Stielow Workshop: Reinventing the Library for Online Education

1. Reinventing the Library for Online
Education:
Views from a Virtual Library
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American Library Association Webinar
January 8, 2015
Fred Stielow, Ph.D., M.L.S.
APUS Emeritus VP/Dean of Libraries
U.S. Commissioner to UNESCO
2014 Distance Librarian of the Year

2. Established Paradigm: Research Library
The forces of nationalism, the
industrial revolution, & Rise of
the Mass Press contributed to a
transformation from liberal arts
into modern “scientific”
universities; this featured a
reinvigoration of the academic
library characterized by:
• Research Mission: Academic Library reformulated from
warehouse into a go-to role as the bibliographic laboratory
• Collection Focus: Embrace of a renewed Alexandrian ideal
thru ownership of massive, print-based materials for “just-
in-case” discovery

3. Corollary Developments--Sample
• Main Library positioned as campus monument on the
new quadrangle
• Building & contents massively capitalized over time
• Onset of professional librarians
• Cataloging/Technical Services bring order to the
explosive outputs of the Mass Press
• Publish-or-perish environment adds functions:
o Depository for theses/dissertations
o Help launch and form the key financial respites for academic
presses
• Educational mission as secondary with course reserves
and, especially, distance education on the fringes

4. Forward to the Web:
Disruption & Reinvention in Process

5. Internal Library Responses
• Early 1990s—Initial bulletin board for hours, displays…
o Access, creating, & vetting of Open Web resources
o Special Collections focus
• Turn of 21st c.—Physical facilities reshape
o Electronic Journals replace costly print & free space
o Arrival of Information Commons as electronic study zones
• Reinvention with Web Interface remote & new patron
expectations
o OPAC revamped beyond pointers to e-texts for direct access
o 24/7 opening versus fixed hours of operation
o Travel requirements obviated

6. External Threats
A. Google & Loss of Research Monopoly:

7. B. Emerging Alexandrias
• Web replaces the research library in fulfilling the
ideals of a world library
o Amazon
o Google
• Established Libraries emerge as online alternatives
o Digital Public Library of America
o Library of Congress

8. Commercial Competition Still Coming
Mobile Bachelor's Degree
November 26, 2014
By Paul Fain
Brandman University’s competency-based bachelor’s degree gives a glimpse of
where the increasingly popular form of higher education might be headed.
The new bachelor of business administration is fully online. There are no textbooks.
Students can access 30,000 pages of course material for the degree (not all of it
required) on their tablets or smartphones.

9. C. Online Education & the Web Economy
Disrupt Higher Education
• LMS software & SCORM standards proffer new
educational forms
• Online Universities tap non-traditional students
• Add unprecedented accountability and metrics
• Faculty influence diminished to business interests
• Rise of IT and advent of Instructional Developers
• Entrepreneurs and venture capitalists author a
new type of university

10. Campus Entitlement Under Siege
ACRL, February 21, 2012: University budgets
continue to increase, but the budget percentage
for academic libraries shrank for the 14th
straight year in 2009

11. Prelude—Questions

12. Exercise—As an Online Entrepreneur
Why Invest in a Library for a Virtual University?
Does a New Academic Library make sense for the Web?
o Nationalism out as factor
o Research concerns minimal for teaching institutions
o No monumental building or huge investment in books
How much will it cost to build from scratch?
Does it make sense to have “just-in-case” holdings?
Won’t the Web suffice?
Why not outsource?
Can the Library bring any added value/ROI?
How does a Library work with an Online School?

13. Case Study from the Edge
Pioneering Lessons from a
Proactive Virtual Academic Library
2005-2014

14. Consider a Divergent Educational Setting
APUS (American Public University System), 2005
• Fully online with LMS as sole campus—Remote
registrations, faculty, courses, grading
• Asynchronous classes without interactive lectures
• Available 24/7—no need for physical travel or parking
• Monthly semester starts—facilitate course availability
• Affordable—tuition at $250/hour will not change for 15
years & grant for undergraduate course materials
• 1 product, but separate American Military University &
American Public University brands
• Non-traditional military student orientation/market
• Circa 8,000 part-time students in 100+ countries

15. Enter Campaign for Regional Accreditation:
Institutional Driver & Library Opening
• Preliminary visit—Accreditor demands enhanced
library/research
• New provost hired—Embraces traditional academic
values as part of application tactics
• University president—Lends support & holds
favorable view of libraries
• Authorize funds and hire expertise for a newly
designated Online Library
• Five-month construction window

16. Baseline Facilities
Prior ORC (Online Research Center) minimal
operations held under tight fiscal restraints
• Fully online with Web Interface and open 24/7
• 1 support staff and 1 part-time librarian
• Materials licensed—absence of physical property:
o 20,000 e-books, rudimentary PDFs
o 5,000 e-journals, basically ProQuest & Ebsco packages
• Some tutorial support for student studies
• Slight campus recognition—circa 3,000 monthly
visits

17. Phase 1: Accreditation Response
Adapt to accreditation—i.e., narrative/structures to
satisfy educational expectations set by the research
paradigm, yet carefully crafted with online flavors:
A. Web site construction
o Revised landing page—Emphasize curricular support
o Enhanced Tutorial Offerings—25 subsidiary pages, stressing
Web Information Literacy
B. Collection Development—Demonstrably map
enhancements to research and also departmental needs
o E-book titles—collection development by packages
o Journal subscriptions—focus on accumulators
C. Validate Faculty Involvement
D. Include Student Evaluation/Regularized Surveys

18. E. Promote/Actuate Vision of Online Library
for Accreditors—but also to Management
• Lobby Information Literacy into educational goal
• Infiltrate library exercises into mandatory faculty
training and introduction to online college course
• Assert authority over copyright
• Proclaim ADA/508 compliance
• Promote library as Brand/Marketing element

19. HLC Regional Accreditation, 2006
Victory Reset
• APUS enters hyper-growth by 2014—100,000+
students in 120+ countries
o AMU (2010 #1 in military market)
o APU (civilian and corporate focus, 2010 WalMart
selection as its university)
o APEI—Public stock offering on NASDAC
• Library ensures recognition for its role
o Immediate addition of 3 librarians
o Library collection support as requisite element in new
program development

20. Questions—Accreditation Approaches

21. Phase 2: Post-Accreditation &
Reinventing for Online Pedagogies

22. Recapping for the Web, 2006
Research Library and Distance Library Services emerge as
ill-matched for birthing a fully online academic library:
• Central, yet bereft of monument status & large capitalization
• At that moment, just-in-case Collection Development was
technologically and financially unfeasible
• Audiences were largely unaware of library services and
deferring to Web browsers for research & access
• Web demanded different modes of thought and further
reinvention across the entire fabric of a virtual library
oAbsence of physical library eliminates multiple functions
oAll remaining activities have to be recast
oA new range of functions were appearing

23. Positioning Tactics for an Online University
Look to leverage accreditation success with an entrepreneurial
cocktail of scholarly narrative, financial, and bureaucratic tools:
• Historical: Rather than the research paradigm, return to the
university roots—Sorbonne’s 13th-century invention of the
academic library with student services in mind
• Institutional: Library destined for bureaucratic competition
with Instructional Developers, CTL…, but in hyper-growth
where a traditional narrative could foster partnerships
• Financial: Need to “speak business” and find economic
justifications
• Pedagogical: Recognized online instruction as disruptive and
in process of rapid evolution—an arena that the Library could
profitably explore for quality and financial enhancements

24. The Hunt for Opportunities
• Online Classroom: With the loss of the Library’s “go-to”
status, this largely untouched arena beckoned for
engagement to re-attract clientele
• Course Materials: The marketplace was in turmoil and
school shortsighted on the logical position of the
variety of electronic materials for online education:
o Textbook Dependencies—Quality issues arose from reliance
on printed textbooks and contradictory overlooking Open
Web and peer-reviewed resources
o Inflation and Shipping Charges—Given APUS underwriting
and responsibilities to students, financial incentives loomed
large

25. Making a Business Case
A. E-Textbook Bookstore—Low-hanging fruit. Absorb
bookstore operations in a controlled shift from print to
electronic versions, especially for high volume Gen Ed
courses. Chaotic marketplace with evolving technologies
demands bargaining skills and flexibility
B. Library/Web Strategy: Second stage emphasis to upper
division courses. Add subject-specialist librarians to shift
Academic library beyond research focus to engage
classroom support with high-level ROI
C. AMU ePress—Third stage re-engineer University Press to
move from monographic focus to teaching. Strategically
commission e-textbooks/course packets

26. Supporting Theory for a Paradigm Shift
CRIS (Classroom/Research Information Services) as a
transformational, inversion model from print to Web:
• Educational Mission: Research remains, but the
online library emphasizes classroom engagement to
address the school’s teaching mission
• Librarian Focus: Specialist services and licensing of
electronic resources tailored to the school’s
curricula and remote access take the lead over
physical collections and print ownership
considerations

27. Implementation Corollaries
• Embrace, monitor, and maintain flexibility for a Web in
transition as technological determinant & access portal—in
effect, reinventing the academic library
• Extend presence to the virtual campus/LMS & its classrooms
• Target faculty as client with nuance for departmental
curriculums
• Market to students, including awareness of transition to
Born-Web
• Promote the historical narrative and tradition as positive
reputation management and scholarly factors
• Augment scholarly drives and pedagogical imperatives with
negotiation skills, legal awareness & business acumen

28. Operational Sampler:
A. Library Locus on the Virtual Campus

29. B. Copyright/508 Compliance Team
Adapt LMS & extend faculty training
Materials will fall into
one of these 7
categories. We ask that
you make a copyright
declaration for every
item

30. C. Main Tactic
Tailored Course & Department Guides
New Librarian production metric
Ongoing assignments for 3-year
curricular rotation
Feature Deep & Open Web
resources—extend to Web 2.0,
media, & OER
Dual purpose platforms
• Faculty pick lists
• Student research pads
General (full curriculum) or
Selective production for:
• Quality & currency
• Up-to-date Web Apps
• Financial Savings*Move from home-grown to
LibGuides platform, 2009

31. D. Enhancing Online Reference:
Semantic Search Engine + HELP Button

32. E. Rewire Librarians, Remote Management
Dashboard ControlsAudience Focus: Transition to Born-Web
Community Builder: Not they will come,
but seeking clients & marketing services
Multi-Purpose: Avoid “one-offs.” Link to
where audience might look.
Networking: Don’t reinvent wheel--seek
connections to borrow & share
Quality over Quantity: Reverse tendency
Search Engines as Audience: Design sites
with them also in mind
Simplicity & Transparency: KISS
Training Orientation: Look to infiltrate
Web Construction Engineers: Proactive
site development based on user needs
Consciously replace prior research with newer CRIS/Web tropes:

33. F. Market Librarians & Their Services
• Compliance Masters: Ensure Copyright, ADA 508, HEOA
• High Touch Experts for faculty communications and
enhancing student experience, including embedding
• Reputation Management Narrative promoting role as
sign of research commitment and academic traditions
• Subject Specialists to work with faculty & content
assistance for instructional developers
• Web Gurus—bring unquestioned skills:
o Deep Web: Capitalized extant and search for appropriate e-books, e-
journals, media
o Information Literacy: Specialists in teaching Web research
o Open Web: Experts in evaluating for “trusted” subject sites
o Technology monitors: Ongoing patrol of evolving technology, including
positioning for Web 2.0, 2nd Life, & ties to Instructional Developers

34. Questions—New Paradigm Construction

35. Postscript: Evaluating the Reinvention
A. Business Case
o Library & Librarians into brand/reputation management
elements
o Student satisfaction surveys positive—role in retention
management
o Online Librarye-Press Initiative touted on Wall Street as
one of Four Pillars for APUS Advancement
o ECM Collective saves $25 million annually by 2013
o Negotiation skills reduce library overhead, e-textbook
pricing to >$35
o Online Library with $5 million + in savings more than
amortizes its costs; Librarians with 15+/1 ROI ratio

36. B. External Recognition
• IMS Global 2012 Gold Innovation for Course
Guides
• ACHE 2013 Creative Use of Technology for
Guides
• Online Learning Consortium 2014 Effective
Practice Award for Embedded Librarians in
Intro to Online Ed.
• ACRL & Routledge 2014 Distance Librarian of
the Year

37. C. Library Metrics
• Classroom Engagement/ROI: 1/3rd of Course
Guides used to populate courses
• Holdings: Increase by factor of 10
o E-books from 20,000 to circa 200,000
o E-Journals from 5,000 to 53,000+
• Staffing
o Librarians from 2 to 23—Leading corps of online
subject specialists in sector, average 3 masters and
include 5 PhDs
o Support Staff—ECM = 6; ePress = 4; Copyright/508 = 2;
Library = 3

38. Usage Statistics (2013)
• Course Guides Library: 1,000+ guides as LibGuides’ largest
& most active area with 150,000 monthly visits
• Reference: 4 year growth from 6,000 to 240,000 queries
• Research Library Visits: 3000%+ roughly 3 times APUS’ growth
rate
• Database Usage: From a 2005 baseline of >1 to 80 million searches
o Top university user of JSTOR & top 10 for ProQuest & Ebsco
0
50000
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150000
200000
250000
300000
350000
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450000
500000
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Quarterly Traffic

39. Questions?
fstielow@gmail.com