Back to Library ProjectsLibrary Projects: 2000: From Catalogue to Video: The Use of Electronic Media as Curriculum and Research Support
As the number of distance learners and distance programs increase, how do libraries support the needs of their students? At the University of South Florida (USF), knowledge of library services and resources is an important component of graduate coursework. Two faculty at the USF de la Parte Institute recently created two separate distance learning courses: Foundations of Behavioral Health Systems and Community-Based Prevention in Behavioral Health. Both courses were designed to fit within the new Graduate Studies in Behavioral Health Degree Program, a collaborative teaching initiative between the USF College of Public Health and the USF de la Parte Institute.
Virtual classrooms require a virtual library. Although it is incumbent upon faculty to provide links to significant internet resources, some academic coursework is not adequately supported by links to selected web resources. Students need to know how to craft search queries that retrieve relevant and precise information. They need to know how to select appropriate resources.
Standard research procedure begins with a literature review using an online catalogue. The item is located and one must physically retrieve the item. Now it is possible to load a video presentation via an online catalogue, retrieve pertinent electronic documents, and load a web page with additional links and resources from a single record. The de la Parte Institute has built within its web-based catalogue the capacity to launch streaming video materials and view a host of assorted documents and materials from the bibliographic record. The technology lends itself to this enhanced end-product when performing literature reviews. Feedback from the students on this dual service and resource has been very positive.
For more about this project, see Burke, Merilyn, Levin, Bruce Lubotsky, & Hanson, Ardis (2003). Distance Education. In Hanson, Ardis & Levin, Bruce Lubotsky (Eds.) The Building of a Virtual Library. Hershey, PA: IDEA Group Publishing (pp. 148-164).
Note: The streaming video project was developed as part of the Digital Libraries meritorious application in USF's National Science Foundation Grant #ANI-9810154 "High Speed Connections to the Internet" (more information is found on USF's Internet2 website).