College and Research Libraries Information Delivery Strategies and the Rural Student Sharon M. West Distance education was developed to meet the educational needs of a diverse population who could not come to the traditional campus. Along with this development has been the demand for library services for these distance learners. Many of them are rural residents without easy access to libraries of any size. This paper outlines how a university library in a predominantly rural setting implemented a distance delivery program by using primarily electronic tech- nology and by replacing traditional library services with an information broker- ing and document delivery service. II s numerous s~dies and papers document, colleges and univer- sities developed distance edu- . cation to meet the educational needs of a diverse population who, for whatever reason, could not come to the traditional campus. 1 Distance education has taken many forms, from branch cam- puses with full facilities to courses offered by video or teleconferencing. Along with the development of dis- tance education has been the corre- sponding demand for library services for distance learners. Libraries have a long history of providing support to ex- tension education. In 1959 Arthur T. Hamlin pointed out that some college and university libraries had been pro- viding support to distance learners since 1916.2 In the 1950s over thirty universi- ties were providing library extension services.3 Since a prime target population for distance education has been rural stu- dents, providing library and informa- tion services to distance learners has, by default, meant providing these services to rural populations. As Glenn R. Wilde points out, a major problem of rural degree programs has been the lack of information resources to support them.4 One of the aims of a university education is to teach students lifelong learning skills-such as using information re- sources. Evidence suggests that this is not the case for distance students. Rus- sell L. and Judith Dobson point out that critics of extended graduate programs often argue that students do not use li- brary resources.5 The profession has re- sponded by developing guidelines and programs which attempt to serve these students. Most recently, the ACRL Guide- lines for Extended Campus Library Services has been revised and reissued.6 The guidelines assert that the provi- sion of facilities, equipment, and com- munication links may vary and "should be appropriate to programs offered."7 However, all examples show a bias for providing physical facilities. This dis- position toward the provision of physi- cal library facilities for distance learners has been echoed by such authors as Marie Kascus and William Aguilar who, in 1988, listed four options for providing access to library and bibliographic services. 8 These options involved the development of a Sharon M. West is the Head of Reference and Instructional Services and Associate Professor of Library Science at the Elmer E. Rasmuson Library, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Alaska 99775. 551 552 College & Research Libraries branch library, the use of a local public library, or the development of a trunk delivery system, which was a type of bookmobile service for students. The fourth option proposed that the campus library assume centrally all responsi- bility for its distant students. The tradition of using the public li- brary as a focal point for meeting the information needs of distance learners is well rooted in the philosophic premise that public libraries can be, as William Critchley has said, "the working man's university."9 In 1932 Sarah B. Askew re- ported the attempt of the Public Library Commission of New Jersey to provide public library service to extension stu- dents.10 Almere L. Scott called upon aca- demic and public libraries to cooperate in preventing unnecessary expense and duplication. 11 A well-known contem- porary experiment for providing service to distance students using public librar- ies is the Intermountain Community Learning and Information Services (ICLIS) project conducted by Utah State University. Funded by the Kellogg Foun- dation, ICLIS was intended to show how modern hi-tech equipment could help meet the informational needs of rural students in Utah, Montana, Colorado, and Wyoming. The foundation of the pro- ject rested upon the local rural public li- brary, which was selected to become the Community Learning and Information CenterY This project attempted not so much to change the manner in which li- brary and information services were delivered as to change the role and nature of the public library in these communities. ICLIS attempted, rather successfully, to use the public library as a partner in the distance educational environment. While few librarians would dispute the fact that it is better for students to have direct physical access to a library, far more rural students than perhaps we wish to admit have little or no access to a local library, public or otherwise. Even with a local library present, its hours of operation and its collection size may not make it useful for distance learners' needs. In 1989, approximately 8.2 mil- lion people lived in communities of less November 1992 than 4,999 people. 13 While there were al- most 4,000 libraries in these communi- ties, 14 percent of the libraries reported collection sizes of less than 5,000 volumes and 32 percent reported collec- tion sizes of 5,000 to 9,999 volumes. 14 Libraries of these sizes will not usually meet the needs of a student involved in higher education. If a college or university wishes to meet the library and information needs of distance learners, but cannot provide a physical facility, it must exercise Kas- cus and Aguilar's fourth option-by providing all services centrally. But as Robert M. Cookingham pointed out in 1982, any attempt to do this must address the three factors of awareness, access, and availability. 15 One of the aims of a university education is to teach students lifelong learning skills-such as using information resources. Evidence suggests that this is not the case for distance students. The University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF) faced such a situation in 1987, due to a variety of budgetary factors beyond the control of the library program and the university itself. This paper outlines how the Elmer E. Rasmuson Library at UAF implemented a distance delivery program by using primarily electronic communication technology and replac- ing traditional library service with an Extended Campus Services center that now functions as an information broker and delivery service. BACKGROUND UAF is the state's land-grant institu- tion and the foremost research center in Alaska. Established in 1917, UAF was originally the state's sole institution of higher education. In the 1970s the deci- sion was made to extend the higher ed- ucation function to other locations through the establishment of university units in Juneau and Anchorage. The uni- versity also added community college campuses in many places throughout Alaska. Each of these units had its own administrative structure, faculty, cur- riculum and support services, including libraries. Some campuses developed substantial libraries while other cam- puses had virtually no library service. The university tried to supply library service through a variety of means, but as Margaret K. Wood and Rosemary E. Ross have both reported, the success of these ventures varied enormously. 16 In 1987, because of extreme budget reductions, the statewide system radi- cally restructured the university, elimi- nating as many administrative units as possible, yet retaining the instructional missions of the local colleges. UAF was no longer solely a residential campus in Fairbanks. It also became a statewide university unit with branch campuses, rural education centers, research cen- ters, the sites of the Cooperative Exten- sion Service, and the Marine Advisory Program. Other communities which had not previously been part of the Univer- sity of Alaska developed their own edu- cational institutions, which, through consortium arrangements, became part of UAF. When the reorganization was complete, the university had made the commitment to offer courses and locate faculty and staff throughout more than 500,000 square miles of the state, an area approximately the combined size of Texas and California (see figure 1). Unlike other extended campus pro- grams offered in the lower 48 states, where there may be a gradual thinning of both population and available ser- vices from a core zone, in Alaska an abrupt drop-off occurs outside the urban areas. In other U.S. states, rural may mean cities with a population under 2,500 people. In Alaska, rural means vil- lages not located on any road system, with access only by air. Since Alaska has only 5,679 (3,003 unpaved; 2,676 paved) miles of roads, most of the students, fac- ulty, and staff in extended UAF live, by definition, in rural areas. These students do not attend class by commuting to Fairbanks or to one of the branch campus sites. Instead students Information Delivery Strategies 553 pursue their course work primarily through audioconferencing. For the pe- riod fall 1988 through spring 1990, there were 15,548 distant students enrolled in audioconferenced courses. These students were pursuing degrees at all levels-as- sociate, baccalaureate, and master's. As noted above, some former commu- nity colleges had developed libraries prior to restructuring. These included the Kuskokwim Campus in Bethel and the Northwest Campus in Nome. As re- structuring took hold, the community and university campus of Kotzebue jointly formed a library for the Chukchi Campus. Barrow, which had never had a public or academic library, developed one to support the North Slope Higher Education Center. Altogether, in 1987, these libraries held only 51,098 volumes, of which 30,145 were in one libraryY Most rural students are Native Amer- icans and live in villages with limited or no local library services. The Chukchi campus in Kotzebue serves a population of 6,000 people, of whom 88 percent are Inupiaq Eskimo and other Alaska native groups. The Kuskokwim Campus serves approximately 4,000 people, many of whom still speak Yup'ik Eskimo as their primary language and retain their tradi- tional cultural values. For many of the students, distance ·delivery courses may represent their first contact with higher education. American natives, including Alaskan natives, have traditionally relied upon oral tradition to record the achievements and activities of their culture. Elizabeth Brandt, a sociolinguist, has theorized that native Americans have an aversion to the written record because it places a barrier between experience and truth. 18 Whatever the reason, Susan Hollaran has stated that native Americans are not frequent users of public libraries, per- ceiving them to be irrelevant creations of the Anglo culture.19 The rural American native student may not think of a library as a place to answer an information need or may be hesitant about approaching a library for assistance. In spite of these barriers, Virginia Streiff has shown that libraries, when used in combination BeringSH UnalaskaO •ttl" QBetheiX•• --"\4 . Dllllnghamoce Fort YukonO Fairbanks@ Nenana o Delta O• Palmer&• FIGUREl • . Locations: @ University of AinU Fairbanks main campus X Stanch campuses 0 Rutal education centers Ia Research centers • Cooperative ExtensiOn Senic:e 0 Marine AdviSOIY Program e XCED ~ EduealiOn Dewalcp 1nt ......- Map of University of Alaska, Fairbanks -, U1 U1 ~ with appropriate curriculum, can sub- stantially improve the language achieve- ment of Eskimo children. 20 PROBLEM DEFINITION AND OUTCOME The problem faced by the Elmer E. Rasmuson Library in Fairbanks was, thus, twofold: providing library services to students in rural Alaska and overcom- ing the students' natural hesitancy about approaching a large academic library. In 1989, based upon a report of the Distance Delivery Committee in the Rasmuson Li- brary, the library instituted the Extended Campus Services (ECS) unit.21 It was created to meet four levels of patron in- formation needs: 1. Students pursuing undergraduate degrees at a distance; 2. Graduate students, faculty, andre- searchers working at points remote from any research library; 3. Nondegree students taking courses at a distance; 4. Specific statewide patron groups needing access to government in- formation or to the general and special collections of the library. The first problem to be solved was communications between the student and the library in Fairbanks. Several statewide data networks, a university computer net- work, a commercial data network with access available from many of the state's villages, and a state government adminis- trative network already existed. To take advantage of these networks, the library established two mail boxes on the Univer- sity of Alaska Computer Network (UACN): a mailbox where students could request books and periodical articles on interlibrary loan and a reference mailbox where students could pose questions and have them answered. If students had access via the commercial data net- work or the state administrative net- work, they could access the university computer network as well. The Rasmuson Library then instituted a toll-free number statewide. This num- ber was an important factor since most students lived in areas of economic un- derdevelopment. Library administra- Information Delivery Strategies 555 tors initially placed voice mail on the 800 number to save on personnel costs. We believed we had met Cookingham's first condition of access. We then tackled the problem of aware- ness. Publicity was important because most students and faculty were initially una ware of any extended library services. A flyer was developed and distributed to all faculty who were headquartered off campus. Flyers were also distributed to the branch campuses. The key to use of our service was fac- ulty involvement. We aggressively pur- sued meetings with each group of rural faculty as they came to Fairbanks for orientation. We also decided to send a faculty member from the Rasmuson Li- brary to each branch campus at least once a year for consultation and input review sessions. The purpose of the visit was to be twofold: to show the commit- ment of the Rasmuson Library to the rural educational mission and to learn from our rural colleagues and students the problems and needs they faced on a daily basis. The key to use of our service was faculty involvement. We aggressively pursued meetings with each group of rural faculty as they came to Fairbanks for orientation. The first point of contact for faculty and students was via the 800 telephone number or the electronic mailbox. A staff member who was trained in interview techniques took the request, transcribed it onto a form, and sent it to the reference librarian. The reference librarian con- ducted the library research, selected the materials, and passed the information to the extended campus services office, which sends the packet out to the stu- dent. The stated goal for turnaround time from receipt of request to mail out was forty-eight hours. Originally all material was sent from Fairbanks via first-class priority mail. We did try to scan and digitize some periodical articles and send them over 556 College & Research Libraries the University of Alaska Computer Net- work (UACN), but found it presented some major technical problems and was too time consuming.22 As facsimile ma- chines became ubiquitous in Alaska, we added a facsimile machine to our unit and started routinely faxing materials to the rural areas. RESULTS We assumed that the demand for the service would be varied but relatively low in number since we presumed that the libraries in Nome, Kotzebue, and Bethel would provide library service to their students directly. This did not prove to be the case. From fall 1989 through December 1990, we answered 768 information re- quests which came from over 90 Alaskan villages and towns. A geographic analy- sis of requests showed that our services were being delivered virtually to the en- tire state of Alaska. We did find that we handled significantly fewer requests from the Bethel region. It is no coinci- dence that the consortium library in Bethel had the largest single collection in rural Alaska, over 24,000 volumes. During this period we had an enroll- ment of 8,087 students in rural Alaska, giving us a 10 percent use rate. While this use rate may seem low, 31 percent of these students were taking vocational, developmental, and noncredit courses that typically did not require the use of information resources. More interesting has been the increas- ing degree of use. In fall1989, 6 percent of all students used Extended Campus Ser- vices. In spring 1990, use had increased marginally to 6.4 percent of all students. By fall1990, 10 percent of all students used the service. Figure 2 shows the increas- ing use of Extended Campus Services for the period indicated. The stated goal for turnaround time was forty-eight hours. An analysis of turnaround time on requests revealed that 43 percent of all requests were sent out within forty-eight hours. In examin- ing those requests which were not filled within the goal turnaround time, we found that, if a request was not filled November 1992 within forty-eight hours, its turnaround time was substantially longer than the goal time and the delayed fill rate was related to the complexity of the request. In some cases, the delay in fill rate was artificially created. Some faculty re- quested assistance, but had no time limi- tation on the request. If we were handling a large number of requests at the time, these were sent to the back of the queue to wait. From fall 1989 through December 1990, we answered 768 information requests which came from over 90 Alaskan villages and towns. A geographic analysis of requests showed that our services were being delivered virtually to the entire state of Alaska. Additionally, as the number of re- quests increased, response time began to lag. Teaching faculty exacerbated the sit- uation by assigning entire classes to use ECS at one time. Without additional re- sources, during high-use periods turn- around in forty-eight hours became increasingly difficult to achieve (see figure 3). CONCLUSION From the beginning we knew it was essential that clear, rapid communica- tion between the library and ECS user was paramount. Using voice mail on the toll-free number was counterproductive to that goal. Hang-ups were numerous with voice mail, and messages left were few. Many students found using voice mail intimidating and cold. Very shortly after the institution of ECS, we elimi- nated voice mail in favor of staff answer- ing the telephone from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. An answering machine was installed to be used after 5 p.m. Interestingly enough, users were not as resistant to the answer- ing machine as they were to voice mail. Staff answering the telephone were given interview training to assist them in being responsive and sensitive to the needs of the ECS users. During this training, we UAF RASMUSON LIBRARY Extended Campus Services Requests 1~~---------------------------------------------------------------------------, 1004---------------------~~--------------------------------------------------~ July August September October November December January February March Month 1--- FY 90 -+- FY 91 FIGURE2 UAF Rasmuson Libra April May June Extended Campus Services Response Time to Incoming Requests Completion Date Unknown (13. 5