Beyond the course: How distance education library services changes women's lives

Elizabeth Watson
University of the West Indies

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     Last modified: August 25, 2006
     Presentation date: 11/01/2006 10:00 AM in NT Ortanique
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Abstract
This paper investigates the value that library services lend to DE programmes with a primary focus on the consequential benefits associated with female distance learners becoming proficient library users rather than the specifics of a DE library service. The ability to adeptly handle and manage information for an academic course filters into all other aspects of one’s life (IFLA/FIAFE 2004). Women are important nurturers and care givers to all generations and genders. Thus, any information women acquire has the potential to have far reaching effects on all aspects of their lives and as well as those with whom they interact. This focus is selected not because male distance learners do not need similar support services but because Hipp (1997) argued that “tertiary institutions [are] largely male constructed and developed with the male student as the norm”. Therefore, the positive outcomes of information literate female distance learners does not feature highly in the literature.