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Unit 2: Colleges and Universities Libraries

Libraries re-prioritized in favor of improving access to materials, and found funding increasing Notes
as a result of increased demand for said materials.
Academic libraries today vary in regard to the extent to which they accommodate those who
are not affiliated with their parent universities. Some offer reading and borrowing privileges
to members of the public on payment of an annual fee; such fees can vary greatly. The privileges
so obtained usually do not extend to such services as computer usage, other than to search the
catalog, or Internet access. Alumni and students of cooperating local universities may be given
discounts or other consideration when arranging for borrowing privileges. On the other hand
access to the libraries of some universities is absolutely restricted to students, faculty, and
staff. Even in this case, they may make it possible for others to borrow materials through inter-
library loan programs.
Libraries of land-grant universities generally are more accessible to the public. In some cases
they are official government document repositories and so are required to be open to the
public. Still, members of the public are generally charged fees for borrowing privileges, and
usually are not allowed to access everything they would be able to as students.

2.6 Open Education

Open education is a collective term that refers to educational organizations that seek to eliminate
barriers to entry. Such institutions, for example, would not have academic admission requirements.
Such universities include Open University in Britain and Athabasca University in Canada.
Such programs are commonly distance learning programs, but not necessarily.
Open education has grown tremendously in the past few years, and we’ve seen thousands of
resources for free and open learning online become available. Universities like MIT and Yale
have opened their doors to students around the world, offering courses, lectures, and even
textbooks for free to anyone who would like to learn from them. The incredible volume of
resources available for students can be overwhelming, and it has been difficult for students to
find structure and organization in the open education.
We’ve created this library of open education resources to help students create a unique learning
experience. This library’s aim is to catalog every piece of useful open educational resources
online, and organize them in a way that makes sense for open education students. Until now,
there hasn’t been a central location where anyone can find a carefully categorized collection
of open education resources. We’ve created a library that satisfies that need.
All of the resources that you will find in this library are organized by industry and major, so
it’s easy for you to find exactly what you’re looking for. The library is designed to make it
possible for you to create your own course of study, whether you’re interested in art history
or electrical engineering.
Our library is one of a kind, collected from the hundreds of open education resource websites
online. We’ve found just about every useful educational resource available from university
open courseware websites, lecture collections, open textbook libraries, and more. With each
resource, you’ll find a brief description that can help you determine if that particular resource
is useful for you.

2.6.1 Distance Education

Distance education or distance learning is a field of education that focuses on teaching methods
and technology with the aim of delivering teaching, often on an individual basis, to students
who are not physically present in a traditional educational setting such as a classroom. It has
been described as “a process to create and provide access to learning when the source of
information and the learners are separated by time and distance, or both.”

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