| Abstract: | The University of La Verne, a pioneer in the field of adult and distance education, hosts approximately 4,692 traditional undergraduate and graduate students on the main campus, 3,350 adult students, and hundreds of online students throughout California at nine regional campuses. Challenged by limited funding and staffing, the library and Regional Campus Administration collaborated with senior management to pilot a blended technology platform using Adobe Connect for content and live video streaming and Business Skype for audio to deliver real-time, interactive virtual information literacy to distance learners. The initial objective of “Library on Demand” was to supplement existing in-person, e-mail, and telephonic library information literacy instruction with live streaming video and two-way audio. The use of multi-channel instructional technologies would optimize outreach activities, reaching larger numbers of student communities while optimizing student learning modality preferences and differences. The pilot program was designed in phases to test the integrity of reaching over 3,500 students among the nine regional campus locations concurrently with a single librarian host. Later phases offer opportunities for targeted or specialized sessions including applications fostering emerging virtual social learning communities beyond a shared information literacy experience. |
