Athabasca University Library:Services of a Global Proportion

Athabasca University (AU) is Canada’s Open University, specializing in the provision of distance education courses at the post-secondary level. The admission requirement for undergraduate students is that applicants to the University be 18 years of age. Students may take courses leading to a number of certificates and degrees. AU offers 14 university certificate programs, 2 university diploma programs, 13 undergraduate degree programs, and 5 graduate programs.

Since 1995 the University has witnessed dramatic growth. Course enrolments over the past 3 - 5 years have increased by more than 50%. Undergraduate program registrations have increased by more than 41%; graduate-level registrations have increased by more than 289%. Accessibility to courses, the ability to register in courses year-round, and fewer barrier to studying at a conventional university are the main reasons cited by students for studying at Athabasca University. Surveys of Athabasca University students reveal that the vast majority of students would recommend AU to a friend or colleague.

Approximately one-half of the student body is comprised of visiting students – students who take an AU course with the intent of transferring the credits to another university. Reasons for transferring credits primarily are that courses are not always offered at the student's home institution, there may be time tabling difficulties at the student's home institution, or that students choose to take an independent study course in addition to the course load at the home institution, and without the apparent restrictions surrounding attendance in a classroom. The number of students who enroll in a course at AU to transfer the credits to their home institution is also increasing at a steady rate.

The number of AU graduates is increasing year by year – the number of credentials awarded in 1999 was 38% higher then the number of credentials awarded in 1998.

The growth rate in course registrations is now at an unprecedented level, and is largely attributed to the quality of the learning experience offered to the student. High-quality materials are prepared and provided in a complete package to students upon enrolment. High-quality support services are provided to registered student and are included in the tuition fee. Among the various units in the University that provide support services to students, it is believed that quality library services contribute to the growth and success of Athabasca University.

The findings in 1997 of a series of teleconference focus groups conducted by AU Library support the notion that quality library services are valued and contribute to the successful completion of courses. Participants in the focus groups reported that they were highly satisfied with materials supplied from the Library and that Library staff are knowledgeable and helpful and “go the extra mile” to help. Students reported that they appreciated that materials were
sent to them could be returned to the Library postage paid by the University. Participants also confirmed the notion that more AU students are acquiring computer equipment and obtaining connectivity to the Internet. More AU students, it is concluded, want to do more of their searching and researching. AU Library is working diligently in this regard by licensing more databases for remote access using the Internet. Most students were satisfied with the available on-line services and reported that some students may be unaware of such services. Participants also reported that there is a need for more instruction and explanation of techniques to access the available services.

Library Services

Athabasca University Library provides a wide range of library services to students registered in AU courses. Every registered student may benefit by the following services provided to them by AU Library.

· Students may borrow materials from AU Library.

· Students may search AUCAT (the library catalog) and other information resources available on the AU Library’s web page.

· Students may expect library instruction and research assistance.

· Students may request interlibrary loan (ILL) for journal articles.

· AU Library will strive to provide comparable service to students outside of Canada.

Since the early 1970s when the University was founded and the Library was originally developed, the Library has evolved and developed immensely. AU Library first occupied an area in the basement of the office building in Edmonton, Alberta. The collection at that time was quite small and supported but a handful of courses. In 1984 the University was relocated to the Town of Athabasca, Alberta, and funded (with a one-time grant) to develop a collection to support course development for undergraduate degree programs. Library Services now occupies the largest area in the central office facility. The collection has been developed to about 130,000 items; these materials are used by faculty in the preparation and development of courses and by AU students who are registered in one or more of the more than 400 courses offered by the University. Most recently, while development of the print collection continues, the Library is adding additional materials in electronic format. More than 40 databases are subscribed to, and AU students on campus and off campus, across Canada and around the world, can search and research these materials on their own.

In 1999 AU Library purchased a fully integrated and web based library system. The implementation is nearly complete, and now makes it possible for users to search the catalog and request materials directly from the catalog, to view their patron account and renew their materials, and to search other library catalogs, for users to search online databases from the library’s web page.

At the same time, the new system makes it possible for AU Library to catalog Internet resources,to mount help sheets and user information, to gather more meaningful statistics regarding library usage, and to provide a means for AU students to conduct their own research and retrieve some information online.

The Library has established a service benchmark of responding to all requests to the Library Information Desk within 24 hours, or the next working day. Most recent data indicates that, not only are responses made to requests, but that about 85% of the time the materials to fill the request are sent out within 24 hours or the next working day.

The technologies and the processes used by libraries and information seekers have evolved over the years and now provide new and more efficient ways to conduct the core business of the library. Many of the expectation of our user/students, however remain the same. Students continue to expect to receive high quality service and materials in a timely manner. It may be argued that the service expectations of library users are higher than ever before.

At Athabasca University Library, we believe that we are keeping pace with the expectations of our students. At the same time we are cognizant of the fact that we (the Library) must continue to provide services to the student who is not technologically advanced and who for one reason or another require library services of a more traditional nature. It is for this reason that the AU Library Strategic Plan to the Year 2000 articulated four points regarding the development of library systems and the information gateway:

1. Users who cannot connect to and search electronic sources directly will benefit by library staff doing so on their behalf.

2. Users who have the facility to connect and search, but do not have the expertise, will benefit from library staff teaching them to do so.

3. Users who have the facility and expertise to connect and search will be guided to apply this to their search for scholarly