Mission Statement: The goal of the Office of Distance Learning Library Services is to provide library support to distance education students which is as equal as possible to that which is available to students enrolled in courses which are taught on the West Georgia Campus in Carrollton.

***Note: definitions and explanation of all underlined items, in the order presented, follow this section***

Eligibility for services: All Distance Education Students are entitled to receive library support services from the Distance Learning Library Services Office. A student who is enrolled in both a distance education and an on-campus class during any given semester, may only receive this special library service for the class taught off-campus or by distance education.

Distance Education Library Services Office: The Head of Library Access Services is responsible for making sure that whatever library support is needed is supplied, assisted by a full-time Document Delivery Assistant and a variable number of student workers.

Requesting services: Eligible students should submit requests using the Request Form available on the UWG Distance Learning Library Services website (Click HERE to go to form). Newnan and Dalton students are asked to follow the procedures outlined below. All requests for distance education library support must be made in writing (i.e., phone requests are not accepted). The form must be filled out completely, or your request will be delayed until we can contact you to get the additional information needed.

Library Support Services: These services may include any or all of the following:

• regular announcement to faculty about the availability of Distance Learning Library Services for their students;
• telephone, e-mail or fax contact and consultation with DLLS staff regarding student's research needs;
• books from the UWG collection requested by the off-campus or distance education student, checked out to the student and delivered by courier service to Dalton College Library or Newnan-Coweta Public Library--or directly to the student's home by mail or UPS Next-Day Air (there is an $18 charge for UPS, but 1st Class postage is free);
• copies of journal articles or other library materials, photocopied and delivered by courier, mail, fax if necessary, UPS Next-Day Air, or electronic document delivery when possible.
• referral to the UWG Library's Inter-Library Loan Service for needed materials which are not held in the UWG library collection or otherwise available at a library within reasonable driving distance for the student;
• referral of student to a library near his/her home or workplace which is open to community use and contains materials appropriate to his/her research needs;
• information about the GIL Express system, which provides for reciprocal borrowing privileges at other University System libraries;
• at request of instructor, placement of reserve materials for student use at a location convenient to an off-campus class site;
• at the request of the instructor, library instruction sessions appropriate to the needs of the class.
• advice & assistance when the student is having problems with Internet/GALILEO access.

Newnan and Dalton External Degree Students: Ingram Library has formal contractual agreements with the Newnan-Coweta Public Library and the Dalton College Library; both have agreed to serve State University of West Georgia students as if they were their own patrons. If Newnan and Dalton students have been unable to meet their research needs through the resources available at these cooperating libraries, they may make a request directly to the DLLS office using the online form described above.

Assessment: on-going assessment of program is conducted, in order to determine level of user satisfaction and to identify areas for improvement.

Distance Education Student: A distance education student is an individual currently enrolled in any course taught under the auspices of State University of West Georgia, at any location other than the main campus in Carrollton or more than 50% on the WWW. (Graduate education students working on the 6th year paper and who are not coming regularly to campus are also eligible for services.)

Regular announcement to faculty: At the beginning of each semester, all UWG faculty are advised by email of the URL of the Distance Learning Library Services webpage, and asked to make their students aware of it. They are also encouraged to link directly to it from their own class websites, in order to make it as convenient as possible for their students to access the services and resources needed for their distance education classes. Our thinking is that having the information available electronically is more effective than trying to distribute information on paper via course instructors, as was formerly done.

Telephone: Since the majority of students enrolled in off-campus students (and some students enrolled in web-based courses) reside outside the Carrollton area, a toll-free phone/fax line (800-295-2321) is available for students who would otherwise have to pay long-distance charges in order to contact the DLLS staff.

E-Mail: All students and faculty of West Georgia College are entitled to free email accounts on the SUN at the UWG Computer Center, which is connected to the Internet. In order to utilize GALILEO however, students will need to establish an account with an Internet Service Provider of their choice. Useful information about connecting to the Internet are provided HERE by the UWG ITS Dept.

Fax contact: Staff at the Newnan-Coweta and Dalton College Libraries promptly forward requests for library materials made by students to the Ingram Library via fax. Whenever possible, requests received in this manner are delivered by UPS within a few days. If it is impossible for a student to utilize the online request form, s/he may call to have a paper form sent, which can be faxed (or mailed) back to the DLLS Office. This takes a lot longer, though, so it's not recommended.

Consultation: Students contact the Head of Library Access Services or the Distance Learning Library Services Office about a variety of library-related concerns. After initial discussion with the student and provision of either an appropriate referral to another library, or mutual agreement on the services which will be provided directly, some contact with the student is maintained so as to be able to assess the degree to which the student's library needs have been satisfied. From the outset of our Distance Learning Library Services program, which began in 1991, a deliberate attempt has been made to keep the service flexible, so that the most diverse requirements can be met.

Courier Service: Weekly courier delivery is provided to the Newnan-Coweta and Dalton College Libraries whenever classes are in session. Students at Newnan and Dalton are normally expected to pick up materials delivered for them to those locations; when faster delivery is required, 1st Class Mail to the individual's home, fax (to either the library, home, or business), or UPS Next-Day Air may be substituted for courier delivery. On an emergency basis only, course instructors may be asked to deliver materials to their class site, when deemed necessary by the Head of Library Access Services; this should happen very rarely, however!

Mail: in order to ensure timely delivery, all items, including books, are sent by U.S. Postal Service 1st Class Mail at no charge to the student.

UPS Next-Day Air: students who wish may elect this expedited delivery at their own expense (minimum charge, $18.00 per package).

Copies: Applying the SACS principle of equivalency, distance education students are required to pay the same charges as apply to on-campus students, which is currently 7 cents per page for paper copies.

Fax if necessary: Students are expected to anticipate their needs for library materials. However, in situations where a legitimate emergency arises, delivery of up to 5 items by fax will be provided whenever possible.

Electronic document delivery: In most cases, articles can be converted to digital form and will be delivered students via the web.

Inter-Library Loans: When a distance education student needs material which is not available at the Ingram Library, the DLLS Office may refer the student to a library in the area which does own the material, or if time permits, encourage him/her to submit an ILL request via the Library's online Inter-Library Loan form. The student should be sure to specify that s/he wishes to have the article mailed or delivered electronically, rather than held for pickup. If a book is needed, the student should make arrangements through the DLLS Office to have it mailed when it arrives, since this service is not normally provided by the ILL Department. The student is responsible for getting the book back to the ILL Department at Ingram Library in time for it to be returned to the lending library; articles, of course, do not have to be returned at all.

Reasonable driving distance: On some occasions, after consultation with the Head of Library Access Services, a student may be expected to travel as far as 30 miles from his/her home to an appropriate library to which s/he has been referred, in order to obtain needed materials.

GIL Express System: An agreement is in place within the University System of Georgia which establishes reciprocal borrowing privileges among System libraries. In order to utilize this service, the student (who must be in good standing with the library at the institution where s/he is enrolled) must present either his/her UWG ID card, or other photo ID (Driver's license preferred) acceptable to the visited library. Circulating materials may be borrowed and returned to any other System library convenient to the student. In order to utilize this service, the student must be currently enrolled at State University of West Georgia.

Reserve materials: Faculty who are teaching distance education classes are invited to submit reserve requests for their classes. Since reserve requests for on-campus classes are handled by another department, availability of materials is on a first-come, first-served basis. The Head of Library Access Services makes arrangements with a library near the class site, and prepares the materials for simple manual circulation so that they require no additional preparation by the hosting library. If the needed materials are either not owned by the Ingram Library or have already been pulled for an on-campus class, the Head of Access Services obtains the bibliographic data on the books and requests the Acquisitions Department to obtain them on a RUSH basis. As soon as the materials have arrived and been processed, they are given to the DLLS Office for transfer to the off-campus reserve site (generally by U.S. Postal Service Priority Mail).

At a location convenient: When the DLLS office receives a reserve request for an off-campus class, it takes responsibility for making contact with an appropriate library as close to the actual class site as possible. Once an arrangement with a nearby library has been make, a DLLS staff member informs the instructor of the library's location, hours, contact person, and when the material is expected to be actually available for student use.

Library instruction: Library instruction sessions will be scheduled at the request of the instructor and delivered at the Ingram Library or, when feasible, at or near the off-campus class site.

Internet/GALILEO access: DLLS staff consult with students mainly by phone or email to assist them in connecting to remote resources available on the WWW; in addition, a series of online guides have been prepared for some particularly helpful sites, and these can be either accessed from the DLLS webpages under Research Tools.

On-going assessment: Surveys of off-campus students are conducted from time to time. In addition, an online evaluation form is available, and all students utilizing our service are encouraged to fill it out whenever they use the service.