Article
How Can We Help?: Supporting Online Students through Asynchronous and Synchronous Library Services
Theological Librarianship
(2020)
Abstract
In addition to serving residential students, the Jerry Falwell Library at Liberty University provides
library resources and services to thousands of online students enrolled in over 450 online pro-
grams, including divinity programs at the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels. As the ma-
majority of Liberty students are studying from a distance, the library has adapted its model to ensure
comparable levels of service and access are available to students who are not on-site. Examples
of how the library has addressed this issue include expanding e-resource purchases and shipping
physical items from the library’s collections to online students through interlibrary loan processes.
The library has also re-imagined the workflows for supporting online students’ research and for
providing virtual library instruction. It is on this front that we would like to share both successes
and learning opportunities gleaned from our experiences.
Disciplines
Publication Date
October, 2020
Citation Information
Joshua C Waltman and Jeremy McGinniss. "How Can We Help?: Supporting Online Students through Asynchronous and Synchronous Library Services" Theological Librarianship Vol. 13 Iss. 2 (2020) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/josh_waltman/12/