Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
Stan Hannah
Committee Member
Richard Cardinali
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
access to information, accredited master of library science programs, Association of College and Research Libraries, distance education, distance library services, guidelines, higher education, information technology, library role, library services, online degree students, online master of library science degree program, School of Communication Information and Library Science, Southern Connecticut State University, survey research methodology, training needs assessment, user needs analysis
Abstract
The problem was that although the School of Communication, Information, and Library Science at Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) has become committed to an on-line Master of Library Science (MLS) Degree program started in the fall semester of 1998, the nature of corresponding library services supporting the MLS program had not been studied to determine if the services met the needs of the on-line students.
The purpose of this project was to study the nature of distance library services for on-line degree students at SCSU and other programs. Based on the findings of the study, a new model of distance library service for on-line degree students at SCSU was developed.
This project employed 2 methodologies: A survey research methodology to determine the nature of library support of on-line students at SCSU and a development problem-solving methodology to produce a new model of distance library services.
A representative sample of accredited MLS programs was surveyed to determine the elements of distance library services. These elements, together with the Association of College and Research Libraries Guidelines for distance library services were used in the development of a new model of distance library service at SCSU.