An International Digital Library for Distance Learning Research issues for the UK Open University's International Centre for Distance Learning (ICDL)

The paper describes the International Centre for Distance Learning which is located in the Open University's Institute of Educational Technology. An essential resource of the Centre built up over 15 years is its digital library which includes information on 1,200 distance education institutions, 31,000 courses and 10,000 abstracts from the literature of distance learning. It is available on the WorldWideWeb and receives over 10,000 hits a day from 25,000 users in over 130 countries. Services promote research collaboration, the exchange of experience, course development and learning opportunities. This paper outlines the research issues for ICDL, set in the context of the Open University and current developments in its teaching system, which is undergoing fundamental change. It is hoped that ICDL's digital library and its research programme, will assist in developing new paradigms for distance learning and through its contribution to the OU's MA in Open and Distance Education provide a test-bed with implications for other discipline areas. What is ICDL ICDL promotes international research and collaboration by providing information based on its library and databases; it reaches other audiences through publications, including ICDL Update, compilations and reviews; teaches both face-to-face and online in the UK and abroad, undertakes international consultancy; and conducts its own research. An essential knowledge resource of the Centre built up over 15 years is its distance education library and databases: Library literature The mainly paper based library is the largest collection of literature on distance learning in the world. There are over 15,000 items books, journals, journal offprints, conference proceedings and papers, research reports, surveys, dissertations, and newsletters so-called grey literature. ICDL aims to obtain copies of all new books and monographs published in English on distance education, open learning and related fields. It subscribes to all the specialist distance learning journals and receives newsletters published by institutions and organisations involved in open and distance learning. Most of the collection is in English, but there are significant numbers of documents in French, German, Spanish and Chinese. Library institutions It also has the largest repository of information about institutions across the world including prospectuses, calendars and course handbooks. Included are institutions dedicated to distance teaching, open universities, institutions which have distance teaching departments and conventional, eg. dual mode; or have programmes or courses taught at a distance. Coverage includes all education and training levels. Databases Information is provided online through the WorldWideWeb ( http://www-icdl.open.ac.uk/ ) • literature on distance learning 10,00 entries • distance teaching institutions 1,200 entries • distance taught courses and programmes 31,000 entries The databases are searchable by subject, author, country, region, date of publication, subject, educational level, institution and in a variety of other ways. Every item listed (and abstracted) in the database is also held in the library collection. To support the teaching on OU online courses and the MA in Open and Distance Education restricted access sites providing a database of selected distance learning literature with links to full text versions of papers. Currently these resources are classified under 60 main headings with up to 10 items under each. ICDL also contributed to a database and is a partner in the World Bank Global Distance Education network, which has been established to provide core and regional information online for development policy makers and project managers ( http://wbweb4.worldbank.org/disted/ ).