by Dennis Nangle

Created on: February 12, 2009

As soon as the word "library" is uttered from the mouths of a typical university student, images are conjured of snooty and stuffy librarians nestled amongst stacks of dusty, unused books. If one is ever to set foot in a university library, it's either to take advantage of some quality quiet time to get some last-minute project completed, or to use certain technological amenities like wireless internet access or the photocopier. As a former student worker at my undergrad institution's library, my most frequent front desk visits from patrons were because the printers weren't working or the Xerox machine had a jam. Meanwhile, reference librarians organized tours, workshops, and seminars to raise awareness of the valuable tools inherent in an academic library, only to be met with a paltry number of attendees that were already aware of the importance of the library. It's becoming quite clear that students don't utilize the resources of a physical library the way they used to.

After graduating from that university, I got a job as a Library Technician at University of Maryland University College. UMUC is a quiet storm in the realm of online higher education, with over 90,000 students enrolled worldwide. The only semblance of a traditional, face-to-face environment is when students come to various UMUC headquarters to take an exam, or Master's and Doctoral students having perennial symposiums over the weekend. With this type of academic environment, it could be easily assumed that library work of any kind would be needless and obsolete; students would just (gasp) try their luck on Google or fudge for information using (faint) Wikipedia.

Such is not the case at UMUC, where the library staff has adjusted to changes in research habits and technology to become relevant and necessary to a student's academic success. A small common area with a handful of computer workstations can be found at UMUC's stateside headquarters in Adelphi, MD. The rest of the Information and Library Services department is filled with office space. The library staff takes shifts performing such tasks as answering research-related e-mail questions, chatting about citations over instant messaging and chat, and (perhaps most importantly) monitoring the online course LIBS 150. This introductory course is required of all undergraduate students and is an essential springboard for information literacy. UMUC students now know how to properly evaluate electronic resources for credibility and effectiveness, consult UMUC's several "Digital Librarians," and take advantage of the unique circulation services ILS has to offer.

Gone are space-hogging, unused stacks of books; if a student needs a certain title, UMUC's library locates the book from nearby institutions (specifically, the USMAI ) and ships it to them free of charge. However, the average student would much rather scroll through an electronic document than turning the pages of an "archaic" bound periodical. For this reason our DocumentExpress program flourishes, providing over 20,000 electronic documents to students per year. Regardless of the students' location (several are military stationed overseas), DocumentExpress locates and delivers a desired article within 5-7 days.

UMUC's Information and Library Services department is continually adjusting to the demanding changes in student needs and technological progress, which is essential to maintaining the relevancy of the academic library in online education. If librarians can't move past a nostalgaic vision of card-catalog-using and due-date-stamping, then they will cease to be focused on student needs and therefore be doing a disservice to the still-necessary profession.

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