Libraries without Walls 2: The Delivery of Library Services to Distant Users

“Antilope, Bronco, Impala and Zebra” – not zoology but the acronyms for the various parts of the electronic library system in the Antwerp LIS network, perhaps playfully borrowed from the presence in Antwerp of the world famous Zoo. This is one of the many interesting and timely examples of provision for remote library users, distance learners, libraries without walls clients, even virtual library customers. The coverage of this book is catholic, ranging from Sue McKnight’s workmanlike account of Deakin University Library’s services to “off‐campus” students in Australia to Joe Hendry’s paper on the futuristic sounding GENESIS project in Cumbria. This latter project is fascinating, centring around lifelong learning in Cumbria and the building of a Learning Access Web: “a holistic approach to the educational, social and economic needs of Cumbria”. This county, with its far‐flung scattered small communities, difficult terrain and poor communications, presents a major challenge in the information and library access field and Cumbria’s imaginative and determined approach to this task is impressive and bears watching in the future. Similarly, Alan Watkins’ well written and lucid account of the public library in lifelong learning in the context of provision in North East Wales presents some intriguing developments, particularly in the LISTED telematics‐based education prototype using EU funding initiatives. Produced to the usual LA Publishing high standards and with a good index and appropriate references this edited collection of papers given at the Second Libraries Without Walls Conference, held in Greece in 1997, brings forth the thoughts and experience of a select group of well respected practitioners pioneering in this field and provides a useful and up‐to‐date overview of the whole arena of delivery of library and information services to a variegated array of distant users. This will prove to be a useful and informative work for those librarians and information managers in the academic and public LIS sectors wanting to know more about the trends and initiatives underway in this growing and important sector of our professional practice.