ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 76 / C &RL News The Wyoming Experience with the ACRL “Guidelines for Extended Campus Library Services” Jean S. Johnson Head o f Extension and Special Services University o f Wyoming Libraries O v e r v i e w Colleges and universities throughout the country have been offering courses to students off campus for many years, including correspondence, contin­ uing education through conferences and institutes, and for-credit courses in any number of program areas. In recent years, many of those same colleges and universities have seen declines in on-campus enrollm ent, while many have seen marked in­ creases in enrollment in off-campus courses, partic­ ularly in coursework leading to baccalaureate and graduate degrees. Wyoming is a unique state in this area, in that it has only one four-year institution, the University of Wyoming (UW ), and seven community colleges. The University has been offering correspondence and extension courses throughout the state for many years, but it wasn’t until 1975 that the Uni­ versity Study Subcommittee of the 43rd Wyoming Legislature directed in its report that “the granting of University of Wyoming baccalaureate degrees should be possible off campus through cooperation with the community college system.” As a result the University has developed a flexible delivery model for extended degree programs around the state. Basically, the model is premised on the conclu­ sion that no extended degree programs in W yo­ ming should be permanently established at a par­ ticular site because of the limited population base and the shifting demands of our mobile popula­ tion. The University, therefore, has attempted to establish lock-step degree programs w ith pre­ determined initiation and termination dates. This means that a given extended degree program may be in a community for as much as 6 -7 years until the needs have been satisfied and then may be shifted to another community. In its place another degree program may be implemented, or there may be a fallow period of 1-2 years where no orga­ nized extended degree programs are offered. The University has made a commitment to extended de­ gree programs and includes it among the highest of its planning and budgeting priorities for the com­ ing years. The University’s programs are offered in a state that encompasses some 97,000 square miles with fewer than 500,000 people. Even though most in­ struction sites include a community college library and all have public libraries, there is no site that has extensive library resources, and certainly not one that can adequately support most upper division and graduate courses. In addition to the 10,200 students on campus, there are more than 10,000 off-campus students around the state, with some 6,500 of the latter in­ volved in extension and external degree programs and another 3 ,0 0 0 -3 ,5 0 0 enrolled in correspon­ dence study. The students are taught by UW fac­ ulty, accredited community college faculty, and other local persons who are approved by the Uni­ versity to teach UW courses. Planning a library extension program responsive to these circumstances is proving to be a major commitment, but one with substantial rewards. A review of the literature confirmed that very little has been written about off-campus library services, except in Australia w here great distances and sparse populations are factors sim ilar to those found in Wyoming. In the July 1982 issue of the Journal o f Librarianship, for example, D. Elaine Haworth published “Library Services to the Off- Campus and Independent Learner: A Review of the Literatu re.”1 In the U .S., the 1982 conference in St. Louis on “Off-Campus Library Services” was the first of its kind to convene people with common interests and concerns. The published proceedings of the confer­ ence are a very helpful addition to the literature.2 Finally, the ACRL Guidelines fo r Extended C am ­ pus Library Services3 must be examined whenever discussions occur concerning library services to stu­ dents off campus. W ith the commitment of the University of Wyo­ ming to off-campus programs, and in view of the experience of others, a particular series of events has had a great impact on the University Libraries’ extension services program. First was the attend­ ance by the author at the St. Louis conference fol­ lowed by a sabbatical leave to study off-campus li- 1D. Elaine Haworth, “Library Services to the Off-Campus and Independent Learner: A Review of the Literature," Journal o f Librarianship, 14 (July 1982): 157-75. 2Barton M. Lessin, ed., The Off-Campus L i­ brary Services C onference Proceedings. Mt. Pleas­ ant, M ich.: Central Michigan University Press, 1983. 3“Guidelines for Extended Campus Library Ser­ vices,” College and Research Libraries News, 43 (March 1982):86-88. February 1984 / 77 G raduate students in Wyoming public school law course taught at Northwest Community C ollege (Powell) receive study m aterials fro m a UW professor. brary services. Next came the reassignment of the author to the position of Head of Extension and Special Services, followed by an on-the-road state­ wide reconnaissance of off-campus library needs, and an articulation conference involving repre­ sentatives from UW and the community colleges, as well as several public librarians and other inter­ ested persons. (Copies of the 50-page proceedings are available for $3 from Jean S. Johnson, Head of Extension and Special Services, Coe Library, Box 3334, University Station, Laram ie, W Y 82071.) Finally, the Council on Library Resources has awarded a Faculty/Librarian Cooperative R e­ search Grant to Keith Miller, Coordinator of the UW -Casper Academic Program, and the author, to study the characteristics of non-traditional and traditional students in relation to their library and information needs in their respective academic set­ tings. T h e G u i d e l i n e s In pursuing these preliminary activities, it has been helpful to use the A C RL Guidelines. Off-campus students are usually a different type than those on campus. Their average age is 3 3 -3 5 , most are employed full-time, and they tend to be highly motivated. They are generally in classes that parallel those on campus, but their environment is different. Classes are held at night, maybe once or twice a week, in a classroom that might be in a community college, a high school, or even in a li­ brary. The instructor is available for consultation only on class days and otherwise might be a long­ distance phone call away. In rural communities li­ brary resources may be few and may be in more than one location, such as in the public library and in the community college library. How can these students get the same quality of education for a baccalaureate or graduate degree as students do on campus? The A CRL Guidelines may work in states where large populations are lo­ cated throughout, and w here local lib rary re­ sources are adequate or can be easily supplemented by the main library to meet the needs of the stu­ dents. Or they may work if the off-campus site is only a few miles from the main campus and the stu­ dents can visit the college or university library on weekends. But what about the students who live several hundred miles from adequate library re­ sources? Can the main library be expected to pro­ vide enough services and resources to meet stu­ dents’ needs? The University of Wyoming is faced with such a dilemma and the Libraries must come to grips with providing service to as many students scattered around the state as there are on campus. Admit­ tedly, the off-campus students are not full-time, but they are taking many of the same courses as those on campus: nursing, elementary education, engineering, business, and arts and sciences. P l a n n i n g According to the Guidelines it is most important that proper planning be initiated and carried out 78 / C &RL News on a regular basis in order to develop a strong off- campus library services program. The Guidelines address several points concerning planning, in­ cluding needs assessment, preparing a written pro­ file, developing written objectives, and involving “appropriate extended academic community rep­ resentatives, including the faculty, in the forma­ tion of the objectives and the regular evaluation of their achievement.” University of Wyoming planning has included all of this preliminary work. In addition, contacts have been made with extended academic commu­ nity representatives through the School of E x ­ tended Studies, which now provides a copy of the extension course approval form so that contact is possible with the faculty members who will be teaching courses. F i n a n c i n g The Wyoming experience confirms the need to “provide continuing financial support for address­ ing the needs of the extended campus community. ” The UW program has an allocation from the L i­ braries’ acquisition budget and there are also funds for travel and staffing. In other words, the L i­ braries are operating under the assumption that off-campus library services require basic funding which is related to the required planning documen­ tation. One area that is not addressed by the Guidelines, but should be explored by academic libraries where extended degree programs are becoming an impor­ tant part of the institution, is that of financial coop­ eration by other departments on campus. If a uni­ versity has a stron g co m m itm en t to provide extensive credit courses off campus, then careful examination of the financial basis for such a pro­ gram should be made. W e are looking at and will be discussing with the School of Extended Studies ways that the School might financially help the L i­ brary better provide library services to those 10,000 students. P e r s o n n e l The A CRL Guidelines state: “Qualified library personnel should be employed to plan, implement, and evaluate library programs addressing the needs of extended campus students and faculty.” Historically, UW was unable to provide adequate library extension services until the personnel com­ mitment was made. Eventually additional staff may be needed, depending on the scope of the pro­ gram, including those with specialized skills. In i­ tially a great deal of time is required to meet with administrators and extension faculty to determine the library requirements of courses. Further, fac­ ulty on campus do not fully utilize the library in their teaching; it is expected that this may be more of a problem with extension faculty, and depend­ ing on potential needs, a selling job might be neces­ sary. The UW Libraries have attempted initially to meet the off-campus library services personnel needs through reassignment of full-time staff and additional funding for part-time staff. The Univer­ sity has also provided funding for staffing the UW- Casper Library, funding which did not come from the Libraries’ budget. F a c i l i t i e s The UW situation demonstrates what can be done with this section of the Guidelines to “provide facilities and equipment sufficient in size, number, and scope to attain the objectives of the extended campus program s.” Except in large population centers where a sufficient number of courses are of­ fered, branch libraries are not practical. There­ fore, it is important to assess local library facilities to see what needs to be done to augment them. Co­ operative agreements for the use of local facilities may be required as described in the Guidelines. Last spring, for example, the University worked out an agreement with the Natrona County Public Library in Casper to remodel space in the base­ ment to house a branch collection of UW holdings. Because Casper is the largest community in W yo­ ming and is some 150 miles from Laram ie, where the University campus is located, it has the only res­ ident UW academic program outside of Laramie. W ith the cooperation of the public lib rary , a branch library of the UW Libraries system now ex­ ists there. Cheyenne is the only other city of any size in the state, but since it is less than 50 miles from Laram ie, there is no need to consider estab­ lishing another branch. However, cooperative re­ lationships must be maintained with all libraries in the state, since one never knows when a course may be taught in a community as small as several hun­ dred people, and it may be necessary to place li­ brary resources in the local library or another loca­ tion for a semester. Library hours are important: if a student works all day, has class two nights a week, and the only library in town is open during the day, one night a week (one of those nights the student is in class), and three hours on Saturday, the student may be­ come very frustrated when wanting to use the li­ brary. W ill some type of cooperative arrangement be required for the library to be open additional hours during the semester? One of the most important considerations when developing an outreach program, according to the Guidelines and the UW experience, is to make the main library accessible to off-campus students. If it is too far for students to visit the campus easily, then a toll-free telephone number should be made available. If the main reference department, for example, is only a phone call away, then students might not feel so isolated when doing research. The UW Libraries program installed a toll-free telephone line into the main reference department of the campus Libraries. Calls coming in may be transferred, as needed, to any department within the Libraries. Not so very long ago, a small com pany was founded on two simple ideas…that a good information product should be tailored to customers' needs, and that a good information com pany should be geared to personalized service, As with many other basically simple ideas, the consequences were profound. Today, the BRS Search System is one of the world's largest and most powerful online reference services. The BRS Private Database Service provides effective online m anagem ent of in-house information collections to businesses and organizations worldwide. BRS/Alert is the only electronic newsletter of its kind. And the developing BRS family of information retrieval software is headed by BRS/SEARCH, the most internally efficient and externally flexible system available, program m ed for both mainframe and m icro/m ini computers. No matter how big BRS has grown, it's never outgrown the simple ideas that got it started. That's why you can always count on BRS for the information you need, person to person. On Microfilm… from Research Publications IR O Q U O IS IN D IA N S : A Documentary History The Iroquois nation played a vital rol in the political and military history o America. This microfilm collection o more than 8,000 important papers docu ments their history from 1613 to th 1860s. This collection of primary source m a terial is based on the holdings of th Newberry Library in Chicago and docu ments the participation of the Iroquoi Confederacy— the Cayuga, Mohawk Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, Tuscarora and Iroquois— in significant historica events. This record is contained in suc materials as minutes of council meet ings, treaty conferences and negotia tions, actual contracts, treaties, an agreements. The Iroquois collection, complete wit approximately 85 reels and bibliographi e f f ­ e ­ e ­ s , , l h ­ ­ d h c information guide, may be ordered now for delivery in 1984 at a pre-publication price of only $2,975. To place an order, or for more informa­ tion, call or write: Research Publications 12 Lunar Drive/Drawer AB Woodbridge, CT 06525 (203) 397-2600 TWX: 710-465-6345 FAX: 203-397-3893 Outside North and South America: P.O. Box 45 Reading, RG1 8HF England TEL: 0734-583247 TELEX: 848336 NADL G February 1984 / 81 R e s o u r c e s One of the prim e necessities of a strong off- campus library program noted in the Guidelines is for student and faculty access to library materials. Either a printed, C O M , or online main campus catalog is essential. (A COM catalog is planned for U W , and the new G eac statewide circulation sys­ tem scheduled for installation in the spring of 1984 will further enhance the program’s capabilities.) Once students know what they w ant, the m ate­ rial should be easily available. Some duplication of m aterial will be necessary to satisfy the needs of off- campus students while, at the same tim e, not de­ priving students on campus. C are must be exer­ cised in order not to build too large a collection of duplicates that may be useful for only a limited pe­ riod. Sep arate book and p eriod ical allocations should be made in order to monitor those costs in the program. How library m aterial is delivered quickly to dis­ tant locations is another Guidelines concern. Since many students on campus wait until the last min­ ute to write papers, it is unlikely that off-campus students will do much better. Therefore, it is im ­ perative to determine the quickest and most cost ef­ fective way to get m aterial to them. The UW mail is sometimes abysmally slow, and it has been deter­ mined in W yoming that parcel service does not al­ ways make deliveries any more quickly, even at its best. Bus lines are another option, but pick-up and delivery to the bus station must be considered. F i­ nally, a delivery van might be a possibility; how­ ever, when long distances are involved, more than one day might be needed to make deliveries over a wide area and the costs of delivering only a rela­ tively small number of items may skyrocket. T ele­ facsimile transmission of some materials is also an option. Once a situation is analyzed, however, it may be appropriate to use a combination of these choices. S e r v i c e s Library services to off-campus students proba­ bly need to be more varied and extensive than to those on campus. As mentioned earlier, a toll-free number is necessary, and if there is only one avail­ able for the main campus, it must be routed to ref­ erence. Local libraries may not have the broad ref­ erence collections as do libraries on campus, and students are likely to have many reference ques­ tions. As we tend to encourage students on campus to start with the reference department, it seems logical to encourage off-campus students to do the same. Also, the reference department has far more open hours than, say, interlibrary loan or the ex­ tension librarian’s office. Since most off-campus students work full time they are more likely to call at night or on weekends. Local libraries are unlikely to have the broad range of indexes that are included on campus. If practical, some additional indexes might be pro­ vided by the main campus. An alternative is to pro vide a terminal and database searches. Databas searches do not give students experience in doin their own index searching, but if the world of th future has a personal computer in every home tha can access databases, maybe that experience is no so important. A factor that must be considered i cost. W ill the library underwrite all or part of th database expense or will students be expected to as sume the cost? The UW program anticipates the in stallation of online information retrieval systems i Casper which will link students with the Laram i campus and information databases. Research projects that use indexes or databas searches will, of course, lead to periodical articles many or most of which will not be in local libraries Obtaining photocopies from the main library wil be necessary and then, of course, the issue of copy right will arise. One of the greatest concerns with off-campus li brary services is that too often students may b spoon-fed information and not have enough hands on experience to do research later. However, a long as a college or university develops an off campus instructional program in rural and semi rural areas, spoon feeding, to some degree, is a pit fall that is difficult to avoid. Library instruction is another important part o the services needed by off-campus students. L i brary resources and services are not located in on library or on one campus, but may be in more tha one type of library in a community as well as o campus. Library instruction must be designed fo that type of situation with emphasis on what i available in the community and where to go for ad ditional help. C o n c l u s i o n This article has attempted to point out some o the factors involved when considering a library ser vice program for off-campus students, and to poin out what one state, W yoming, has done in fiv m onths to develop such a program . T h e 198 A C R L Guidelines were used as a basis for many o the comments. In general, the author finds no m a jor fault with the Guidelines if they are interprete and used based on the assumptions stated, particu larly the third assumption: “Effective services fo extended campus communities may differ from es tablished practices. The requirements of the in structional program rather than tradition shoul guide the library’s responses to defined needs.” The main point in the Guidelines that should b stressed is “personnel.” From the UW experience there is no doubt that at least one person must b responsible for off-campus library services if a con tinuous and effective program is expected. Ther are too many contacts to be made and too many sit uations to address in developing such a program t allow it to be a secondary part of one or more li brarians’ responsibilities. ­ e g e t t s e ­ ­ n e e , . l ­ ­ e - s - - ­ f ­ e n n r s ­ f ­ t e 2 f ­ d ­ r ­ ­ d e , e ­ e ­ o ­ 82 / C &R L News W hen reviewing all of the necessary factors of an off-campus library service program, it is very clear that such a program is neither simple nor inexpen­ sive. I f a college or university administration makes a com m itm ent to a program for off-campus stu­ dents, then it must also make a proportional com ­ mitm ent to library services. The library, in turn, is obligated to make a clear and concise case of w hat such a com m itm ent entails. A detailed plan of Letters Photocopying To the Editor: I read with much interest Mr. Amodeo’s article in the November 1983 issue of C ollege & Research L ibraries News. I f the goal is “Photocopying W ith ­ out (Much) D am age” the checklist of w hat “librar­ ians will have to do…to see that there is something left to copy” should include a plea for respect for the copyright notice on the intellectual property of the author and publisher, don’t you think? W e who create the books and journals for your patrons ap­ plaud your sensitivity in urging your colleagues to take special care with the physical property (e.g., the book) in which the information is embodied. But if you are concerned, as you say in closing your thoughtful article, “that the librarians and staff set a good and consistent exam p le,” your checklist should include suggestions relating to the obliga­ tion to obtain permission from the copyright owner for making the copies and perhaps some explana­ tion of the mechanism for paying photocopying fees through the Copyright Clearance Center. To see that there is something left to copy, as you so clearly put it, it is vital to insure that the creators are rewarded for their efforts and their investment. This is a concept that has been accepted by civilized societies for hundreds of years. Most recently, the Congress of the United States, in recognizing the im portance of such compensation, passed new leg­ islation (Title 17, U .S. Code) to carry out the intent of the copyright protection concept embodied in the United States C onstitution. T he Register of Copyrights, in his report to Congress in January 1983 reaffirm ed the need to have some mechanism whereby the creators of the information are paid for the use of their works. As you and your colleagues in the library com ­ munity know, your ownership of a book does not carry with it the right to make copies of that book. Your reference to “the excessive number of pages copied by the enthusiast in these days of unbridled (copyright law or no) reproduction” falls far short of a productive contribution to this problem. If “excessive” photocopying continues, publishers will no longer be able to publish the kind of short- run m aterial especially needed by college and re­ search libraries. Many librarians act responsibly. action must be prepared w ith current and pro­ jected expectations and costs of a program as it de­ velops. Understandably, it is difficult to anticipate demand, but some initial review, assessment, and experimentation will help. The investment in off- campus library services can have a profound effect on departm ents throughout the library and the university. ■ ■ Unfortunately, many do not, as witness their ab­ sence from the registration rolls of the Copyright Clearance Center. They are in the process of killing the goose that lays the golden egg.—Allan Witt- man, President, Professional Books Division, M ac­ millan Publishing Com pany, New York. The author responds: Although the question of copyright was not the focus of this article, your point is well taken. The phrase you quote (“the excessive num ber”) was not intended to be flippant but rather to recognize the unfortunate reality of the situation. Most librarians are scrupulous about not copying beyond fair use limits, but libraries have little or no control over the copying of circulating collections; after all, the patron need only jog over to the nearest quick- copying center to reproduce even better copies of whatever s/he wants, and for less money. Follow ­ ing my suggestions would certainly lead to better control over copyright abuse for at least some m a­ terials. In these days of skeleton staffing and m ulti­ plied duties for each librarian and clerk, just fol­ lowing these suggestions can pose some problems; but again, even if hawk-eyed librarians were to pounce on offenders in the library, circulating m a­ terials would still be fair, or rather, unfair game. The advisory signs regarding copyright law posted in libraries, explanation of the law and copyright ethics during library orientation, and strict en­ forcement of fair use regarding materials copied by library staff are about as much as can be done. At the same tim e, publishers can take comfort in the fact that libraries buy a lot of books and jou r­ nals, and pay for the privilege of advertising the publisher’s products. After all, patrons of libraries tend to be buyers of books, and many books and au­ thors are introduced to their buying public via the lib r a r y .— A nthony J. A m o d eo , G len v iew , I lli­ nois. ■■ Correction Ilona G. Franck has been nominated for the office of Secretary of the A C R L Community and Junior College Libraries Section. Her name was spelled incorrectly in the D ecem ber C &R L News.