Support for Distance Learners

cpd25 – Support for Distance Learners Monday January 23rd 2006, 1.30pm – 4.00pm Brunei Gallery, SOAS, Room B204 We are pleased to offer a CPD25 seminar on the issue of Academic Library Support for Distance Learners. Three speakers will describe their very different experiences in this area, with time for questions and answers. The audience are also invited to share their views at a panel discussion at the close of the afternoon. Topics being addressed will include: • How do distance learners differ from traditional students? • What do distance learners require from an academic library? • How do libraries go about providing services for distance learners? • Are electronic services the answer? Speakers: J. Adam Edwards (Chair) Convener of UK Libraries Plus Adam Edwards is Convenor of UK Libraries Plus, a post he has held since the scheme started in 1999. Prior to that he managed the London Plus scheme, from which many of UKLPs procedures were drawn. His day job is Head of Learning and Liaison Services at Roehampton University where he manages the library part of Information Services. He has worked at Central School of Speech and Drama, London South Bank University and the University of Hertfordshire. However, his first library job was aged 12 doing shelving in the school library as a junior librarian. Mara Uzzell DiLIS (Distance Learners Information Service), University of Surrey Mara has been co-ordinator for DiLIS, the Distance Learners’ Information Service at Surrey since September 2003. After a degree in French at Warwick she went to work as assistant to the Academic Registrar at the new Polytechnic of Central London, now the University of Westminster. She has worn various hats working for the Library at Surrey, having started as a Late Duty Assistant in the dim and distant eighties as relief from parenting two small boys! Prior to joining the Library she was administrator for the University’s Adult Education department. Helen Clough Teaching and Learning Librarian, Open University The OU is the UK’s largest university and the only university dedicated to distance learning. Part of Helen’s role is to liaise with the Faculties of Arts, Maths and Computing and the Institute of Educational Technology to enable integration of online library resources into OU courses. She joined the OU Library in September 2003 after being awarded a postgraduate diploma in Librarianship from the University of Sheffield. Prior to this she was a graduate trainee library assistant at the Queen’s College in Oxford.
Programme 1.30 – 1.45 Arrival and registration 1.45 – 1.50 Welcome (Chair) 1.50 – 2.15 Supporting Distance Learners at the University of Surrey (Mara Uzzell) 2.15 – 2.45 Supporting Distance Learners through UK Libraries Plus (Adam Edwards) 2.45 – 3.00 Tea/coffee break 3.15 – 3.45 Supporting Distance Learners at the Open University (Helen Clough) 3.45 – 4.00 Panel/audience discussion 4.00pm Close Booking Information: Cost is £25 for CPD25 subscribers, £35 M25 affiliate members and £50 for other institutions, including refreshments To book, please book online at www.cpd25.ac.uk/booking, or contact Dave Puplett at cpd25@wmin.ac.uk. Please note that there are limited places available for this event, which will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis. Bookings will close on the 20th January 2006 and any cancellations after that date will incur a 50% cancellation fee. Provisional bookings will be held for 7 working days. A “no show??? on the day will incur 100% cancellation charges.