The Eleventh Off‐Campus Library Services Conference Proceedings captures the latest projects and progress in library and information (LIS) services to remote users, also referred to as off‐campus or distant users. The publication has also been co‐published simultaneously as Journal of Library Administration, Vol. 41 No. 1/2 and 3/4, 2004.
A total of 36 contributed papers, covering a diversity of papers and topics, are included. These include the education of the educators and how to get them to consider the implications of distance teaching programs on the library services; the creation of a multimedia library; direct linking capabilities in aggregated libraries; services to students with disabilities; challenges faced by web‐based programs; course management software; an overview of library resources and surveys in ARL libraries; virtual reference services; research readiness self‐assessment; collaboration in a consortium; assessing the library needs and preferences of off‐campus students; setting up an off‐campus service with limited funds; library services for LIS online education; strategic planning; the needs of faculty; teaching in a videoconferencing environment; web site usability testing and selecting electronic document delivery options. It seems as if the key issue of concern is collaboration on different levels and assessment, which includes the assessment of student and faculty needs, as well as the assessment of LIS services.
Although not all papers report on ground‐breaking research findings or practices, they all succeed in offering a good overview of the variety of issues confronting LIS professionals. One should also bear in mind that the readers of The Eleventh Off‐Campus Library Services Conference Proceedings, will not all be experienced in the field, and can therefore benefit from the number of papers taking a “this‐is‐how‐we‐did‐it” approach. Although there are a number of very useful papers, one that stood out for me, is Ivanitskaya and Casey's paper on research readiness self‐assessment. I hope that their paper will stimulate research efforts in the field – by other LIS services as well as faculty.
If I could recommend something to the contributors it would be to take stronger note of the wealth of publications that has been written on distance teaching per se. I am thinking for example of the work of Holmberg, Keegan, Moore, Verduin, etc. I am sure that the theory of distance education would offer new insight into the complexities of offering LIS services to off‐campus students, and might also offer inspiration to come up with new solutions. (I have taught at the University of South Africa [UNISA] a very large South African distance teaching university, for many years, and always enjoyed the benefits of their well‐structured and extensive library service that also allowed for the needs of students from countries far beyond the South African borders.)
Patrick Mahoney can be complimented on a well‐edited publication. It is also well‐bounded with a consistent layout and structure and an excellent 28‐page index.
The Eleventh Off‐Campus Library Services Conference Proceedings is highly recommended to all LIS professionals involved in offering services to off‐campus users. It can also be considered as recommended reading for LIS students.
