Unit 1: How can a library help learners to develop information literacy and research skills?2/27/2018 Library services nowadays are entirely different from what library services were ten years ago. If before students had to go to the library and ask the librarian to help them to find specific physical books, now everything can be done online. However, the workload goes both ways – the librarians have to know how to work the Web to help the students at a distance, and the students have to know how to search online resources to find the particular material.
The library services have to know how to help the students with searching and locating resources for assignments, teach them to learn how to use those resources and support their educational needs. Another critical role of online library services is to provide technical support like tutorials on the library web pages or hands-on training on various programs. Both students and librarians need to know how software programs work to be able to utilize online resources. The reason for it is that online libraries include not only books and articles but also online instructions on how to navigate to specific sites, videos, tutorials, television, and blogs. Library online services are designed to help students from all walks of life, from different time-zones and financial income. That is why they should be accessible 24/7. Each school library services continuously experiment with delivery methods to determine what works best to deliver course contents properly. Therefore, each online library is different in different schools. That is why digital library resources often provide learners with information on how to access library resources to be able to meet each school’s guidelines (Corbett & Brown, 2015). Because there are so many schools with online library services, there was a need for institutions to create a single sign-on into library databases to allow users one username and password to make it easier for them to access library services of particular schools the students attend (Corbett & Brown, 2015). Not only students use online library database. Faculty members, administrators, tutors, and staff members use them on a regular basis, if not more, as well. They cannot give the material to students knowing they are not able to find it online, or without providing them with a “link” to it. That is why the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) developed “Standards for Distance Learning Library Services”, which were approved by the ACRL Board in July 2008 that states that every college member is entitled to library services regardless of what part of the world they enrolled in, as long as they are members of that institution. It also allowed for an embedded librarian who provides learners with instructions on how to access the library and how to efficiently choose the reliable sources. Today, it is not enough to merely rely on Google search engine, but the students and staff members can always ask the librarian for help in identifying a reliable source. It is essential for librarians to keep up-to-date with research and technological skills to be able to assist the students and faculty members with continuing education and developing further opportunities (Corbett & Brown, 2015). References Corbett, A., & Brown, A. (2015). The roles that librarians and libraries play in distance education settings. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 18(2). Retrieved from http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/summer182/corbett_brown182.html
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