Implementing Library Services for an Off-Campus Site: Evolution, Not Revolution

(Based on a presentation for "Off-Campus Library Services: Guidelines and Implementation," Tennessee Library Association 1998 Annual Conference, Memphis, TN, Apr 15-17, 1998)

More and more academic libraries are providing library services for students at a distance from the main campus. An article by Ron Chepesiuk and Michael Gorman in the March 1998 issue of American Libraries points out that an estimated two-thirds of all institutions of higher learning offer some form of distance education. Many times this involves providing library services from the main campus, but often librarians must set up library services at an off-campus site. The ideal approach would be to have the resources to establish a space, hire staff, bring in materials, and set up computers all at once, but few of us have such resources at our disposal. Generally, we must settle for a slow, gradual development of services; an evolutionary, rather than a revolutionary, process. This article discusses the planning process used in the implementation of library services at the Bristol, Tennessee, off-campus location for East Tennessee State University (ETSU).

Background of the Bristol site

ETSU at Bristol is one of several off-campus sites in the Tennessee Tri-Cities area served by the Extended Campus Services (ECS) division of the ETSU Libraries. The three main cities of this region are Johnson City, Kingsport, and Bristol. Each of these cities is approximately thirty miles from the other two. They form a rough triangle, with Johnson City as the southern point, Kingsport to the northwest, and Bristol to the northeast. The main campus of ETSU is located in Johnson City.

ETSU started offering classes in Bristol in the late 1960's, making use of various facilities, including the local high school. The city of Bristol, located in the far upper corner of East Tennessee, is unique in that it lies directly on the Virginia/Tennessee line, which literally runs down the middle of the main street downtown. Historically, direct curriculum support to the courses offered in Bristol was provided exclusively through the main campus, thus requiring students to travel to the main campus library in Johnson City for periodical articles, reserve items, and other materials not available through the local public library. In the Fall of 1995, ETSU rented a 20,000 square foot building to house its on-site courses and provide space for a newly installed instructional television (ITV) delivery system. A full-time site coordinator and a secretary were hired to run the site, and the ETSU Dean of Libraries was asked to develop a plan to address library service concerns for the new facility. With the opening of the new facility, enrollment jumped from an average of forty students to eighty-three students the first semester. By Fall of 1996, enrollment had increased to 283 students.

ACRL Guidelines

The Dean of Libraries initially looked to existing Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) guidelines to help him determine a plan of action. With the aid of other librarians on the main campus, a plan was developed to address the issues of management, finance, facility, resources, services, and personnel--the six basic elements mentioned in the "ACRL Guidelines for Extended Campus Library Services" (1990). A profile of information needs and a plan for addressing immediate and long-range goals were also written. Initially, the role of the library was defined as a reading and study area; its financial needs were identified and incorporated within the existing library administration budget.

Two rooms, located across from each other at the far end of a long hall of classrooms, were designated for library use. Surplus tables, study carrels, and chairs from the main library were divided between the rooms, and two sections of steel shelving were purchased. A small basic reference collection, consisting of materials which had been withdrawn from the main library collection, was set up. Other resources included copies of handouts and a telephone for calling the main library reference desk. A computer and modem connected to the library online catalog was placed in the copy room near the front reception desk, a location with better security and greater availability of staff assistance. For all other library services, including access to periodical articles and other print materials, students and faculty were still expected to use either the local public library or the main campus library in Johnson City.

New position established

When the ETSU at Kingsport librarian resigned late that year, the Dean seized the opportunity to expand the job title and description from that of "Kingsport Librarian" to "Extended Campus Services Librarian." During my first semester in this position, I began talking with the students and faculty in Bristol. (Since I was working out of another off-campus site, I could only visit Bristol occasionally). During that time, we were able to relocate to a more visible and secure room closer to the front entrance. The room was renamed the Library Resource Room to make clear its intended function as a resource access point, rather than either a full-fledged library (such as existed in Kingsport), or a mere study room (as it had once been). During my visits to the site, students, staff, and faculty began to express their needs. A survey of Bristol students revealed the perception that there were no library services available at all. Subsequent discussions of goals and objectives with the site staff, Dean of Libraries, and the Assistant Dean of Off-Campus Sites and Centers, resulted in a written action plan for the spring semester.

Factors that were considered

I considered many factors before creating a plan for library services in Bristol. First, I needed to know something about the students. More than 40% of the students in Bristol were over 25 (i.e. "adult students"). Most of them worked full-time, many traveled from various places in southwest Virginia, and the largest majority took evening classes. If you take seriously Raganathan's axiom to save the time of the user, those facts become very important.

The second thing I considered was the array of programs being offered at the site. Focusing on specific parts of the curriculum would help identify needed resources. The plan then in effect at Bristol called for offering courses which revolved around the needs of identified groups of students (called cohorts) in particular areas of study. The undergraduate cohorts were Elementary Education, Criminal Justice, Nursing, and Pre-Business. The goal was for a student to be able to complete two to three years of coursework at the site, and then finish his/her program at the main campus. Core classes in English, history, math, science, and computer technology were also offered. The graduate cohorts at the site were Education (including majors in Reading, Counseling, and School Leadership), Technology, and Business (MBA).

The third task was the identification of the greatest needs, in order to help set priorities. Based on what students told me that first semester, their primary needs were access to information, convenience (i.e. "Can I get it here?"), and individual assistance, both with using the technology and identifying resources. The assistance issue was especially significant for the returning adult students, many of whom had not been in a classroom for a long time and/or had no previous experience with computers.

Hurdles that were identified

The final factor I considered was what hurdles needed to be overcome. Obviously, the greatest barrier for any off-campus site is distance. Off-campus sites are by definition removed from the majority of the resources and services located at the main campus; in this case, they were also at a distance from the person assigned to help them.

Two other major issues in Bristol were telecommunications and networking. The telephone that had been set up for students to use to contact the main library reference desk turned out to be restricted to calls within the Bristol calling area! Attempts to rectify this quickly degenerated into a "who does what" debate between the phone company and the university's telecommunications office. Eventually, the existing phone was moved to the student lounge and a new phone was installed. The library phone had two dedicated lines that only permitted calls to the ETSU at Kingsport library, where my office was located, and the main library reference desk.

The computer set up for catalog access turned out to have a defective monitor, which became unusable during my first semester on the job. The building did get wired for, and connected to, the Internet, but it took a while to work out an agreement with computer services over how the library would connect and provide access to electronic resources.

Physical delivery of materials was another problem. The university had no regular courier service between Bristol and the main campus, instead relying on staff members who happened to be going in either direction, to transport interoffice mail, supplies, and anything else.

The final hurdle to overcome--and the one that took the longest to solve--was lack of visibility. As noted earlier, student perception was that no library services existed. Moving the room helped to some degree, as did the addition of signs and library posters, but students and faculty were still largely unaware of the available services and who to ask for help. I began to address this during my second semester on the job, by setting up a schedule of weekly visits and on-site instruction. Despite memos to faculty at the beginning of every semester outlining services, and repeated class visits, it took a full two years before faculty started requesting on-site library instruction.

The chosen strategy was cooperation

The strategy that I relied on, and strongly recommend, is cooperation. Negotiating agreements with the on-site staff, so that they would help to provide library services, made a big difference in what could be provided. The addition of a part-time clerk in Bristol brought the staff count up to three, in addition to half a dozen student workers. A bonus was having a site coordinator who came from the field of education, and who was both pro-student and pro-library. The staff agreed to handle the ITV tapes and reserve materials, while I coordinated with faculty and Distance Education staff to make sure the site had other necessary materials. Additional requests for their help were kept simple, and I provided both training and written instructions to all three staff members. We soon added another student worker position: the time and duties of this person were shared with the site administration as an exchange for the extra workload. I also supported them by serving as an advocate for Bristol (as well as the other off-campus sites) whenever the opportunity arose, assisted with public relations, and attended as many special events at the site as possible.

Cooperation with the main library

Anyone working alone to establish library services off-campus needs the cooperation and support of the main library staff. One person assigned to off-campus library services cannot be everything to everyone, and in addition, the recent explosion of off-campus programs requires a change in vision and approach for the entire library staff. By changing the title, description, and focus of the Kingsport librarian position, the Dean had started preparing the library faculty for the change. I took care to spend time talking about off-campus service issues with the main library personnel, and gave them a chance to think through proposed changes or new services before implementation. There was less negative impact on the library staff when we could expand on something that was already being done, rather than institute a sudden and radical change.

It also proved beneficial to work with the other librarians on shared concerns, such as design of web pages, user authentication, and the transition to online resources. During every project on which I collaborated with main library faculty I would ask, "how will this impact or work for off-campus students?" Eventually other people started asking the question for me.

A number of off-campus services were the direct results of on-campus cooperation. For example, we created web pages for Extended Campus Services, which included sections for each of the major off-campus sites, facilitating access to library resources from the computer lab or home. Building on the relationships we had established, main library faculty eventually agreed to allow Bristol students to request books from the main library for delivery to Bristol, rather than requiring them to travel to the main campus. At first, the books were routed through me in Kingsport and were hand-carried to the designated site on my weekly visits, but later, the establishment of regular courier services allowed for direct routing. Subsequently, main campus library personnel also helped to implement delivery of photocopied articles through the courier.

Cooperation with other off-campus services

Cooperative efforts also extended to the institution's non-library service providers. While serving on a university-wide committee on off-campus support services, I learned that many departments were struggling with similar issues as the Library, and we were able to come to agreement on ways to meet our common needs, such as regular courier service between the sites and more visibility for off-campus services. A recommendation made by that committee was a vital factor in securing approval for implementation of contracted courier service. The Distance Education Department negotiated the contract, which included both the off-campus sites and the Library, resulting in reduced costs for all involved. Working with other university groups on projects such as this also provided mutual support and encouragement.

Cooperation with other libraries

Working with other local libraries was also important. Meeting with the director of the Bristol Public Library helped me to identify their available resources, as well as assess the impact our students had on their library. As a consequence of that meeting, which included the Dean of Libraries and the Bristol site coordinator, the public library offered to donate back issues of periodicals whenever those issues were replaced with microform. In turn, I created a web page describing the public library's hours and resources, since they did not have a web presence of their own, and linked it to my Bristol page. The site coordinator registered for a business borrower card with the public library, allowing her to check out artwork for display in the facility, which the library's student worker transported and managed. We also reviewed and renewed the existing memorandum of agreement between the two institutions, which included a nominal monetary compensation of fifty dollars paid by ETSU to the Bristol Public Library (a sum that had been negotiated many years prior).

Cooperation with innovators

Those who work in libraries know that technology has the potential to overcome distance, but some areas of any institution have greater access to technology than other areas. When I started at ETSU, the library was not one of the areas with access to the latest technology, although that has since changed for the better. One of the areas that did have technology was the Academic Teaching Lab. As a faculty member, I had access to this lab and the workshops offered in conjunction with the Teaching and Learning Center. A benefit of that was the opportunity to set up a request form on my web page, using CGI script to return a formatted e-mail message [since replaced with JavaScript]. Sometimes the innovators, working independently, do things that impact you, of which you need to be aware: in our case, a group of technologically-sophisticated individuals on campus, working with the Distance Education Department, started meeting to plan Internet courses. I was alerted to this by another librarian and was able to participate in several of their meetings. This allowed the group to include planning for library support right from the beginning.

Summary

The overarching theme throughout the establishment of services in Bristol was the gradual building of each piece to make the final whole (admittedly still a work in progress). My first semester was spent gathering information and formulating an approach. Based on this information, changes were made the second semester: the library room was moved to a more visible and accessible location, a phone connection to the main Library was provided for students, computer access to electronic resources was improved, a way of getting print materials was set up, and weekly site visits were initiated. Building on this the following semester, I began promoting services through class visits, articles, faculty memos, web pages and handouts, while also updating reference materials and starting an "on your honor" circulating collection of donated paperbacks. In the next semester came a TV/VCR for viewing ITV tapes, additional facility and and collection improvements, as well as the visit with the public library. The implementation of regular courier service and, eventually, delivery of articles followed that. Each step-by-step improvement was layered upon the existing services, until full off-campus library service at Bristol came into being. As is the case for all libraries, the evolution will likely continue far into the future.

References

Chepesiuk, Ron and Michael Gorman. "Internet College: the Virtual Classroom Challenge." American Libraries, 29.3 (1998): 52-56.

Kitti Canepi
Kingsport Public Library (Kingsport, TN)
E-mail: canepi@access.etsu.edu

Kitti Canepi served as Extended Campus Services Librarian at East Tennessee State University from August 1996 through May 1999. Attendance at the Eighth Off-Campus Library Services Conference in Providence, Rhode Island, inspired her to turn a presentation made at the 1998 Tennessee Library Association Conference into an article for JLSDE. On June 1, 1999, Kitti will be returning to the public library arena (where she previously spent ten years) to head the Kingsport Public Library.