Using practical examples from librarians in the field, this book lays out current issues in online learning and teaches librarians how to adapt a variety of library services―including instruction, reference, and collection development―to online education. Recent studies highlighting the challenges faced by online learners show that skills librarians are uniquely qualified to teach, such as information and digital literacy and source evaluation, can improve academic performance in online courses and enhance the online learning experience. Just as embedded librarianship was developed to answer the needs of online courses when they emerged in the early 2000s, online learning librarian Christina Mune now teaches "online librarianship" as a set of realistic strategies for serving a variety of online education models. Each chapter of Libraries Supporting Online Learning addresses a different strategy for supporting online students and/or faculty, with all strategies derived from real-world practices. Librarians will find information on best practices for creating digital literacy tutorials and dynamic content, providing patrons with open access and open educational resources, helping patrons to avoid copyright issues, promoting peer-to-peer learning and resource sharing, posting to social media, and developing scalable reference services. The tools and practical examples in this book will be useful for all educators interested in increasing the efficacy of online learning. Offers practical strategies to librarians responsible for supporting hybrid and online courses and degree programs as well as MOOCs. May be easily adopted as a library science textbook for those teaching instructional design, instructional technology, distance librarianship, or academic library issues courses. Includes case studies on assessment information and grant writing for administrators and library advocates. Informs all educators interested in increasing the efficacy of online learning in higher education Is suitable for inclusion in academic collections supporting library and information science.

Part I: Facilitating Access -- What Is Online Librarianship? -- Understand How You Help: Evaluating Your Services to Online Learners -- Help Them Find What They Need: Making Resources Discoverable, Sharable, and Affordable -- Part II: Creating Community -- Help Them Help Each Other: Facilitating Peer Interactions and Creating Online Learning Communities -- Help Them Connect with You: Deploying Effective Online Communication Tools -- Part III: Building Engagement -- Help Them Help Themselves: Information and Digital Literacy for the Online Learner -- Keep a Digital Toolbox: A Bibliography of Useful (and Mostly Free) Tools for Supporting Online Learning.