The academic library and technician in the flexible learning environment

Rowan Salt Griffith University, Queensland Australia

Abstract
A flexible learning environment provides both challenges and opportunities for library staff, as they are required to provide more active learning support for students. In such an environment, it is imperative that the library technician works in a collaborative relationship with academic, educational design, learning assistance and learning centre support staff. Flexible learning creates challenges and opportunities for library staff; including the increased need for specialised information literacy and learning support skills, and the need to offer services in a 'virtual' mode. Integration of library collections into course material, and information literacy training into the coursework also need to be achieved.

This paper discusses flexible learning in relation to the initiatives at the Logan campus of Griffith University, the lessons learned, and considerations for library technicians involved in flexible learning in academic libraries.

Introduction
Flexible learning is an increasingly popular approach to higher education that provides choices and options for students with regard to how, when and where they learn, and to the content and sequence of learning activities. Flexible learning creates an environment that fosters the development of independence and requires students to take responsibility for their own learning. The popularity of flexible learning is driven by several factors, including the trend towards universities producing life-long learners rather than graduates, the rapid development of information technologies, an increasingly competitive environment in higher education, and the growing need to provide undergraduate and postgraduate courses to students who may also have other family or personal commitments.

While there is an increased demand for flexible learning environments, they pose several challenges for academic libraries. These include an increased need for specialised information literacy and learning support skills, and the need to support clients in a 'virtual' mode. These particular challenges provide exciting opportunities for library technicians.

Flexible learning
Although they are often confused, flexible learning is not distance education or open learning. However, flexible learning can be seen as combining elements of these two approaches, or as an overarching definition that may contain both. It has been noted by Kirkpatrick (1997) that flexible learning '...blends open learning's focus on philosophy with distance education's focus on mode of delivery'. The 'flexible' in flexible learning refers to the intention to provide flexibility in terms of enrolment, credit, assessment, access to resources, and timelines, rather than merely means of delivery.

Flexible learning is a learner centred approach to higher education. This means that ways of learning are adapted, wherever possible, to suit the individual learner's requirements. This adaptation can affect all aspects of the learner's experience, including interactions with teachers and other students, interactions with learning materials, access to the course (for example, Griffith University's Logan Campus offers both an early admission program, and encourages members of the local community to enrol), the use of technologies, and flexible assessment procedures or entry requirements. The need for learner centred approaches to education stems from several factors, including a growing and diversifying student population, reduced Government funding for Higher Education and rapid developments in information communications technologies. Furthermore, these factors have contributed to changes in the nature of the workforce - such as the rise to prominence of the 'knowledge worker' - which require more people to seek higher education regardless of other commitments (Dearn: 1998).

A diversifying student population has meant that in many cases it is simply not possible for students to be on campus during business hours, five days a week. There is an increasing awareness in higher education that study needs to fit in with students' other roles and commitments, and that universities therefore need to deliver resources in a manner independent of both time and location. Increasing numbers of students and reduced government funding have led to a situation where hundreds of students may need to attend tutorials, laboratories and activity sessions for a given subject. Flexible delivery can alleviate these demands by providing laboratory content in location independent modes. One example of a time-and-location independent mode of delivery is web-based activities that can be completed at home or work, and during a time that suits each individual student's schedule. Self-assessment activities are also regularly employed within the course materials used in flexible learning environments such as Griffith University's Logan Campus to give students feedback on their progress, and to self-test comprehension of the subject matter. Rapid developments in communications technologies, such as affordable personal computing and the internet have helped make this flexibility possible.

Griffith University
Griffith University occupies six campuses in the Brisbane-Gold Coast region of South-east Queensland, servicing a total of approximately 24 000 students, and is recognised as one of Australia's top ten universities. The Federal Government commissioned Griffith University's Logan Campus in October 1996, with the campus beginning operations in February 1998. The campus is located within the City of Logan, one of the most rapidly growing areas in Australia. With the impetus of a new campus came the intention to break away from traditional modes of teaching and create, from the 'ground up', a campus that was built around the philosophy of flexible learning. Griffith's investment in flexible learning can be seen as an extension of its commitment to, and history of, student-focused teaching (Webb: 1998).

A student portal accessed via the internet supports teaching and learning at the Logan campus. This website is tailored to individual users, and consists of several sub-sites:

My GU - a home page displaying a personal calendar, noticeboard comments related to the student, a task list, quiz results and enrolment details; [PIC 1, 2, 3]
Community - a page including noticeboards and facilities for contacting other students and organisation information;
Courses - displaying the subjects and the student has enrolled in;
Services - provides links to an events calendar, campus services, campus administration, housing, employment, class timetables, directories and other information.

The subject pages accessible via the Courses page display much of the course material that would be provided traditionally in lectures. This material is generally broken down into modules, which provide a conceptual framework and chronology providing students a sense of progression through the course. A module may consist of key concepts, quizzes and other interactive content, designed to explore and test the acquired knowledge. Information regarding required and recommended readings, lecture notes and other supporting material is also provided. [PICS 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]

The flexible learning environment of the Logan Campus provides students with a variety of learning and teaching strategies involving face-to-face contact and a range of resources and communication techniques. These techniques may include such resources and techniques as a lecturer-mediated discussion list, a bound volume of readings, interactive multimedia, journal articles, video or e-mail, for example. Flexible learning materials deployed at Griffith University are developed by Griffith Flexible Learning Services (GFLS). GFLS is a branch within the university's information services division, which also encompasses library and information literacy services and information technology services. This arrangement facilitates collaboration between the library and its staff and the staff of the other units within the division. The campus is also designed to communicate this integration, and the strong relationships between Information Services and its academic and student clients architecturally; the information services building is connected to the main academic facility by a learning centre that serves as a hub for the campus, and a staff common room.

Libraries
The broader societal factors that are currently impacting upon higher education, and subsequently creating the need for flexible delivery of higher education, are also acting upon libraries operating within this context. These factors, such as a growing and diversifying student population, changes to the workforce, competition and reduced budgets in the higher education sector are making it necessary for libraries to deliver their collections and services flexibly, and to support a clientele operating within a flexible learning context. This is crucial because flexible, user-centred learning environments demand flexible, user-centred information services.

Flexible learning necessarily creates an environment of reduced face-to-face contact with support staff, peers and academic staff. Nevertheless, the need for a high level of information literacy remains and accordingly, the role of the library becomes increasingly important. Library staff can enhance flexible learning environments by providing context to information, and serve as navigators of the new environment. The library is a place that gives context to learning activities through the creation of a space that is conducive to study, a point of human contact for problem solving, and the gathering and delivery of resources necessary to support the course of study. In these ways, libraries have an opportunity to become the 'place' that is lacking in virtual or location-independent environments.

The academic library has always been a place of learning, but in the flexible learning environment, it takes on a more active role of learning support, particularly in the area of information literacy. One of the major social changes that have created the need for Flexible learning is also driving the need for library support of flexible learning activities. The rise of the knowledge worker means that information literacy is now an issue at the heart of higher education. Information literacy is both a necessary set of skills for studying in a flexible mode and a desired outcome of the flexible learning methodology. Libraries are ideally placed to contribute in this area due to our historic commitment to information literacy, and highly developed skills in transferring information literacy skills to our clients.

Library technicians can add value in the area of information literacy through the delivery of 'help desk' services to students, training sessions to assist students in navigating the new electronic environment, and personal help to students in areas such as database searching, retrieval of resources and personal computing. Although library technicians regularly provide these types of assistance in many different environments, it is not an area that has traditionally attracted large investments in terms of training and development. Steps need to be taken to ensure that library technicians are equipped with the necessary skills to provide these types of training to students. There is no doubt that in the 21st century, information literacy is an area of critical and increasing importance, not only to higher-education students, but also to the community in general. In this context, adequate training of library technicians is a necessity.

It is interesting to note that in a distance education mode, part of the package of resources provided to students may have comprised book order forms, letters of indemnity for reciprocal borrowing at a local library, and information regarding accessing the home institution's off-campus library service (where one was available). However, while the importance of a library for study in a location-independent environment is acknowledged, the ability of libraries to deliver quality, self-contained services has not always been present. Due to developments in information and communications technologies, opportunities exist for the academic library, and its staff, to assert their enduring relevance in the flexible learning environment. One way this can be achieved is through the integration of library collections and services into the course and supporting material. There are opportunities for library technicians to take a leading role in this area, by discovering and implementing means of delivering resources in new ways. For instance, hypertext links to scanned readings or to relevant library catalogue records can be embedded in electronic reading lists.

While the delivery of library services to distance education and external students has previously been difficult due to the time and space constraints, the effective application of new information technologies means that the library operating in the flexible learning environment can be more effective in the delivery of its services to clients regardless of time or place. An example of this is the set of required readings that often accompanies an undergraduate course. Until recently, these readings were most likely to be found in the library as bound photocopies, or where location is an identified issue (as is the case with external or distance students) these readings might have been provided to students as a bound volume. Many Australian university libraries are now delivering this service in the form of 'electronic reserve', with the readings being digitised, and made available via the internet through the library catalogue or a similar database. In these cases, the service provided is the same regardless of the student's location. This not only means a greater degree of equity of service, but the library does not need to provide separate services for different client groups. The flexibility afforded by these technologies also means that the library's collections can be made accessible through the course content, or embedded within it. For example, if lecture content for a course of study is delivered electronically, it is possible to embed links to these required or recommended readings through the use of hypertext links.

Integration of information literacy training services into the coursework also needs to be achieved, and as seamlessly as possible. Now that libraries can offer flexible delivery of information resources, we need to develop the capacity to flexibly deliver our expertise, such as information literacy training. Services such as 'virtual reference desks' or chat sessions with library staff are early examples of flexibly delivered expertise, but there are other steps to be taken. Services such as providing subject specific information literacy training to students in collaboration with academic staff is a crucial next step. It is therefore essential that the library establishes and maintains collaborative relationships with flexible learning, academic, educational design, learning assistance and learning centre support staff in order to successfully meet the needs of its clients studying and teaching in the flexible mode. Library technicians are well positioned to play a role in this process. Due to their established skill set, library technicians occupy a position that in many ways bridges the gap between learning centre support, audio-visual and information technology staff and librarians.

In the flexible learning environment, students' expectations of library technicians may be increased due to their desire for library staff to take a more active role in their studies. For example, because the means of delivering the course content (for example, via the internet or video) is often unlike anything the student has experienced before, the role of the library staff in the flexible learning environment is broadened to include helping students access course content and navigate the course structure. This assistance may range from helping students log on to the local network to helping them access resources such as library collections or administrative services from home. At Griffith University's Logan Campus, 'transition workshops' are provided at the beginning of each semester to acclimatise commencing students to the new environment. The library participates in these sessions, delivering information literacy training and advice to a large percentage of these new students.

Conclusion
Due to the very nature of our work, library technicians are perfectly placed to seize the initiative and take advantage of many of the opportunities presenting themselves to academic libraries. One way we can achieve this is by making significant contributions to the design and delivery of the services of those academic libraries operating within the flexible learning environment. The areas of growth within these libraries, such as the integration of library services and collections into the coursework, delivery of targeted research assistance, designing and implementing new services, all encompass areas identified by the ALIA library technician work-level descriptions, and as such are areas where library technicians are well established.

As we enter the 21st century, library technicians are presented with rapid growth in our areas of expertise, increased demand for our services, and exciting new ways to deliver these services to our clients. In the provision of academic library services in the flexible learning environment, the odyssey has just begun.

Author
Rowan Salt is lending services supervisor at Griffith University's Logan Campus. Rowan has been a library technician since 1996, and worked at the Logan Campus since its establishment in 1998. Currently studying towards a Bachelor of Applied Science, Rowan is currently spending much of his time working with other library, flexible learning and information technology services staff to re-align Griffith University's information services division for the 21st century.

Bibliography
Dearn, JM (1998) 'Flexible learning: challenging traditional models of university teaching' Education for Library and Information Services: Australia; December 1998; 99-107

Kirkpatrick, D (1997) 'Becoming flexible: contested territory' Studies in Continuing Education 19; 160-173

Webb, LR (18 August 1998) 'Flexible learning' E-mail to M Crock (m.crock@ins.gu.edu.au)

Work level descriptions: Technician, experienced practitioner [Online]. (2001), Available:

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