oct06b.indd


Paula Webb 

Meeting the needs 
of distance education students 
Creating an online-only library instruction course 

The thought of an online­only library in­struction course will either fill a librarian 
with fear or curiosity. It has the possibility 
of taking libraries in a new direction—to 
the world of online instruction for college 
undergraduates, graduates, and doctoral 
students. 

The fear of online­only library instruction 
is justifiable. The questions that often arise 
are associated with the threat that there will 
be less use of the library by the traditional 
patron. Most librarians find it important to 
walk through the stacks, fl ipping through 
printed journals and value the one­on­one 
relationship that defines a library. When 
something is developed that removes a pa­
tron from this experience, we all become a 
little nervous. 

However, there is another need rising out 
of the academic institution. It is meeting the 
needs of students who are nontraditional 
or who take online classes only. It is giving 
these students the privilege to have access 
to the same classes and services as those 
students who are traditional. 

These nontraditional and online students 
have time restraints that will not allow them the 
luxury of browsing the stacks. The perspective 
of these students is that they know they need 
training, but they cannot work on the same 
schedule as the in­class instruction librarian. In 
these cases, nontraditional students would have 
to do without. They would attempt to do the 
best they could with the library resources avail­
able, but still would not have the same benefi ts 
of a student who is on campus. 

At Delta State University (DSU), this situa­
tion is changing. I had consistently seen the 
need for an online library instruction course 
grow in my communication with nontradi­
tional students. I wanted to discover a way of 
informing them of library services, but also 
meeting their need for time fl exibility. 

In the fall of 2005, an opportunity came 
about with the DSU Winter Technology 
Institute. This program offered training on 
how to use WebCT to build a class that 
was either online­only or a hybrid (a com­
bination of in­ class instruction and Web­
based). I attended the training in January 
2006, which prepared me to construct the 
class that I am teaching for the fi rst time 
this semester. 

Training 
One of the first things I encourage anyone to 
do is get training. At DSU we are currently 
using WebCT as our software for providing 
online or hybrid class instruction. If I had not 
attended the Winter Technology Institute, I 
would have been unsure of where to begin 
in creating my online­only class. 

The Winter Technology Institute was 
a wonderful way of teaching me how to 
use the software successfully. The institute 
brought in faculty who are already using 
WebCT in their classrooms and placed them 
with those who would be instructing in this 

Paula Webb is serials/interlibrary loan librarian at Delta 
State University, e-mail: pwebb@deltastate.edu 
© 2006 Paula Webb 

C&RL News October 2006  548 

mailto:pwebb@deltastate.edu


format in the future. The training gave me 
the opportunity to learn from various faculty 
how to use the tools in WebCT and modify 
the software to meet my needs. 

The Winter Technology Institute lasted 
five days and discussed almost all of the 
issues I would encounter when instructing 
my class for the first time. We went over 
important issues, such as plagiarism, the best 
instruction methods, how to mange time, 
how to create quizzes, and how to place 
time limits on various tests. 

I also used this time to advertise the 
class I was creating. I knew that everyone 
else attending the institute was there to 
teach a class that would either be online­
only or a hybrid. This would be the very 
audience that my library instruction course 
was created for. Every time a discussion 
began about classes and who was teaching, 
I would bring up my Library 101 course and 
the new online­only format. I explained 
how it would help them fine tune the re­
search skills of their students and benefi t 
them in the long run. 

Consult those already instructing 
classes like yours 
One of the best things I did in creating my 
online­only course was contact our reference 
department. The department had already 
instructed the in­class version of Library 
101, and they had a clear plan for teach­
ing the students. I took the time to talk to 
the reference librarians concerning topics 
such as tests, materials, and how they view 
certain issues. 

Another place I looked for information 
concerning creating an online­only library 
instruction course was the Internet. I did a 
simple Google search for topics relating to 
library instruction and found a wealth of 
information. I discovered that many larger 
schools in the United States had already 
created online instruction courses for their 
students. This information provided me with 
various ideas of how to lay out the class and 
how to present the information in a usable 
format for the students. 

Using information I gathered from the 
reference department, the Internet, and 
professional articles, I began developing the 
format for the syllabus. Resorting back to the 
idea of making the class simple to follow but 
informative, I took the syllabus format from 
the on­campus library instruction course and 
modified it to meet my needs. 

I plan on using the syllabus as the main 
point of reference for my class, detailing each 
action the students need to take during the 
week. Using this one­stop format would be 
less confusing for the students, and would 
keep them on track as they progress through 
the course. 

Since the class would not be able to come 
to meet me on campus, I had to develop 
a method of instructing them about library 
concepts in an online environment. To ac­
complish this I decided that my class would 
require the textbook The College Student’s 
Research Companion,1 which covers the basic 
information regarding Library of Congress 
System, Dewey Decimal System, databases 
and other various tidbits of information about 
libraries as a whole. 

The only problem I had with the textbook 
was that it did not come with a CD that would 
contain tests, assignments, or PowerPoint 
presentations that I could simply upload into 
my WebCt class. I would have to create all 
of my instruction material, one PowerPoint 
at a time. 

Building the body 
If I had to choose the area that was the most 
time consuming, creating the actual class pre­
sentations would have to fall in that category. 
Unfortunately, time is also not a commodity 
that I have a lot of when I am at work. I knew 
that if I did not start creating this class and 
the material for it early, then I would have 
greater things to worry about as I got closer 
to the fall semester. 

I developed a system whereby for each 
week of the Library 101 course, I would start 
building it on Monday of each work week. My 
personal requirement was to have the weeks’ 
PowerPoint presentations, assignments, and 

October 2006  549 C&RL News 



any additional material created and added 
to the WebCT site before the Saturday of the 
same week. 

In building the body, I used the textbook 
to address library issues as a whole and used 
the PowerPoint presentations and assign­
ments to take what the students would learn 
from the textbook and apply it to the Roberts­
LaForge Library online materials specifi cally. I 
created assignments that the students would 
have to work with each week, requiring them 
to use the library Web site and databases at 
our university. 

In creating the PowerPoint presentations, 
I tried to deal with each library issue from the 
perspective of a novice. Each presentation is 
very detailed and specific in explaining off­
campus access, how to use EbscoHost, fi nding 
a book on the shelf, and other library concepts. 
When the class actually begins, I will be able 
to monitor if the presentations are too simple 
or not complex enough. The plan is to gather 
the opinions of the students to make decisions 
and modifications from their input. 

I placed special emphasis on sections such 
as the library catalog, reference materials, 
and informational databases in the weekly 
assignments. I required the students to fi nd 
very specific items in these areas due to 
how important these areas would be to their 
academic career. I wanted them to have the 
ability to find what they needed long after 
my class. In one of my assignments, I re­
quire them to do various searches with their 
assigned topic in the catalog. I also require 
them to find information in various formats, 
allowing them to know how easy the library 
catalog can be to use. 

Promoting 
Despite all of my planning, presenting, and 
other activities that went into developing 
this class, the most important of all would be 
promoting it to the faculty and students. As 
I have mentioned earlier, I made sure to tell 
the faculty attending the Winter Technology 
Institute about my class at every opportunity. 
This was one successful method of getting 
the word out. 

Since the class was created for students 
who were time challenged or could not 
come to campus, I knew that placing fl yers 
and such on bulletin boards around campus 
would not be very useful. Instead, I had to 
develop other ways of communicating to 
this special group of people. 

One action taken was to e­mail the pro­
fessors who instructed online­only or hybrid 
courses. I created a personal list of these 
instructors by looking at the list of classes 
offered each semester. Any professor who 
had online under their class description was 
added to my e­mail list. The e­mail sent out 
stressed that the class was online only, that 
it would help the students do a better job 
of research, and so forth. I also encouraged 
the professors to inform their students of this 
class and how it would meet their unique 
needs. 

Another manner of informing students of 
my online Library 101 course was through 
the Distance Education Program. At the 
Roberts­LaForge Library we require students 
who live more than 60 miles from campus 
and take only online courses to qualify as 
distance education students. I e­mailed each 
of these students directly, informing them of 
the class and how it could benefit them in 
their academic career. 

Conclusion 
The world of academia is changing. As time 
moves on, more and more classes will be 
offered online and, therefore, the need of 
online library instruction will only increase 
with time. These users should not be ignored 
or left abandoned to figure out how to use 
the library on their own. 

In constructing and applying this class, I 
hope to stand in the gap for these students 
and offer them the same chance as all the 
other students that go to DSU—the chance 
to learn and grow. 

Note 
1. Arlene Rodda Quaratiello, The College 

Student’s Research Companion, 3rd Edition. 
(New York: Neal­Schuman). 

C&RL News October 2006  550