ONLINE LEARNING RESOURCE: E-LIBRARY

INTRODUCTION

Electronic learning, or e-learning, refers to computer-enhanced learning. It also

refers to research, learning, and teaching in the digital environment. It
encompasses courses offered online, courses with face-to-face and online access
to course materials, and courses provide access to online discussion forums,
notes, and other course materials. The aim of e-learning is to improve the
quality of learning experience for students. a digital library is not merely
equivalent to a digitized collection with information management tools. It is
also a series of activities that brings together collections, services, and people
in support of the full life cycle of creation, dissemination, use, and preservation
of data, information, and knowledge.

E-Libraries and E-learners:

One of the natural responses to the challenges of e-learning environment is the

introduction of the e-library to support e-learning with resources network,
designed to meet the needs of the learners, in both individual and collaborative
settings, constructed to enable the dynamic use of a broad array of materials for
learning primarily in digital format, and managed actively to promote the
reliable access anytime and anywhere to quality collections and services,
available both within and outside the network.

The introduction of digital libraries into the education process was made easier
by distance education, which has developed over the years. With the Internet
and the World Wide Web, distance education programs can mount sets of
materials on web servers to support online courses. One of the basic ideas is to
aggregate the learning materials on various topics, written by many educators,
in a digital library of courseware. Digital libraries have the potential to
significantly change the fundamental aspects of the classroom in ways that
could have an enormous impact on teaching and learning. Therefore, for an
ideal e-learning situation, digital libraries are regarded as the hub of the library
collections and services that function together in the real e-learning
environment.
SOCIAL UTILITY

Functional Roles of the E-Library

• Hyperlink the e-courses with the library e-reference resources such as e-

books, e-journals and web-based open-access resources;
• Set up virtual reference desk (VRD) help and e-mail enquiry service to
answer the information needs of the e-learners (i.e. e-learning liaison
librarian);
• Develop a special integrated web portal for course-related learning
objects (LO) that retrieve from the library digital collections (e.g. e-
journals, textual databases, open access, etc.) with efficient browsing and
research abilities;
• Acquire core e-collections;
• Providing e-literacy sessions to help e-learners in scholarly use of the
web and distributed e-resources (e-learning information search skills);
• Promote library e-services to the virtual e-learning community; and
• Prompt document delivery and outreach services via electronic
transmission.

PERSONAL UTILITY

E-learners, digital libraries and Information utilization:

With the tremendous growth of the internet, e-learners have access to an

overwhelming range of information sources available at the click of a mouse:
library resources, government information, news sites, advertising, and many
other forms of resources. Librarians have traditionally selected and organized
resources with great care. In building digital libraries, librarians have the
opportunity to provide e-learners with direction and to rescue them from
information overload.
A digital library can link e-learners to library catalogues, licensed journal
databases, electronic book collections, selected internet resources, electronic
course reserves, and tutorials, and to forums for communication and interaction
with others. The digital library permits e-learners to access library and
networked resources and services anytime and anywhere that an Internet
connection and computing equipment are available.
E-learners’ use of different technologies, whether they are traditional materials
or digital resources available via the internet, will be informed by and in turn
will help construct the kinds of values that retain significance in education. As
long as the educator and the assignment follow the status quo, any related
source of information is likely to be a smart choice by e-learners according to
their assessment of what to do for assignments. It follows both the form and
content of what an eventual report should look like. With the tremendous
growth of the internet, e-learners have access to an overwhelming

RELATION OF TOPIC WITH LEARNER’S REQUIREMENT

E-library is required in Educational Institutes because:-

To increase the academic performance of students community.

To encourage independent learning.
To develop current learning, learning materials in interactive e-learning.
To determine the information needs of the students through e-learning.

E-library improves the quality of the learning experience of the students. The
driven changes are numerous and learning quality ranks poorly in relation to
most of them. A student who is learning in a way that uses information and
communication technologies (ICTs) is using an e-learning. These interactive
technologies support many different types of capabilities. Over the past few
decades, the new information and communication technologies have a huge
impact on the world economy corporate management, globalization trends and
education at all levels, including higher education.

EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATION

The importance of e-learning is growing in higher education. Key advantages of

e-learning are flexibility, convenience, and the ability to work at any place
where an Internet connection is available and at one’s own pace. Learning
resources and services are very significant to research and teaching in higher
education. The advent of ICTs has completely transformed libraries and
information centres. They have emerged as early adopters of new technologies
and act as service points for access to digital libraries.

Digital Library User Insrtuction:

Library instruction has always been a significant role that librarians have
played. Reference librarians provide tours, introductory and subject-specific
classroom instruction, as well as on-the-fly, at-the-point-of-need instruction in
the reference department. The new challenge for librarians is to provide library
instruction to a growing population of remote and/or distance e-learners. With
the increase in digital library collections that are accessible outside the library
via the internet, students are visiting libraries less frequently. Telephone and e-
mail reference allow reference librarians to provide short and sometimes
detailed reference assistance to e-learners but these media are too cumbersome
for remote instruction. E-learners are frequently silent and invisible as they
search and explore a digital library’s resources, and they do not have the same
access that on-campus learners have to formal library instruction sessions. With
the array of digital resources available to them, the multiplicity of interfaces and
search tools, and the need for evaluation and critical thinking when using the
internet for research, “information literacy” skills are a must-have for e-learners.
Many libraries provide instruction to e-learners by making information
available on their web pages, including frequently asked questions, library
glossaries, research guides, and “how-to” pages. Online tutorials usually operate
on a model in which the e-learner interacts in isolation with a computer. Their
effectiveness can be enhanced by the addition of more interactive forms of
instruction. The librarians at the Florida Distance Learning Reference and
Referral Centre, for example, have experimented with chat software to simulate
a virtual classroom and open up “live” group instruction to e-learners.

CONCLUSION

The demand for e-learning is growing day by day. As a result, library services
have taken on another dimension. Librarians and academicians should
collaborate to evaluate and provide links to authoritative web resources related
to programmes and courses taught. They may develop a portal for providing a
seamless integrated access to e-collections. The enabling technology
infrastructures for building a virtual library must include stable electricity and
upgrading or installing a high speed internet connection to support a variety of
services. System librarians need to be trained or employed. Finally, the library
should conduct online tutorials for improving the information searching skills of
the e-learners and so doing.

REFERENCES

1. www.emeraldinsight.com
2. library and information science academic blog
3. E-learning resource managemnet discussion paper