Reference services for remote users

Abstract

The option of taking a course through distance education is becoming more and more common. When academic institutions start to offer the option of distance learning, this has an impact on the library and the services that it must continue to provide. The library is responsible for providing off-campus students with the same services that are provided to on-campus students, although these services might not always be provided in the same way. Although there are many library services that are affected by this, only reference services will be explored here, with a focus on electronic reference services. This paper will serve two functions: first, it will serve as a limited review of some of the literature related to reference services for remote users; second, it will look at some of the specific reference services offered to remote users by academic libraries. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the challenges of providing reference services for remote users.