Nneka Eke, Helen (2010)

Purpose – This paper aims to examine and discuss the crucial roles libraries play in e‐learning; the challenges and opportunities facing the e‐learning program and the library's involvement. Design/methodology/approach – To elicit the necessary information, a literature review of studies done on e‐learning and libraries was done. Materials were sourced online and offline to build the literature of this work. The paper gives an overview of e‐learning and types; benefits of e‐learning; the infancy stage of e‐learning, libraries, and e‐learning technologies; starting points for libraries and e‐learning and challenges facing e‐learning. Findings – A lot of challenges are facing the successful implementation of e‐learning in institutions and also the role of libraries in enhancing e‐learning needs a lot of issues to be addressed as library's involvement in e‐learning is found to be very crucial. Practical implications – This paper establishes that libraries are the heart of institutions and so, are meant to play a vital role in the learning activities, as well as support all kinds of learning which includes e‐learning. There is also need for librarians to be trained in adopting e‐learning technologies and collaborating with faculties and departments in tutoring the learners. Originality/value – The study possesses two characteristics that make it different from other studies in the related area. First of all, it provides a theoretical basis for librarians to be actively involved in e‐learning as it listed some responsibilities of the library and librarians in executing e‐learning programmes. Secondly, the paper proposes six laws (Sm2U2L) to govern e‐learning and libraries.