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A response (in light of the findings of the Big Blue project) to Matt Holland's 5 main comments on online IS courses : 1) They deflect students from direct interaction with Library staff Generally online courses are designed to appeal directly to those students who cannot or will not engage directly with library staff. Whether we like it or not an increasing number of students like their information delivered electronically. Online information skills provide an opportunity for library staff to provide much-needed training at the point at which students access information. 2)They give an illusion of service provision but in fact are rarely used I'm not sure how an online course could be described as 'illusory'. Some may argue that they provide a service which does not match the quality of a traditional teaching session, but the reallity is that many institutions, particularly in Post- 16 education, simply don't have the time or resources (both financial and staff) to provide the kind of service that Matt envisages. Online tutorials provide a limited but realistic option for such institutions, particulary with the increased uptake of VLE/ MLEs in both HE and Post- 16 education. 3)They consume resources and time which might better be used in non-computer mediated environments -teaching Most online tutorials are ultimately much less demanding of resources than a teaching programme would be and are seldom if ever used in preference to one, but simply as an adjunct to provide students with multiple ways of accessing training in a format that suits them. 4)They are for the most part iterative and difficult to contextualise in any meaningful way to a specific subject, course or group of students This is a difficulty of all IS training- not just online delivery. Putting IS training in context successfully depends less on the format in which it is delivered and more on integrating IS into the curriculum. Many institutions are now attempting this but it is difficult and will take time. 5)They play to our strengths - we can create them, list them and organise them - but exaggerate our weaknesses, a reluctance to force the issue of Librarians as teachers of information skills in the curriculum however that might be formulated. The project has uncovered much evidence of LIS services which are battling to have their staff accepted as teachers. Many individuals are seeking teaching qualifications in their own time in order to deliver IS training. While there are pockets of reluctance there is a lot more determination to overcome the barriers to LIS staff providing teaching, and in the meantime, online training provides a mechanism to deliver training services. The ways in which all teaching and learning (not just IS training) is delivered is changing (the numerous funding opportunities that exist to develop and experiment with online teaching and learning are evidence of this)and LIS staff must be seen to move with the times and embrace change. The project has discovered institutions where the LIS staff are actually leading the way in delivering teaching online and are providing advice to academic staff who wish to follow suit. While all of Matt's points have some truth in them, and while online training is by no means the only future for IS training, it does constitute a useful, accessible and significant method of delivery which can be used in conjunction with more traditional methods, Claire Ryan Claire Ryan Big Blue (JCALT) Research Officer University of Leeds tel: 0113 233 6364 http://www.leeds.ac.uk/bigblue