The contribution of electronic libraries to distance education and the contribution of distance education to electronic libraries

Since the Arizona State University East campus is located 25 miles from the main campus, many of the students enrolled in east campus programs have relocated to the available housing in the area, and are dependent on means other than going to the library to receive assistance with in depth research and basic reference. With no print resources, the library staff was faced with the challenge of providing access to resources by the use of non-traditional means. It has always been the role of librarians to "evaluate and broker information sources offered by private vendors and, especially, to educate researchers In their use." (Bazillion & Braun, 1995, p. 51) Filling that role in an electronic environment is both easier and more difficult than it is using traditional print resources. In the course of our reading about distance learning, one of the more striking observations we made was that interactive (live, real time) contact with the instructor (reference librarian) was not necessary to achieve the goal. (Kinnaman, 1995, p. 58) Utilizing these ideas and some others borrowed from distance education practitioners, we have been meeting the challenges with a combination of technologies and procedures that we continue to refine.