The article concludes with the remark that it is high time for the academics and librarians supporting the distance education system to come together and take policy decisions to provide the effective library and information services to distance learners. This should form an important agenda for the distance educators in the new millennium.

I. Introduction

Education is the most important instrument for human resource development. It is not only a social and moral imperative; it is also an economic necessity. With the development of educational technology, the means and forms of providing teaching-learning situations have multiplied and diversified; as have the educational needs of various heterogeneous groups within the community.

Hence, Distance Education System has emerged as an effective alternative to the conventional system of education. It provides quality education to not only to elite but also to the disadvantaged sections of the society. Distance Education as we know it today is a relatively new educational innovation. The first full-fledged Open University was established in 1969 in U.K. Since then, Distance Education has grown rapidly in both developing and developed nations. The Distance Education System has gained global acceptance and is well known for its flexibility, individualisation and adoption of new information technology, in the course of development, production, delivery and student support as per individual needs.

As regards its relevance to our country, existing education imparting machinery (i.e. conventional system) is totally inadequate to meet the requirements of a total population of more than one billion. In spite of the quantitative expansion of the Indian conventional educational system, it is still far from being equal.

To fill up this gap of supply and demand and to ensure the democratisation of education, the inclination towards Distance Education has grown tremendously during the last decade. Today, there are more than 10 open universities and about 60 correspondence directorates at conventional universities providing a large number of distance learning programmes at various levels.

II. Requirements of Distance Learners

Since a large segment of the population is pursuing its studies through distance learning systems, varied target groups are drawn into the system. The requirements of distance learners are varied as they belong to different categories with different age, socio-economic, cultural, educational and linguistic backgrounds. They also differ in their approach to studies, study skills and learning experiences etc. Taking into consideration the needs of varied groups, Distance Learning Institutes have had to devise varied teaching learning programmes to cater to the needs of ever increasing number of learners. The need for a more organised student support services has also been recognised. These services may include counselling, workshops, tele-conferencing, personal contact programmes, library facilities and so on.

In any academic community, the library plays a central support role in the educational programmes. In the Distance Education System, learners are physically apart from their teachers for a large duration of the instructional process and are involved in self-learning process. Furthermore, they do not have classroom lectures, seminar discussions or all the formal learning experiences of the traditional students. Hence, library services to this group become more crucial. Hellar-Ross(1996) argues that there are number of reasons for library support to distance learners. These include curriculum requirements, student and faculty research needs, library standards for equity of student support, accreditation criteria and the importance of information literacy.

To have an organised library services for distance learners, it is very important to make a study of the need assessment of distance learners.

According to Jagannathan(1989), information needs can be grouped into 3 categories:

i) Need for Materials and Facilities

Need for Information Services

Need for User Services

Need for Materials and Facilities

Distance learners need access to library resources for reference, inter-library loans and so on. Materials and facilities required by them include reference books, textbooks, study packages prepared by various distance teaching institutes etc. Other non-traditional resources required by these learners may include such things as audio-video equipment, computer equipment, photocopiers, microfiche reader-cum- printers, etc.

Need for Information Services

Library staff of distance teaching institutes should be well trained in order to develop, process, organise and maintain the collections and disseminate information to users. Information services required by learners include: bibliographic information about reference sources, books, journals and non-print materials available at their own library or through inter-library loan, information on other organisations offering distance education courses, and information on Regional and Study Centres and the services they offer.

iii) Need for User Services

Distance learners also need guidance from library staff regarding how to use the library collection and equipment available at the library, choosing reading material, planning their learning and using study skills for independent learning.

In order to fulfill these requirements, libraries of Distance teaching Institutes should promote user- friendly education and information literacy about various services available to learners.

III. Present Scenario of Library and Information Services available to Distance Learners: a review

All organisations are in a period of transformation including Universities and their libraries with information technology acting as both a catalyst and an instrument of change. Information technology has created an interactive and expensive quality to information not experienced previously thus contributing to information becoming a primary commodity (Creth,1996). The situation is highly dynamic and likely to remain so in the immediate future. Libraries have just begun to realise the special demands and problems of this newly emerging group of learners. Hence, they are necessarily faced with the challenge of re-constructing and re-orienting their services to meet the requirements of distance learners.

There are very few, but good literature reviews on library provisions for distance learners. Goodson(1996) indicates that with the explosion of distance education in the 1990's, nearly all types of libraries are being called upon to provide educational support to the public. Higher Education Administrators realise that they have to make it convenient for the customers to buy their product. The Campus is to be delivered to the individuals' own neighborhood. Wilson(1994) points out that "Technology is making the physical location of resources irrelevant and is placing the responsibility for locating and manipulating information sources firmly in the hands of the users". Nipper(1989) described three generations of distance education system. The third generation distance education is social in nature and emphasised communication among all members of the community. With the growth of information technology, learners may meet more of their requirements independently through the Internet and other similar services. Drake(1996) calls it 'Point and Click' generation. However, Lebowitz(1977) states that although the student population is becoming more computer literate, it does not necessarily mean that they are computer literate and will have the necessary access to technology. Therefore, library services will continue to be in need, because the library can still provide the widest range of material for the greatest diversity of users in a cost-effective manner. Moreover, the learners of today expect a remote access to information. Realising this, academic librarians have shown a distinct shift in their approach towards the delivery of library services to the learners. Collier(1995) describes the role of a library as being no longer a custodian of books and journals, but a gateway to global electronic resources. According to Holowachuck(1997), Librarians have a crucial role to play in assisting students to become critical thinkers by helping them to develop their research skills and ability to critically analyse information they retrieve.

The Library services provided by various Distance Learning Institutes are discussed as below :

1) Establishing a Collection of Materials at Contact Points

In the University of Washington, the participating institutions have developed a small collection of reserve materials at the Social Work Library which retained the ownership of materials, ordered and processed them as an off site collection with a long term check out to distance learners (Lee,1999). In Indira Gandhi National Open University, multiple copies of selective reference books are sent to its Regional and Study Centres.

2) Reference and Referral Services

The librarians are ready to answer reference questions submitted by distance learners via. telephone, mail, fax, e-mail etc. They are also available to assist this information needed to develop list of reading and syllabi. The Universities of Texas and Washington provide this service (Caballero,1998; Lee,1999).

3) Borrowing Privileges and Document Delivery Services

Through this service, books and articles can be requested and delivered to the students. Students are allowed a reasonable number of requests for resource material, which can be made via e-mail, fax etc. Materials are delivered by post or faxed to students. University of Victoria, Florida Distance Learning Institute, University of Washington, University of Texas provide this service to their off-campus students (Slade,1997; Burdick,1998; Lee,1999; Caballero,1998). Such services are yet to be initiated in any library of Distance Learning Institutes in India.

4) Access to Online Catalogues

Faculty and students at distance learning sites will be able to access the library catalogue via the web. Florida Distance Learning Institute provides this access and University of Texas is planning to start this service (Burdick,1998; Caballero,1998). Web based access to online catalogue helps the learners in knowing what is available and will facilitate their requests.

5) Network Information Resources

This service area provides students, faculty and staff with access to a growing, but comprehensive selection of literature and factual databases, full-content electronic books, journals, statistical, encyclopedic reference sources and other published media. Minnesota Virtual University provides this service (Butler,1997).

6) Computer Conferencing

University of Maryland University College (UMUC) offers students access to reference librarians through asynchronous computer conferencing, live chat sessions and e-mail (Rosseel,1998). Central Queensland University Library has produced two computer-assisted learning programmes, one to provide instruction on how to use the library catalogue (Libtut) and one to teach students how to access and search electronic information databases (Rascal). Both the programmes have proved useful, as remote students can practice searches before logging on to the Library catalogue. (Orr,1997).

7) Access to Reserve Readings (e- reserves)

Providing access to reserve readings in the environment is one of the most innovative services being offered. These e-reserve systems allow students enrolled in a distance education course to access readings online after the readings have been scanned, linked to and from relevant websites, and cleaned up. Librarians observe principles of fair use by password protecting e-reserve files and making them accessible only to the students enrolled in a specific course and only for the duration of the course. (Rosseel,1998)

8) Virtual Libraries (Consortium approach)

Under this approach various public universities and other state entities work to pool their assets and utilise the potential of communication technology to provide a broad access to the information services regardless of the source. Western Governors University, National Technological University, California State University, University of Phoenix has developed virtual universities. To access the databases of their online library collections, students are required to use a password to log in (Barnard,1999). Another example is ELN (Electronic Library Network) of BC in Canada. It has 28 member librarians belonging to State Universities, Colleges and Institutes. ELN services includes three union catalogues, consortium access to databases, online journal access, training programmes and development of new sharing models (Holowachuck,1997).

9) Instructional Services

Librarians provide faculty and students at distance learning sites with the instruction needed to effectively utilise available library and information resources. Faculty and students could attend scheduled sessions for this purpose. Webpages of various libraries provide the names of contact persons with telephone numbers, e-mail addresses etc (Caballero,1998).

IV Library Services to Distance Learners in India

Library facilities to distance learners vary from country to country, depending upon the policy decisions taken by Distance Teaching Institutes and communication technologies available for storage and retrieval of information. In developed countries, most of the libraries have fully computerised systems. They can use various technological devices to provide information to distance learners using various electronic devices such as the telephone, telex, facsimile and e-mail etc., whereas in developing countries like India, library services to distance learners are almost negligible.

As regards the Open Universities in India, the libraries supporting these Universities operate through two or three tier system like:

Libraries at the Headquarters

Regional Centre Libraries

Study Centre Libraries

Students who form an integral part of the Distance Education System throughout the country, have access to Study Centre Libraries only. The libraries at various Study Centres have some facilities such as reading and reference services, listening and viewing of audio-video cassettes etc. But these services are not adequate to meet the requirements of distance learners (Madan,1995). Furthermore, the learners have high expectations from Study Centre Libraries.

V. Problems faced by Distance Learners

Shillinglaw(1988) reports that distance students are older and more experienced than their counterparts. But he also adds that distance learners may have been disadvantaged in regards to prior schooling and many not have had exposure to libraries in any substantial way. He, further, cautioned librarians against making assumptions about the abilities of the distance learners in regards to even the most basic library concepts. Students will inevitably have a wide variety of poor library experiences and librarians must take this into account while preparing instruction tools.

Macauley(1996) established in her study that 70.5% of post graduate distance learners used tertiary libraries in preference to or in addition to, using the library of the institute in which they are enrolled. The reason in the study being close proximity, greater convenience and availability to chose materials for themselves.

According to scant literature on this topic, the reasons are quite pragmatic: convenience, access to material not held by their home institution library, and to browse. Butler(1997) argues an awareness gap as Distance Learners have long been conditioned to expect limited access to library resources and services. He listed the problems faced by Distance Learners in utilising the library services as :

- limited access affects choices and quality

- week library-faculty interaction

- untimely document delivery

- access to technology is strong, use of it frequent and so on.

VI. Problems faced by Librarians in providing Library Services to Distance Learners

Providing access is a key to the success of distance learners. In the new learning environment, the librarians need to focus on users and their needs and not the stock of physical objects. They need to transform the libraries into customer oriented, rich learning and service centres, where people and problem solving are important (Drake,1996). Librarians strive hard to provide reading and reference services to distance learners. However, in endeavouring to fulfill the library needs of distance learners, librarians face several constraints. These are lack of infrastructure facilities at resource centers; staff shortages; limited finances; proliferation of literature; increased costs and shrinking budgets; complexity of demands from users.

These problems in turn impact on document delivery and access to materials (Jagannathan,1999)

VII Recommendations and Suggestions

Maucley(1996) suggested that in order to understand the special demands of newly emerged group of learners, librarianship needs to be based on well founded theoretical understandings about the nature of information, the nature and needs of human beings, the transfer process between people and information resources and the way people use information. Holowachuck(1997) points out that librarians must be aware of the changing trends in education and the impact these trends have on the delivery of library services.

Carty(1991) has suggested the need to raise distance education providers' level of awareness of students' library needs so as to adopt student-centered approach and to gain acceptance of the concepts of ultimate responsibility and partnerships.

Drake(1996) suggests that most librarians will have to be customer driven in order to survive. They need to understand, analyse, respond and recommend the right information to the right user. They will need to review and judge network resources for accuracy, reliability and timeliness before they are recommended. Learners want exact information tailored to their unique need and do not want to take the time to explore the net.

Furthermore, technology is not a panacea for solving all the problems associated with distance learners. It can enhance the library's access and document delivery. Technology is really only one of the tools; librarians can use to deliver effective library services to their users. Thus, it is not possible to just go along with the electronic path and virtually do away with the conventional services.

As far as the situation in India and other developing countries are concerned, most of the population reside in rural and remote areas and they do not have an access to technological aids like computers, Internet, e-mail, telephone etc.

Considering the special demands of distance learners and the

existing situation in developing countries the information services to developed by Open Universities are suggested as below:

a) Document Delivery Services

Lending services should be provided to distance learners. Since most of the learners reside in remote areas, lending services can be provided through postal library service. Multiple copies of books, that are on heavy demand can be procured at the Study Centres for lending to the students. To make it workable, postal authorities should be approached for the granting of special concession for to-and-fro mailing charges in respect of distance teaching institutions and their students (Chib,1988). In this service, students may be required to bear the postal charges to avail the facility.

Library Bag Services

In this service, a packet of selected reference books can be sent to the students, along with the study materials. The list of books can be recommended by the concerned faculty. The students should be required to return the bags of books after completing the course. This can be done by taking refundable security money from the students and the same set of books can be sent to the next batch of students.

c) Adequate Service Hours

Since most of the distance learners are from the working community, the Study Centre Libraries should be open on all days for extended hours. This will allow the learners to use the library services at their convenience.

Accessibility to Resources of Other Libraries

Most of the Study Centres of Open Universities are housed in educational institutes. These institutes can open their libraries on weekends. Provision can also be made for contact points at some academic institutes for remote students to assist in utilising the full range of services available to conventional students. This can be done by signing a Memorandum of Understanding with these academic institutes. Students can pay a reasonable fee for using the resources of these libraries.

Reference and Referral Services

Reference assistance should be made available to distance learners. The identified Study Centres can be provided with computer terminals with e-mail facilities and sufficient telephone lines. The students can use these facilities to interact with the libraries of the headquarters and ask for the required information. Furthermore, the librarians should be involved in tele-conferencing sessions to interact with the learners directly to understand and answer their queries in a more efficient way.

Expanded Access to Information Resources

Under this service, the libraries of the Headquarters should design their WebPages including library catalogues, holding of journals etc. The libraries can also subscribe to electronic journals. The access to these resources can be restricted to the identified Study Centres and passwords will be required for distance learners to log in.

Furthermore, Libraries of Distance Learning Institutes should explore the prospects for establishing 'electronic- reserves' system. The libraries should investigate the technological, economic and copyright related issues involved in providing electronic access materials to course-specific 'reserve' materials.

g) Developing Information Literacy Skills

This component fosters the skills and knowledge in users to effectively select, retrieve, use and evaluate information disseminated in traditional formats and on networks. Distance Learning Institutes need to develop a basic library and network instructional curriculum. This instructional curriculum packet should form a part of the main curriculum (Butler,1997). Librarians should guide people in the selection of online resources and in helping people to select and use multimedia materials.

h) Faculty-Library Liaison

Faculty awareness and involvement remain critical factors in the delivery of library services. For many distance learners, the faculty members is the only channel of communication for information about campus services, including those of the library. Thus there is a need to establish Library-Faculty Liaison to communicate with the faculty on overall matters regarding the availability and use of library resources by distance learners. The Liaison can also connect faculty to librarians to develop systematic approaches to involve the library in new course development and course designs. The State University of West Georgia and Minnesota Virtual University provide such services.

Advising and Counselling Services

Distance learners need counselling to assist them in successfully meeting educational goals and advancing their personal and professional development. They may need help in getting started, organising their time, coping with self-doubt and deciding on the next step after completing their learning programmes. Distance Learning Institutes, should provide academic, career and personal guidance that may include advise on course selection; in-depth career counselling; explore educational goals, options and barriers; job search assistance; discuss success strategies; develop goal setting skills; manage personal problems that are barriers to academic success (Drake,1996)

Peer Group Tutoring

Tait (1989) argues that such an approach can give learners more control over their learning. The role of Peer Group Tutor in open learning process is to encourage and check whether learners have had any difficulties with the ideas in the package and to give remedial help if necessary, the tutor may prefer to act as facilitator and s/he should help groups to collaborate in a learning task and benefit from one another's insights and experience.

Teleconferencing and Tele-seminars

This is the medium of learning that allows the learner to interact directly with other people at a distance. Tele-seminars can also be organised which will provide the learners a platform to discuss common problems and share ideas and perhaps reduce the feeling of isolation (Rowntree,1992). Teleconferencing can take any of three forms: audio-conferencing; video-conferencing; computer-conferencing. Indira Gandhi National Open University provides two-way-audio and one-way-video tele-conferencing services at selected Regional Centres.

Consortium of Distance Learning Libraries

As a long- term project, Open Universities can come together to pool their assets and utilise their resources collectively. The participating libraries can go for digitisation of their resources and coordinate their activities on a wide area network. Other electronic resources like CD-ROMs; electronic journals can also be shared among these libraries. IGNOU being a National Open University can take the initiative to form such a consortium. To make the system more flexible, Course Materials of these Universities can also be put on the network. This will promote the idea of a Virtual University.

VIII. Conclusion

The inevitable advances of information technology, convergence of communication technology, reduction in costs , competition and globalisation will definitely increase the potential of distance learning. The growing population of distance learners will increasingly expect university and library services to be delivered to their desktops. Therefore, there is a need for academics and librarians to venture into distance learning systems and recognise the special demands and problems of newly emerging group of learners and to make reciprocal arrangements to ensure that these students are not disadvantaged. They need to collaborate and take necessary policy decisions in order to expand the pedagogical boundaries of distance learning, ensuring that electronic developments are integrated with traditional concerns for wide reading, student autonomy and independent thinking. This should form an important agenda for action for the distance educators in the new millennium so as to meet the information needs of distance learners in a cost effective way.