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Distance Learning Interest Group
Meeting Report
Annual Conference 2006 - New Orleans
June 24, 2006

Chairs: Meg Tulloch, Erin McCaffrey
Minutes by: Meg Tulloch

Attendence:
Howard Carter, SIUC
Jane Hutton, Westchester University of PA
Diane Hillman, Cornell University
Diane Neal, Texas Woman's University
Kelli Keclik, Ball State University
Beth Stahr, Southeastern Louisiana University
Lauren Pressley, Wake Forest University
Jessica Walker, ARTstor
Mary Edwards, University of Florida, Health Sciences
Charles Getchell, Quinnipiac University
Julie LaDell-Thomas, Central Michigan University
Betsy Larson, University Center of Lake County (IL)
Meg Tulloch, European Regional Library & Support Center (outgoing co-chair)

Agenda:

1. Announcements
Meg Tulloch and Erin McCaffrey will step down as co-chairs. Karen Wetzel will take over as chairperson of LITA's Distance Learning Interest Group.

Announcement of LITA of activities at ALA Annual Conference: President's Program, Open House, passed around schedule of LITA programs.

Discussion of LITA tools for IG to use: Online Community, Wiki, Blog

2. Direction of Interest Group
The Distance Learning Interest Group has been a place for open discussion of distance learning technology challenges, successes, and innovations. The group decided that the IG meetings should continue in this vein as a time and place for open discussion. The IG also decided that it would be good to organize and sponsor a program. The consensus was that the IG is indeed still relevant and serves a needed role at ALA meetings and conferences.

3. Planning a Program for Annual Conference 2007
Many topics were brought to table as possible program ideas:

 Learning Objects - What are they and how are they used in Distance Learning? The IG had a lively discussion about what they were and how they are used.

 Case studies on use of technology in distance learning-possibly bring in vendors.

 Lessons Learned: DL Librarians, Instructional Designers talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly using technology to deliver services to DL students.

 Uses of Social Software by Librarians to Reach Students.

 Faculty/Students give the User Perspective on DL technologies.

4. Recent Experiences with Distance Learning Technologies
Round robin about what was going on in everyone's library. Diane Hillman mentioned a very interesting project funded by IMLS that she is working on at Cornell University to offer free content of some courses give at Cornell University. I discussed the Army Audio eBook Library-problems and solutions to get it off the ground. Other asked questions and offered advice.