Library Acquisitions: Practice & Theory, Vol. 11, pp. 67-74, 1987 0364~6408187 $3.00 + .&I Printed in the USA. All rights reserved. Copyright 0 1987 Pergamon Journals Ltd.

COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT AND ACQUISITIONS IN A DISTANCE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT, II

COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT FOR DISTANCE EDUCATION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF

BRITISH COLUMBIA LIBRARY

MARTHA WHITEHEAD

Extension Library

University of British Columbia

1956 Main Mall

Vancouver, B.C., Canada V6T lY3

Abstract - This article describes how the University of British Columbia Library developed its Extension Library in response to the growth of distance education in the province of British Columbia. The reasons for creating the position of Exten- sion Librarian and for maintaining a separate collection to supply distance edu- cation course readings are explained, as well as problems in acquisitions for off-campus courses and staffing.

The idea that all students, whether they are enrolled in courses on or off campus, should have equal access to their university’s library is easy to accept; it is also easy to overlook stu- dents one never sees. At the University of British Columbia Library the off-campus student population has become a more visible entity over the last few years with the expansion of the Extension Library. One librarian monitors off-campus students’ needs and builds a collec- tion separate from the rest of the Library to avoid conflicts with demands on campus. The special problems posed by distance education were considered carefully in the planning stages of the new service and, although problems still exist, the overall result is a service that veter- ans of off-campus courses find pleasantly surprising.

DEVELOPMENTS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA

Educators and politicians in British Columbia in the 1970s were interested in distance edu- cation for its potential to improve the existing post-secondary system. The three universities, all located in the major population centers in the southwest corner of the province, and the

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network of two-year colleges, were leaving the educational needs of some segments of the population unmet. There was an increasing demand by adults already in the work force for a wide range of courses-high school completion, career training, professional upgrading - and many people were geographically or socially isolated from the institutions offering the courses they needed [l]. One of the solutions was for the universities to set up new programs in the interior of the province. Another, a significant departure from traditional education, was the establishment of the Open Learning Institute (OLI) in 1979. It offers all levels of adult education, including university courses, through correspondence methods alone. Over the last six years the province has also seen the creation of the Knowledge Network, a public educa- tional channel which any institution may use to present courses, and the Open University Con- sortium of British Columbia, which allows students to earn degrees, without setting foot on a campus, by taking correspondence courses at OLI and all three universities.

Librarians were included in the studies of the post-secondary system which proliferated in the 1970s. It was recognized that even if off-campus students had access to public or college libraries, the collections were generally too limited for their needs. A 1975 survey of off- campus students at two other Canadian universities, Trent and Queen’s, had shown that public libraries were used extensively, but the adequacy of their collections was a contentious issue; there was no reason to believe that British Columbia’s public libraries could do better [2]. The college libraries were inadequate in both qualitative and quantitative terms for even their own students and faculties [3]. For a short time librarians looked in the direction of devel- oping a network which would have resource centers at several locations in the province coor- dinating a federation of libraries 141. However, each institution involved in distance education soon concentrated on its responsibility to provide materials from its own collection. OLI was the first to establish a comprehensive library support service. It does not have its own col- lection, so it provides library materials for its university courses through an agreement with Simon Fraser University (SFU). An OLI librarian receives toll-free telephone calls from stu- dents throughout the province who request specific titles or information on a topic, and she mails them materials from the SFU collection. OLI’s success with this service encouraged the libraries at SFU, the University of Victoria (UVic) and the University of British Columbia (UBC) to set up very similar systems.

At UBC some form of extension library service has existed since 1936, when an investiga- tion of the adult education needs of the province, which had been met by the University on an ad hoc basis since its creation in 1915, led to the establishment of the Department of Exten- sion [5]. The Extension Library was jointly administered at first by the Extension Depart- ment and the University Library, then the Library alone. In its early years it provided support for the group activities organized by the Extension Department, such as study groups and amateur theater companies, and filled individual requests from correspondence students as well as members of the general public who paid a $1 membership fee. There was an Exten- sion Librarian who built the Extension collection, acted as readers’ advisor and drew on the main collection as necessary. In effect, the Library was attempting to fill the needs of the entire province, so that by the early 1950s the demands on the service had become unmanageable. In 1954 the Library discontinued the service to non-students in metropolitan areas, reason- ing that the general improvement of public library services throughout the province made it unnecessary, and in 1964 it was possible to close down entirely the general reading services. The books needed to support correspondence and off-campus courses remained in the Exten- sion Library, but the other books were dispersed to the main collection or other libraries. Stu- dents no longer had contact with a librarian, nor could they routinely obtain materials from the main collection. In retrospect, it seems ironic that students registered in credit courses

Collection Development for Distance Education 69

were deprived of services and staff which had been available to the general public, but that was before the burgeoning of distance education.

DIAL-A-BOOK

When OLI opened its library service in 1979, UBC was already aware that the Extension Library needed expansion. The number of correspondence courses had risen from 15 in 1966 to 41 in 1976, and there were 45 off-campus courses at several sites in 1976, compared to 9 in 1966. The impending creation of the Knowledge Network expanded the possibilities even further. The number of staff hours devoted to the service had increased slightly over the years, but the types of support offered were too limited. Extension Library sent core collections of materials to off-campus course sites and filled requests for the reading materials suggested in correspondence course manuals, but there was little support for the kind of research expected of undergraduates on campus. For students not enrolled in courses but finishing their degree requirements at a distance, there was no systematic support at all. Off-campus stu- dents wanted access to the whole UBC collection and the help of librarians. Many students placed interlibrary loan requests for UBC books at their local libraries, but this complicated the accounting system between UBC and the requestor libraries, and it seemed an inappro- priate route for people whose student status entitled them to direct access to the UBC collection.

Another problem with the existing service was that there was little provision for commu- nication between its staff and the people orlganizing distance education courses. Over the years responsibi~ty for distance education has become d~entral~ed, with correspondence courses being offered by one a~nistrative body and off-campus courses organized by indi~du~ faculties. Although the library assistant in charge of Extension Library was in touch with many instructors, time did not permit her to seek out all those involved in off-campus courses or to participate in the planning stages of new programs. Also, she was aware of matters directly related to course materials, but there was a concern that she would be overlooked in broader- ranging discussions which might ultimately affect the service. It was decided that a librar- ian, with time and professional status, would fare better in monitoring all developments in distance education, from the planning of courses to the formulation of provincial policy. Within the library system the librarian would be able to represent the needs of off-campus students to other librarians in all matters of policy and procedure.

For several years the Library’s proposals to include an expanded Extension service in its budget were turned down, but late in 1983 the U~versity ad~stration set up a special fund for the Library to support distance education. At a time when layoffs, a hiring freeze and retrenchment were seriously affecting staffing levels throughout the Library, this fund made it possible to create the new half-time position of Extension Librarian and to cover the costs of mailing, long-distance telephone calls and the wages of a student assistant.

The new service is known to its users as Dial-a-Book. Any UBC student within Canada or the United States who is taking a correspondence or off-campus credit course or completing degree requirements outside the city may telephone collect to request specific materials or help from the librarian. A library assistant fills requests for books, journal articles, microforms and audio cassettes from the Extension collection or any branch of the UBC library. Those items which cannot be located are given to the librarian, who investigates interlibrary loan possibilities. Requests for along other than specific titles are given innately to the librar- ian. She researches any topic, consulting subject librarians when necessary, and sends stu-

70 M. WHITEHEAD

dents enough material to allow them at least to begin their papers. The Library covers the costs of online bibliographic searches initiated by the librarian, and all photocopying and mailing.

Many of the specific titles requested originate from an instructor’s reading list or a corre- spondence course manual, but they might come from anywhere. Students are encouraged to use the bibliographic sources available to them if they live near a college or public library and to follow up on bibliographies included in materials already sent to them by the librarian. Some students have access to UBC’s microcatalog because superseded copies are held at many libraries throughout the province.

In addition to filling individual requests, the Extension Library still provides core collec- tions of books for off-campus sites. Anything for which there is a continuous on-site demand is suitable for placement in a core collection. The items might be on the instructor’s reading list, or they might be used to show students what is available to them in their field. For exam- ple, in the education courses on children’s literature, all the students need to examine many samples of the literature and bibliographic sources and can do so in a very short time, so it is much more practical to hold a collection on site than to respond to individual requests.

THE COLLECTION

Under the Extension service which existed in 1983, the separate collection served two func- tions: it filled correspondence students’ requests for materials listed in their course manuals, and it provided core collections for off-campus sites. When the service expanded, it was decided that the collection would be maintained for the same purpose, and that students’ research needs would be filled with material from the main collection. The Extension Librarian builds the collection, spending from a fund which, along with funds for replacing missing or worn books and for adding copies to the reserve book collection, is administered by the Circulation Division Head.

The Library was fortunate in having the separate collection already in place. Other librar- ies, such as the University of Manitoba, have concluded that a separate collection is desir- able, but prohibitively costly to establish [6]. For UBC the annual allocation of $8533 to maintain the collection is not a very significant portion of the $4.8 million collection bud- get. However, the librarians involved in the development of the new service did consider whether the separate collection was essential, because it could be argued that students on campus should not be denied the use of any materials in the Library collection. The exten- sion library services at SFU and UVic provided two nearby examples of an integrated approach to collection development for distance education. At SFU responsibility for ensuring that the library can support a course lies with the instructor or course author, not the library. The contact person within the library is the general collections development librarian. The exten- sion services librarian becomes involved in adapting the collection to off-campus needs only when he notices heavy demand on an item, and then he may make recommendations to the collections development librarian. At UVic the extension librarian is more directly involved with the collection. He has a small collections budget for ordering additional copies of titles which will be in high demand or included in core collections, and it is his job to be aware of off-campus needs. UVic’s example was attractive to UBC in that the person responsible for meeting off-campus collection needs is also the person most aware of them, but it seemed that a separate collection would be an added bonus to this arrangement [7].

One of the major considerations in meeting distance education demands is that courses

Collection Development for Distance Education 71

offered off campus or by correspondence are also usually offered on campus every term. Required readings for the on-campus courses are often placed on reserve at the instructor’s request or if the library notices they are in high demand, and the loan periods on these mate- rials range from two hours to three days, so it is unacceptable to send them off campus. For the Extension Librarian planning to use the regular collection to fill off-campus demand, this problem is foreseen only if on-campus instructors inform the library about reading assign- ments. In reality, instructors may check library resources when planning assignments and decide that there is no need for course reserve because ienough copies exist for their class, but other students also need the materials, demand becomes heavy and the library shortens the loan period. The Extension Librarian might be able to purchase additional copies, but rarely are they supplied fast enough. To ensure that titles are purchased before requests start com- ing in, the librarian has to monitor diligently on-campus demands. The cost in time in keep- ing in touch with campus instructors and branch librarians might be greater than the cost of occasionally mistakenly purchasing books for a separate collection when surplus copies already exist in the Library.

When books are sent off campus from the main collections, on-campus borrowers who also want them find it frustrating to wait for them to come back. Given delivery time, the loan period must be at least three weeks in order to allow the off-campus borrower as much time as he would have on campus. If the book is overdue and the campus borrower calls it in, there is still a substantial delay before the book is returned. This problem is minimized by having required readings for off-campus students in a separate collection.

Materials destined for a separate collection need not be cataloged, which means a great sav- ing in processing time. This is a significant consideration because of the uncertainties sur- rounding off-campus courses. The offering of a course is dependent on confirmation from the host site, an instructor and sufficient enrollment, so there is often very little notice that it will be going ahead. In the best of situations it is difficult to obtain lists of required mate- rials from instructors in sufficient time to place orders.

For off-campus students awaiting responses to their requests, the separate collection means a significant saving in time. UBC Library consists of 16 branches, so retrieving materials is a laborious process. On average, about 15 books per day are sent from the Extension collec- tion, on the same day they are requested if all goes well, so that the delay in response is just mailing time. That delay alone is frustrating, and it would increase if that number of books were added to those that already must be retrieved from the branches.

For all these reasons Extension Library has continued to maintain a collection of approxi- mately 3500 titles which are uncataloged and thus unavailable to users of the main collec- tion. It contains a tiny percentage of the 2.5 million volumes in the UBC Library, but it fills 73% of individual requests for books and provides all the materials included in core collec- tions. Conflicts between off-campus students and the campus population are minimal, because the main collection is relied on only for filling individual research needs. Of the items sent out from the main collection almost 50% are photocopies of journal articles. The books sent out are often in response to specific requests, but many are titles chosen by the librarian for the student. In choosing titles to send, the librarian tries to bypass those which are already circulating and obviously needed by an on-campus student.

The Extension collection is like a reserve book collection in that it exists to provide easy access to course readings. In the early planning stages of a new correspondence course, the librarian hears from the Guided Independent Study office about the materials the course author wants available for students, and as the course proceeds she is advised of any revi- sions. The number of copies needed is determined in part by enrollment figures, but the major

72 M. WHITEHEAD

factor is the course format. If the course is offered over the Knowledge Network it is more likely that all students are working on the same lesson than it would be if the course were a regular self-paced correspondence course, so more copies are required. For the off-campus courses, the librarian contacts instructors individu~ly and also asks the faculties involved to remind them of the need to plan well in advance for library resources. The instructors are given the appropriate computer-generated subject lists of titles which have been used in core collections in the past. Although the collection is uncataloged, each item is recorded in an Extension Library catalog and assigned a broad subject heading or course number so that these lists can be produced. If other titles are required, and there is enough time before the course begirrs, they are ordered. For core collections there is rarely the need for multiple copies for one site- the easy access students have to the collections allows for short loan periods and thus few copies. The collection is also like a reserve book collection in its policy regard- ing textbooks. In general, the Library does not endeavor to supply students with the texts they are asked to purchase for a course, but if an instructor asks the Library to purchase a text for course reserve it is usually done. In Extension, textbooks can be purchased upon an instru~or’s request, but such requests are rare because students are strongly encouraged to obtain their own copies. It is almost as easy for an off-campus student to obtain texts as if he were on campus. Correspondence students receive order forms to send to the University Bookstore and are told that they may telephone collect to Guided Independent Study if they encounter any problems. Instructors of off-campus courses order textbooks and have them transported to course sites.

PROBLEMS

The major difference between the Extension collection and a reserve book collection is that the addition and removal of holdings are not simply matters of moving books from one part of the Library to another. Materials are purchased specifically for the Extension collection and cannot be used by the campus population. Because of this, the librarian wants to ensure that demand will be heavy and continuous, but that is not always possible. The correspon- dence courses rarely present a problem because they run for many years with few changes, but the off-campus courses are more difficult to predict. All are dependent on a certain level of enrollment, so a course for which books have been purchased might be cancelled after the first class meeting. Although some courses are offered year after year, others might be offered once and never again. Some are offered in one term, are not offered for the next few years, then are revived. These uncertainties mean that the librarian must exercise some caution in purchasing titles for a new course, but at the same time not hamper service. Discussions with the instructor are very important for reaching a satisfactory compromise. Fortunately, one of the faculties which offers many off-campus courses is often willing to purchase items over which the librarian hesitates. For the courses which are offered year after year the librarian does some purchasing independent of instructors’ requests. Ideally, she should be able to pre- sent instructors with lists containing the most current titles in their fields, because in most cases there is little time to order books before the course begins. Also, lists of obsolete titles leave a poor impression of the Library’s ability to support the course. However, this type of development is possible for only a small number of courses. Another dilemma is in weeding the collection. If a course will not be offered again, the books should be made available to the main collection, but the future is unpredictable.

Once the core collection is sent to its off-campus site, the librarian has no idea whether

Collection Development for Distance Education 73

the books are being used. At the University of Alberta a sampling of a core collection held at three different off-campus sites showed that some items had not circulated at all and the average for all titles was less than two circulations each. At one site, a college library, of the total of 45 circulations only six were to students enrolled in the course the collection was being held to support [8]. At UBC the librarian simply relies on instructors’ decisions about the necessity of each title, but some might be obtained more appropriately by individual students from the main UBC Library collection through Dial-a-Book. A study of on-site circulation would help the librarian determine which arrangement provides the best use of resources.

The Library took a major step in its support for distance education by hiring a part-time Extension Librarian; however the staffing level is still not what it should be. Communica- tion with course planners, one of the most important parts of the librarian’s job, and gen- eral rn~nten~~e of the collection and its catalog, can only be a~~omplish~ after students’ Dial-a-Book requests are fdled; but during the middle of each term there is little time for any- thing but those requests. Support staff consists of a library assistant who works one half of his time in the Circulation Division and the other in Extension, and a student assistant who works ten hours per week. Although additional help is available irregularly from the Circu- lation Division, there are times when it is impossible to keep up with the work load. The prob- lem is not a lack of commitment on the part of the Library Administration, but a financial climate of reduction rather than expansion. In the last few years the Library has been forced to eliminate several professional positions from its budget because of financial retrenchment at the University. In 1987 the collection will suffer dramatically unless there is a major bud- get increase to offset the decreased purchasing power of the Canadian dollar, which is unlikely given the continuing financial constraints at the University. So far there has been no sugges- tion of cu~~l~g support for distance education in any way, so the Extension Library is doing better than other parts of the Library system.

CONCLUSION

Recent developments in distance education give some clues about future demands on the Extension Library. Although off-campus courses, where the student can interact with an instructor, are attractive, they are not the distance education method most suited to British Columbia. Communities are scattered over a vast and rugged terrain, so students are prevented from participating in face-to-face courses unless they happen to live in the right place. Tele- vision courses via the Knowledge Network provide a good alternative which faculties are opt- ing for more frequently. For the Extension Library, televised courses are very demoing on the collection and staff time: they are often shorter than the normal term and all students follow the same pace, so that the pressure to satisfy requests is intense. Another recent devel- opment was the formation in 1984 of the Open University Consortium of British Columbia (OUCBC). Students obtain degrees by taking correspondence courses at OLI and all three universities, and the institution at which they are enrolled provides them with library sup- port. The Extension Library is not yet aware of significant demands from this body of stu- dents, but OUCBC is a new avenue which could easily become busy in the future. It is important as a statement of the role of distance education in the province.

The success of distance education is proving that the traditional educational setting, library and all, is not necessary, only desirable. This can be difficult for librarians to accept, because for every item a student receives through an extension service, there were probably many others which, had he been able to use the library in person and discover them, would have

74 M. WHITEHEAD

sparked new lines of thought. It is not possible to replace direct access to the collection, but at UBC, by defining off-campus students as a separate group requiring special services from a separate unit within the Library system, it has been possible to provide an adequate alternative.

REFERENCES

1. Report of the D&tance Education Planning Group on a Delivery System for Distance Education in British Colum- bia. Victoria: Province of British Columbia, Ministry of Education, 1978, p. 6.

2. Orton, Larry and Wiseman, John. “Library Service to Part-Time Students: A Survey at Trent and Queen’s Uni- versities,” Canadian Library Journal, 34, 1 (January, 1977), 23-27.

3. Stuart-Stubbs, Basil and Carter, Ross. UThe Needs of Libraries and Post-Secondary Education in British Columbia: A Report to the B.C. Post-Secondary Coordinating Committee.” Vancouver, 1976, p. 2.

4. Report of the Distance Education Planning Group, op. cit., p. 73. 5. Sefman, Gordon. A History of Fifty Years of Extension Service by the University of British Columbia 1915 to

1965. Toronto: Canadian Association for Adult Education, 1966, p. 5. 6. Angel, Michael R. and Budnick, Carol. “Collection Development and Acquisitions for Service to Off-Campus

Students,” Library Acquisitions: Practice and Theory 10, 1 (1986), 17. 7. University of British Columbia Library. “Report of the Committee on Library Services to Distance Education

Students.” Vancouver 1983. 8. Dancik, Deborah B. “‘University of Alberta Academic Library Service to Off-Campus Students.” Project sub-

mitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Education. University of Alberta, 1984, pp. 36-37.