WILS (Wisconsin InterLibrary Services) has begun a collaborative project with the UW-Extension Distance Education Clearinghouse and the libraries of the five Collaborative Nursing Program campuses. The CNP Library Project will provide three services to the students: centralized access to remote databases and library catalogs through the Distance Education Clearinghouse; Web-based interlibrary loan through WILS and direct document delivery to home or office.

The libraries on the five campuses (Oshkosh, Milwaukee, Green Bay, Eau Claire and Madison) contributed information on the services they provide and determined what services WILS should provide. They also wrote some of the text for the Web site and edited and advised as the site developed. The Distance Education Clearinghouse has mounted and will maintain the Web site through the Collaborative Nursing Program site they already maintain.

From now until the end of the semester WILS will furnish these services to only one of the CNP courses - the students in the LearningSpace section of Pam Scheibel's Nursing Assessment course. In the fall WILS will expand the project to include all 200 students in the Collaborative Nursing Program.

The Council of Wisconsin Libraries (COWL) and Online Computer Library Center, Inc. (OCLC) are providing funds for the project. By the end of spring semester 1999 WILS expects to have established fees for any program interested in the library services. The URL is http://www.uwex.edu/disted/c np/libservices/index.html

For further information contact: cardinal@wils.wisc.edu

(NOTE: For an excellent article on the changing nature of libraries see: aahesgit@list.cren.net, 4/28/98 AAHESGIT #93 - Changing Libraries and Librarians, Steve Marquardt Dean of Libraries at SD State U, MarquarS@mg.sdstate.edu.)