Remote Library Users: Needs and Expectations

LIBRARIES OF M.I. TYPM iwk:PROVIDING an increasing number of resources that users can access from remote sites. Academic libraries, in particular, are becoming partners in their parent institutions' distance learning programs. As a result, library staff now work with remote users (both students and faculty) with their own unique characteristics, needs, and expectations. To promote user satisfaction, library staff need to better understand users and their needs as well as cnable users to meet those needs. This article provides a particular focus on remote nsers in an academic environment. INTRODUCTION As libraries approach the beginning of a new century, they are encountering numerous developments that present both challenges and opportunities. While the list of developments is a lengthy one, key developments include: a user-centered orientation, a team-based work environment, steady or diminiqhing resources, and more pervasive technolo w Related to a focus on users is the need to identify more clearly, and better understand, groupings of library constituents. This becomes particularly essential in light of the ever-increasing integration of technoIo<gy. It is no longer sufficient to be concerned solely with the issues of access versus ownership, how to pay for an increasing number of electronic information resources, the equipment needs to provide access to technolRoseinaric Cooper, DeI'aul Univrrsity Libraries, Chicago, IL 60614 Paula R. Drmpsey, DePaiil University Libraries, Chicago, IL 60614 Variaja Menoxi, Lake Forest Collcge Library, Lake Forrst, IL 60043 Christopher Millson-Martula, Lynchburg College Librdlq Lynchburg, VA 24.50 1 LIBRARYTRENDS, Vol. 47, No. 1, Summer 1998,pp. 42-64