Document Delivery and OER Sharing Services Assessment in an ODL Library in Malaysia

Abstract

The rapid evolution of the Internet, technological innovation and increased flow of information (information overload) has modernized academic libraries and it is difficult to keep up with the virtual delivery of scholarly information. It is to be relevant within this digital economy ecosystem, improvement as change is vital. The purpose of this paper is to show case two case studies carried out in a private open distance learning (ODL) University’s library in Malaysia. The first case study refers to how the integration of EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS) federated search engine widget into the Moodle virtual learning environment (VLE) has significantly provided wider access to library learning resources and improved the document delivery services provided by the library. The second case study relating to the developing two open access repositories on open educational resources (ROER) using a Japanese open source system, WEKO can support collaboration on resource sharing across the university and other academic libraries. On the first case study, the author co-worked with the Moodle system’s stakeholder from the Educational Technology and Publishing Unit to integrate the EDS widget into the university’s virtual learning environment platform as another library learning spaces for users to retrieve and request learning resources. As for the second case study referring to building ROERs, a pull to push design approach strategy was used whereby metadata of scholarly open access materials were harvested using an Open Archives Initiatives Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) method into another open knowledge platform (WEKO) for discovery by other users. Library leverages digital solutions to improve and facilitate customer requests, delivery and sharing of information. This approach coincides with the University’s quality philosophy of delivering the right and sustainable scholarly information. Document delivery and resource sharing services of OERs are inter-related for libraries through the use of new technologies and information supply techniques. It has also increased inter-department cooperation and local-international libraries. This paper provides value addition to the library personnel in advancing knowledge dissemination and building institutional repositories services as the sharing and preservation of knowledge.