environment, it is or must often be assumed that the actual or potential client of library services will [Page 309]rarely or never come to that physical library, if indeed there even is one; yet, as much as possible, the same resources and services must be made available to them. The planning of library services for distributed education differs to some extent from traditional academic institutions, presenting library administrators with different sets of challenges.