Book Review

Brophy, Peter, Shelagh Fisher, and Zo Clarke, eds. Libraries Without Walls 2: The Delivery of Library Services to Distant Users: Proceedings of a Conference Held on 17-20 September 1997 at Lesvos, Greece, Organized by the Centre for Research in Library and Information Management (CERLIM), Manchester Metropolitan University. London: Library Association Publishing, 1998. 177 pp. ISBN 1-85604-301-0.

The Library Association is to be commended on its fine job of publishing the proceedings of the second "Libraries Without Walls" conference held in Lesvos, Greece in 1997. The slim hardbound monograph is aesthetically pleasing on both the exterior and the interior. It is enriched by a clear layout, good reproductions of graphics and illustrations, a uniform style to the introductions to the papers, and a comprehensive subject index. The papers in the volume appear to have been professionally edited. Other conference proceedings would benefit from emulating this model of publishing.

The first Libraries Without Walls conference was held in Mytilene, Greece in 1995. That conference was one of the end products of the BIBDEL Project (fully titled "Libraries Without Walls: The Delivery of Library Services to Distant Users") which was funded by the European Commission's Libraries Program and ran for 18 months in 1994-95. The project involved three European libraries, the University of Central Lancashire in England, Dublin City University in Ireland, and the University of the Aegean in Greece, working together to design and deliver experimental services to their distance learners. A conference was organized at the end of the project to present the findings and to hear about similar experiences of other libraries. This conference was the first of its kind in Europe and produced twelve papers by presenters from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Greece, Sweden, Belgium, and Norway. The conference proceedings were published in-house at the Centre for Research in Library and Information Management (CERLIM), then located at the University of Central Lancashire, and unfortunately did not receive much publicity or a wide distribution outside the United Kingdom and Europe.

The choice of the Library Association as a publisher was a good decision on the part of CERLIM to ensure that the proceedings of the second conference become more accessible to the international library community. This conference was intended to build on the momentum of the first but attracted a different mix of presenters and papers. While the first proceedings represented a cross-section of European countries, most of the papers in the second proceedings are from the United Kingdom. Of the thirteen papers presented, ten are from the UK and the other three are from Belgium, the United States, and Australia. The papers from the UK are most interesting and informative but one wishes that more European countries were represented, especially because of the paucity of literature on distance learning library services in Europe.

Of the three non-British papers, the one from Belgium by Julien Van Borm and others discuss the Antwerp regional library network and the virtual library services available to remote users. The papers from the US and Australia are both descriptions of model services. Sharon Edge and Denzil Edge describe the library support for distance learning at the University of Louisville in Kentucky and Sue McKnight discusses the library services provided by Deakin University to its off-campus students in Australia and overseas.

Amongst the British papers, two are of a theoretical nature. Peter Brophy, the main conference organizer, looks at the concept of the hybrid library in relation to the purpose and functions of libraries; and Maurice Owen provides a perspective on the role of libraries as knowledge keepers in the "knowledge matrix".

Institutional support for distance learners is examined in three of the papers from the UK. Paul Blackmore describes the Learning Web, the electronic learning system at Wirral Metropolitan College; Lorraine Hall outlines the library initiatives to support distributed learning at the University of Sunderland; and Peter Wynne discusses operational issues in establishing library services for the University of Central Lancashire's franchised courses.

European projects are described in three of the British papers. Alan Watkin provides information on the PLAIL (Public Libraries and Adult Independent Learners) and the LISTED (Library Integrated System for Telematics-based Education) projects; Joe Hendry discusses the Genesis Project designed to make information technologies accessible to the people of Cumbria, England; and Ian Pettman and Suzanne Ward examine the UNIverse Project which involves 17 European libraries working in partnership to develop a virtual union catalogue and related support services.

Research studies are the focus of the remaining two British papers. Jenny Craven and Shelagh Fisher summarize the findings of a study on library services for lifelong learning in UK academic libraries; and Kate Stephens presents a fictional account of a distance learner's search for library resources to illustrate some of the findings of a diary study undertaken at the University of Sheffield to examine the library experiences of UK postgraduate distance learning students.

One of this reviewer's major concerns about distance learning library services is that we need more research studies to build and enhance the knowledge base in this area. The literature has an abundance of descriptive works on good practice but relatively few qualitative or quantitative studies on library support for distance learners. Regrettably the proceedings of the second Libraries Without Walls Conference do not contribute any new studies to our research literature. The papers by Craven and Fisher and Stephens do discuss research results but these are summations of studies that have been reported elsewhere.

Having said that, the conference organizers and editors of the proceedings are to be commended for their initiatives to bring information on European projects and practices to the attention of the international library community. This professionally edited set of conference proceedings would be a worthwhile addition to the collection of any library, librarian, or educator seriously interested in the area of distance learning library services. Many of the papers will be of interest to academic librarians who are developing or delivering library services to distance learners. Librarians and administrators will also find useful information on cooperative ventures and projects that attempt to provide remote users with access to electronic resources. Public librarians may benefit from learning about how public libraries in the UK and Europe are striving to serve distance and lifelong learners.

The papers of the first two Libraries Without Walls conferences are significant contributions to the general literature base on distance learning library services. It is hoped that a third conference will produce both practice-oriented and research papers that will further enhance our understanding and knowledge of important issues in providing remote users with access to library and information resources.

Alexander (Sandy) Slade
University of Victoria
E-mail: als@uvic.ca