Elements of Success at a Traditional/VirtualUniversity: Lessons Learned from Three Yearsof Growth in Cyberspaceby Thomas W. Peterman

Within three years, ParkCollege (Park University, as of

January 1, 2000) hasdeveloped an online distancelearning program that serves

more than 1,700 students perterm worldwide. This case

study looks at the steps thatPark went through and thedirection it is now headed.

Thomas W. Peterman is Vice President forDistance Learning, Park University,

8700 NW River Park Drive, Parkville,Missouri 64052 ,tomp@mail.park.edu..

Park College was established on thebluffs above the Missouri River inParkville, Missouri, just north of

Kansas City, in 1875, as an attempt toprovide academic opportunities for thosewilling to work to earn a degree. Thehome campus serves approximately 2,000students in Parkville and another 3,000in the Kansas City area. Beginning Jan-uary 1, 2000, Park College became ParkUniversity.

In 1972, Park College established theSchool for Extended Learning (SEL) toprovide degree completion opportuni-ties primarily to students in the military.The SEL program, using face-to-faceinstruction aimed at non-traditional stu-dents in an accelerated format (general-ly eight-week terms), has grown toserve about 12,000 students at 37 sitesin 20 states. The vast majority of facultywho teach at extended learning sites areadjuncts, teaching one course per termfor Park University. Virtually all have amaster’s degree in the field in whichthey teach. Each prospective instructorsubmits an instructor’s packet that con-sists of an application to teach, justifi-cation for individual courses, and orig-inal transcripts. All are approved toteach on a course-by-course basis by thehome campus program coordinator(full-time faculty). The instruction isevaluated by the academic director afterthe first time a course is taught and onetime per year thereafter. This evaluationis based on the report of the classroomvisit, an analysis of student opinion sur-veys, and a review of the course sylla-bus. Adjunct SEL faculty are hired on aterm-by-term basis with no obligationon the part of the university for contin-ued contracts.

Our experience is that adjuncts aregenerally well versed in their fields, oftenworking full time within their profession,but may be in need of training with regardto teaching methods. Faculty develop-ment programs focus on topics such as thenature of the non-traditional student, or-ganizing content for teaching, methods ofinstruction, evaluation techniques, andclassroom organization techniques. Gen-erally, adjuncts have fewer academicqualifications in terms of terminal de-grees, but tend to bring to the classroom awealth of workplace experience.

Park is one of a relatively smallgroup of colleges and universities thathas focused its extended learning effortson the military student. Contracts andmemoranda of understanding are estab-lished between the college and variousmilitary organizations. In most cases,colleges work within the framework ofthe base/post education services officesand usually specialize in one aspect ofeducation. The SEL at Park for exam-ple, working within this context, usuallyoffers upper division course work aimedtoward the completion of the four-yeardegree.

Park had, therefore, through its 25-yeartradition of extended learning, an infra-structure in place designed to meet theneeds of non-traditional students. Homecampus offices, such as accounting, reg-istrar, financial aid, and others, were ex-perienced at serving extended learningstudents in accelerated, non-traditionalprograms away from the campus. The ex-tended learning program had proved itsimportance to the univeristy by providingsignificant revenue, often when tradi-tional programs were struggling.

The Journal of Academic Librarianship, Volume 26, Number 1, pages 27–32 January 200027

PARK GOES INTO DISTANCE

EDUCATION

In 1996, in an attempt to further meet theneeds of SEL students, a distance learningprogram was developed. Programs weredeveloped in CD-ROM, interactive video,and online formats. Although all threeformats are still used, the online courseshave been the most successful in attract-ing students.

The president of the college, Dr.Donald Breckon, saw the distance learn-ing program as a natural extension of theextended learning program. The SEL ac-ademic infrastructure was also generallymore open to the concept that coursescould be taught in accelerated terms andat sites away from the home campus.When considering the approval of onlineinstruction, faculty were free to considercontent and were not overwhelmed by adetailed discussion of methods and logis-tics.

The existing infrastructure also pro-vided the distance learning program witha large body of students who were used tothe services provided by Park in an ex-tended learning setting. It was natural forthe large body of satisfied, extendedlearning students to explore the distancelearning options.

Because Park is a relatively small, pri-vate, liberal arts university, it is not se-verely encumbered by a large, slow-mov-ing bureaucracy as is often found inlarger, state-supported institutions. Whenthe top level administration focused ondistance learning as a primary objective, itwas relatively easy to direct the resourcesnecessary to get the program off theground.

Park’s regional accrediting agency, theNorth Central Association (NCA), waskept informed as individual courses weredeveloped and offered online. As long asthe courses were the same courses thatwere listed in the catalog and offeredface-to-face, an accreditation review wasnot required.

PARK GOES ONLINE WITH A PILOT

COURSE

The initial online course in business com-munications was offered to 20 stu-dents—15 from the site in Washington,D.C., and five from Little Rock, Arkan-sas. The pilot class tested the feasibility ofoffering a course online by using Univer-sity Online’s Virtual Campus with acourse from the Park catalog. Feedbackfrom students indicated that this delivery

method was not only feasible but offeredsome definite advantages. The studentsindicated that the online class freed themfrom an often difficult commute (some-times one or two hours in the Washington,D.C., area) but also provided them withthe freedom to participate at their conve-nience.

Although the course was not open-ended (it was scheduled within the eight-week accelerated term), it was asynchro-nous, permitting students freedom toparticipate when they desired within eachweek of the term. Students with childrenfound it helpful toattendclass after thekids were in bed. Students working shiftswere able to participate when their sched-ules permitted. Soon, students learned tolog on during their best times—eveningsfor night owls, mornings for early birds,and weekends for those with tight week-day schedules. Students even found thatthey could still participate when work orother obligations required them to be outof town. Military students have found thisflexibility extremely valuable becausetheir assignments may vary within a giventerm.

“Students also indicated thatthe online environment

permitted them opportunity toget to know their fellow

students and the instructor inways not experienced in the

traditional classroom.”

Students also indicated that the onlineenvironment permitted them opportunityto get to know their fellow students andthe instructor in ways not experienced inthe traditional classroom. Several indi-cated that, as the online environment per-mitted them to share each other’s contri-butions and work together in smallgroups, they found themselves getting toknow their classmates to a greater extentthan they did in the traditional classroom.The online classroom encouraged a depthof sharing and interaction often not foundin the typical lecture classroom.

From a pilot class with 20 students in1996, the online program has developedto where more than 50 courses are offeredeach term to nearly 1,750 students. Inaddition, approval was recently receivedfrom the NCA, Park’s regional accredit-

ing agency, to offer three online degreecompletion programs. Bachelor’s degreeprograms were approved in management,management/computer information sys-tems, and criminal justice.

FIRST TERMS ONLINE : L ESSONS

LEARNED

The first terms online were hectic. Gettingclasses/syllabi approved by traditionaland often suspicious home campus fac-ulty and administrators; locating studentswilling to take a risk in this new environ-ment; finding faculty both qualified andwilling to teach in cyberspace, where stu-dents had to be recognized by writingstyles, not by faces in seats; overcomingthe occasional technical glitches that oc-curred with new technology and new usesfor existing technology; and training fac-ulty and students how to teach and learnin this new environment all created chal-lenges that had to be overcome.

Early on, Park and VCampus (former-ly University Online) struggled togetherto meet student needs and to provide aproduct that was acceptable to traditionalfaculty and administrators. Technicalproblems occurred as VCampus grappledwith what it meant to serve students whoplaced demands at odd hours and onweekends. It was typical that VCampuswould schedule down time for upgradesduring weekends and evenings—nor-mally slow times for corporate and busi-ness clients, but the worst time for non-traditional college students. Typically,Park online students used late eveninghours (after the kids were in bed) andweekends (free from work) to completeassignments. Recognizing this, instructorsmade most assignments due on Sundayevenings, at the end of the weekend.When VCampus announced (if they didannounce) a down time it was often dur-ing prime time for online students.Quickly we became aware of the impor-tance of recognizing the unique scheduleof the online student. It also became veryapparent that communication was of theessence. Down time could be acceptableif given widespread and timely notifica-tion.

Communication, so often taken forgranted in the face-to-face setting, be-comes critical in the online setting. Fac-ulty, during this early stage, soon becameaware of the significance of nonverbalcommunication found in traditional teach-ing and developed means to overcomethis. With the use of VCampus, response

28 The Journal of Academic Librarianship

to the conference threads by faculty be-came a means to guide the student inter-action and effectively replaced classroomdiscussion. In many cases, it was possibleto see the same talent necessary to coor-dinate a meaningful classroom discussionat work in the asynchronous conferencethreads. The instructor could be seen fa-cilitating the discussion, guiding it in thedirection she or he wants it to go. Thehand of the instructor could be seen rein-forcing the reticent student, redirectingthe wayward discussion, and challengingthe gifted student to accomplish more.

“Just as in the classroom,communication in online

courses takes place in multipleformats.”

Just as in the classroom, communica-tion in online courses takes place in mul-tiple formats. In addition to the confer-ence threads (parallel to class discussion),instructors made heavy use of e-mail, pro-viding interaction similar to that that oc-curs during individual office hours. Thecreative instructor also used other tools athis or her disposal including, but not lim-ited to, the telephone, fax, and snail mail.

Students in the online setting quicklybecome demanding, expecting instantfeedback following their contributions. Ionce had to point out to a student com-plaining that nearly 48 hours had gone bywithout feedback, that in the face-to-faceversion of this course they only met onceper week and that feedback took at leastseven days. Some faculty have scheduledvirtual office hours when they were avail-able at their computer to provide instantfeedback to specific questions asked bystudents.

During this period of rapid growth,from 20 students per term (five termsper year) to more than 1,700, severalissues had to be addressed. The logisticsof the required proctored exam becamea problem. Placing a non-virtual re-quirement (proctored exams) into a cy-ber environment, although necessary tosatisfy the security concerns of tradi-tional systems, required the develop-ment of a new system to ensure thatrequirements would be met.

The clerical demands placed on staffrequired to advise and register studentsimpacted service to students. The online

element of our extended learning programhas become the fastest growing programin the SEL. Growing pains thus createdhave had to be dealt with both on thepractical issues (e.g., additional staff) andthe pedagogical issues (e.g., maintainingquality control).

Recruiting and training faculty fellbehind the demands created by thegrowth in the number of online sections.The SEL imposed requirements that on-line instructors needed (1) to be ap-proved to teach for the college by homecampus faculty, (2) to have alreadytaught face-to-face the course they de-sire to teach online, and (3) to havesuccessfully completed training sessionfor teaching online. These requirementscaused some shortages in faculty whowere available to teach online. Early on,sections of online courses were closed(maximum of 25–35 students), and ap-proved faculty were not available toteach additional sections. Because mostsections were taught by adjunct facultywho had other obligations (working andface-to-face teaching), in most cases,overload assignments were not an op-tion.

A desire to mirror extended learningpolicies along with the rapid growth ofthe program also placed significant de-mands on the distance learning program.Early on, in an attempt to replicate theexisting SEL program, a resident centeradministrator (RCA) for distance learningwas hired. Increased enrollments havejustified the recent addition of a seconddistance learning RCA.

The rapid growth of the online pro-gram also placed additional demands onhome campus program coordinatorswhose duties included faculty approvalsand evaluations. The assignment of anacademic director to visit virtual class-rooms, handle grade disputes, and coor-dinate instructor evaluations soon be-came more than one part-time personcould effectively handle. Additional re-sponsibilities brought about by in-creased enrollments included staff toevaluate writing competency examina-tions and additional demands on homecampus faculty to review syllabi and toobtain instructor approval.

Early in the plans for online instruc-tion, the college recognized that it did nothave sufficient on-campus resources todevelop an online program in-house. Itwas apparent that partnering with a com-pany with a compatible philosophy thatwould work with us was necessary.

VCampus was willing to work with Park,providing services we could not and ac-cepting payment for services based onrevenue rather than requiring the bulk ofdevelopment costs to be paidup front.This team effort permitted the college toget a jump start with course development.

The arrangement with VCampus,whereby existing, experienced facultywould be trained to develop their coursesonline, eliminated the need for the collegeto hire a team of instructional developers.The VCampus program is user friendlyenough to permit the experienced instruc-tor, following a weekend of training andwith adequate support, to prepare a coursefor online presentation.

MOTIVATION AND PRECONDITIONS

NECESSARY FOR PARK ’S SUCCESS

Park University wanted to find new andbetter ways to meet the needs of existingstudents in the extended learning pro-gram. Non-traditional students with full-time jobs, family obligations, irregularschedules, and significant educationalneeds presented the challenge that ParkPresident Donald Breckon felt could bestbe met with distance education in generaland online courses in particular. Compe-tition and the need to continue contractswith large segments of the militarypushed Park to look at new and creativeways to meet the needs of students.

The school was motivated to get intothe distance learning market when it wasrealized that existing methods of teachingin the extended learning setting were notgoing to be adequate to meet the needs ofa significant number of existing studentsand that contracting agencies (primarilythe branches of the military being served)were desirous of having distance learningoptions available to their students. Thefeeling was that if we could not or wouldnot provide these options, a competitorwould.

The existence of a sound infrastructuremade the addition of online education arelatively smooth one. With more than 30sites with staff in place, with 25 years ofexperience offering education to non-tra-ditional students in accelerated programs,with more than 10,000 students alreadyenrolled in Park programs, with the sup-port provided by military contracts na-tionwide, with the strong support ofhigher level administration at the homecampus, and with a home campus facultythat already participated in the extendedlearning program and was accepting of

January 2000 29

the concept of extended learning, the de-velopment of distance learning at Parkwas seen as an opportunity.

PROFIT /NONPROFIT PERSPECTIVE

The Park University online program com-bines the nonprofit elements of the uni-versity with the profit elements of VCam-pus. The courses offered online are foundin the existing university catalog and arepart of the current curriculum. Online ver-sions of those courses are developed byapproved full-time and adjunct Park fac-ulty. Syllabi prepared are carefully re-viewed by home campus faculty for con-tent and by the administration for policiesand procedures. VCampus provides theexpertise that helps the instructor placethe course in the online environment.VCampus also houses the courses andprovides technical support for the onlinestudent. The university and VCampuswork together to provide the student withacademic services, such as counseling,advising, access to resources, and libraryaccess. Faculty development activities toassist the instructor to adapt to the onlineenvironment are provided by both Parkand VCampus. The collaboration betweenprofit and nonprofit seems to draw thebest from both worlds.

“The Park University onlineprogram combines the

nonprofit elements of thecollege with the profitelements of VCampus.”

LEADERSHIP

A strong commitment to distance learningfrom the very beginning by top level ad-ministration has made it possible for theprogram to develop. The president of thecollege initiated the project and broughton board the staff he felt could make itsuccessful. This commitment has freedthe program to take the steps necessary tosucceed. The partnership between Parkand VCampus has been one of mutualsupport and respect, with both sides rec-ognizing that one would not succeed un-less both succeeded.

TYPE OF OPERATION

The operation was designed to mirrorthe existing SEL programs—acceleratedterms (eight weeks) that use existing

Park University courses designed andtaught by existing faculty. Home cam-pus services (student financial services,registrar, and library services) were ex-tended to online students as they havebeen to extended learning students inthe past. Efforts were made to staff thedistance learning programs in the sameway extended learning programs werestaffed. Likewise, the connections, bothacademically and administratively, be-tween the home campus and distancelearning were designed to be the sameas those between the home campus andextended learning.

Once a specific course has been ap-proved for development in the onlineenvironment by the home campus divi-sion chair or program coordinator, a de-veloper is selected. Courses are devel-oped for online presentation by facultywho have already been approved toteach in the online setting and have ex-pressed an interest in preparing a coursefor online delivery. The developer isthen asked to participate in a face-to-face weekend training session to intro-duce him or her to the VCampus soft-ware. Following this intensive weekendof training, the developer is expected toprepare a syllabus and reference listwithin the next two months. We havefound that online syllabi usually runfrom 10 to 15 pages and offer a greatamount of detail regarding the course.The syllabus and reference list are thensubmitted to the home campus programcoordinator for approval. Once ap-proved, they are submitted to the Fac-ulty Academic Council for final ap-proval. At this point they are ready to goto VCampus to be put online. The de-veloper/instructor is expected to teachthe course as developed, revise the syl-labus as needed, and submit an instruc-tor’s manual that can be used by futureinstructors to teach the course.

TYPE OF STUDENTS

The target student of the program is thenon-traditional student. Park has hadmuch experience and success workingwith the non-traditional student in its ex-tended learning program. Students withfull-time jobs, often with spouses andfamilies, make up the majority of the on-line student body just as they have alwaysmade up the student body of the extendedlearning program. These students aremost appreciative of the flexibility of-fered by the online environment. Non-traditional students appreciate very much

the removal of time and distance limita-tions provided by online instruction.

“Students with full-time jobs,often with spouses and

families, make up the majorityof the online student body justas they have always made up

the student body of theextended learning program.”

TYPE OF FACULTY

For online course development, Park hadthe advantage of being able to draw froma nationwide pool of adjunct facultyteaching in the extended learning pro-gram. This group of faculty was alreadyapproved to teach for the college and wasexperienced in teaching the specificcourses that were offered online. Al-though full-time, on-campus faculty wereinvited to participate, for several reasonsthey, for the most part, chose not to teach/develop courses online. Political, philo-sophical, and contractual issues oftenblocked full-time faculty from participa-tion, whereas adjunct faculty were not asburdened by these limitations.

The NCA visit was the first in its his-tory to be conducted exclusively by usingtechnology. The NCA teamvisited thecampus by using virtual methods. Videoconferencing was used for the primaryinterviews of home campus administra-tors and conference phone calls and com-munication via e-mail, fax, and overnightmail all enhanced thevisit. Considerabledollars were saved because individualswere able to conduct the visit withoutleaving home. At one point in the out-briefing (via conference telephone call)one of the evaluators indicated that, fromhis perspective, Park was one of the na-tion’s leaders in distance learning. Aftertheir report, the NCA approved Park’srequest to offer online degree completionprograms in the areas mentioned previ-ously.

MAJOR NEEDS—WHAT DO STUDENTS

NEED?

Students need to know that the instructoris qualified, capable, interested, and avail-able. Although it is possible to show thestudent that the instructor is all of theabove in the online environment, different

30 The Journal of Academic Librarianship

methods may have to be used to accom-plish that. The lack of face-to-face contactand traditional office hours makes it nec-essary for the instructor to create oppor-tunities to demonstrate interest and avail-ability. Often this can be done bytranslating nonverbal actions into text-based actions. Where a simple nod or eyecontact indicates a level of communica-tion face-to-face, this must be replaced bya written e-mail, a comment in a confer-ence thread, or contribution to a chatroomor bulletin board. Sometimes the onlineenvironment needs to be supplemented bya phone call or visit.

We feel that the online student de-serves the same level of services that aregranted to the traditional or face-to-facenon-traditional student. This is truewhether it is advising, counseling, finan-cial aid, library services, or support fromoffices such as accounting and the regis-trar. Fortunately, Park has a long historyof providing support for non-traditional,extended learning students. Extendingthat to online students is natural.

Initially, we found that first-time on-line students were in need of special at-tention to familiarize themselves with thehardware and the uniqueness of theVCampus. As time goes by, however, weare finding that fewer and fewer studentsare unable to navigate their equipmentand the software they use. We are in theprocess of developing a self-administeredpretest for new online students that helpsthem to determine if they have the neces-sary hardware, familiarity with the WorldWide Web, and a learning style that iscompatible with learning in the onlineenvironment.

MAJOR NEEDS—WHAT DO

INSTRUCTORS NEED?

Assuming that instructors have sufficientknowledge in the content/curriculum andare well versed in teaching non-traditionalstudents in the accelerated format, theyalso need to have an understanding of theonline teaching/learning environment. Wehave had instructors who were excellentface-to-face instructors but who were notparticularly effective online, and viceversa. Most faculty need to develop skillsnecessary to teach effectively online. Tomeet this need, VCampus, in conjunctionwith Park, has developed an onlinecourse—an introduction to online teach-ing—which is required of all who teachonline for Park. The purpose of the courseis to:

provide a practical background which is nec-essary to success in applying on-line com-munications techniques to education. . . .This instructor led “virtual seminar” focuseson educators’ . . . needs to develop effectiveand efficient techniques for planning, orga-nizing, designing, and implementing dis-tance education courses for the environmentof the Internet and World Wide Web.

“Assuming that instructorshave sufficient knowledge in

the content/curriculum and arewell versed in teaching non-

traditional students in theaccelerated format, they also

need to have an understandingof the online teaching/learning

environment.”

The opportunity to be on the cuttingedge of this technological revolution pro-vides sufficient motivation for enough ofour existing faculty to make it possible toselect faculty rather than having to recruitthem. We have found that generally theprofessional and personal traits that makean instructor successful in the classroomare also needed in the online environment.The online instructor does need to be es-pecially sensitive to taking advantage ofthose means of personal interaction leftopen in the online environment and tomake up for those not available in theonline environment as well.

WHAT DOES THE ACCREDITATION

ASSOCIATION SAY?After the development of nearly 50 onlinecourses and because of the demand fromonline students, Park sought approvalfrom the NCA to offer online degree com-pletion programs in three areas: manage-ment; management/computer informationsystems; and criminal justice. Beforeseeking approval from NCA, approvalwas sought and gained from the homecampus faculty and the university’s boardof trustees. The faculty, which had earlierrequired the administration of a proctoredexam in all online courses, supported theconcept of online degree completion pro-grams with one restriction: they requiredthat 6 hours (2 classes) must be taken in atraditional classroom. They also offeredeach department the option of requiringeither a capstone course or a comprehen-sive exam.

Our accreditation agency reviewed ourproposed online degree completion pro-grams and approved them. Their responseindicated that they felt our online offer-ings were comparable with our face-to-face extended learning programs and ourtraditional home campus programs.

BENEFITS FROM GOING EARLY INTO

ONLINE EDUCATION

Being the first on the block with a newproduct means that competition is mini-mal and working relationships can be es-tablished in an environment of experi-mentation. It is easier to work under anattitude of we are all new at this and alllearning together than it is under the pres-sure of having to be better than the com-petition and having to sell a product thatis better than one already in use.

WHAT WILL BE THE MAIN AREAS

TO FOCUS ON FOR THE FUTURE?

With the approval from the regional ac-crediting agency to offer online degreecompletion programs, Park is now poisedto create corporate alliances. No longertied to geographic centers and face-to-face instruction, it is now possible to ap-proach corporations with nationwide andworldwide employees and offer programsto meet their educational needs. Park cannow offer a program that will permit astudent to complete a degree free of timeand geographical restraints. This will pro-vide tremendous opportunity for growth.

INFORMATION RESOURCES

Information resources are available on-line. The problems occur with cost andquality. It will soon be possible to haveaccess to about every information re-source available in digital format if one iswilling to pay the price. Producers of in-formation are making more and more newresources available in both analog anddigital formats. Some are only availablein digital. Costs should become reason-able as quantity and use increase.

Another concern with information re-sources is the proliferation of informationand the lack of skills among users in de-termining quality. In the past, if some-thing appeared in print it was assumed tobe factual and accurate; we had to de-velop in readers the ability to discriminatebetween accurate and inaccurate print in-formation. Likewise, we must nowdevelop in the online learner the abilityto discriminate among good and badand accurate and inaccurate information

January 2000 31

found online. Just as we learned withvideo that docudramas were not necessar-ily factual and that tabloid video was notthe same as the evening news, we need todevelop in the online student the ability torecognize and evaluate quality in onlineresources.

INCREASING QUALITY

I would like to think that we need to focuson maintaining quality rather than in-creasing it. I would also hope that wewould be able to separate quality of con-tent from quality of methods and qualityof technology. As the technology evolvesit will be possible to have access to addi-tional methods that will be perceived asincreasing quality.

INCREASING ENROLLMENTS

Enrollments have grown from 75 credithours during the first term of classes threeyears ago to more than 5,100 credit hoursduring the current term. With the degreecompletion options opening new marketsand with increased emphasis on market-ing, it is anticipated that enrollments will

continue to increase. Increasing enroll-ments place increased demands on routineservices—faculty selection, development,evaluation, and student services—finan-cial aid, advising, instructional resources,and administrative services—scheduling,registration, and clerical work. With therapid growth experienced in online enroll-ments it has been hard to keep pace withdemands for these services.

CONCLUSION

Rapid growth has made it tempting toride the wave,and one needs to remainfocused on the quality of learning/instruc-tion and the quality of services providedto the student. Even in asellers’ marketone needs to keep focused on the needsand concerns of thebuyer.As more andmore institutions enter the market, com-petition will force existing providers tooffer a quality product at a fair price. It isnecessary to maintain the links with tra-ditional instruction to retain the support ofall elements of the academic environment.Online instruction is not out to replaceface-to-face instruction: it must comple-

ment it. Although online instruction maynot be for all students, it is a viable optionfor a significant segment of the educationmarket. As Park becomes a university and

“Even in a sellers’ market oneneeds to keep focused on the

needs and concerns of thebuyer.”

enters the next century it becomes moreand more apparent that to remain success-ful, the institution must continue to dowhat it does well. The environment maychange, the technology may provide op-portunities for growth and development,technology may open new doors to pro-vide education in a broader context, butthe fundamentals remain the same: theinstitution must continue to concentrateon providing the best education possibleby whatever means available to meet theneeds of students.

32 The Journal of Academic Librarianship