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Background
Nova Southeastern University (NSU), located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is the largest private university in the Southeastern part of the United States, and the sixth largest nonprofit, independent university in the nation (NSU, 2007b). Total student enrollment for Fall 2006 was 25,960 (NSU, 2007c). The university offers associate, bachelor, master, specialist, doctoral, and first-professional degrees in education, business, medicine, law, psychology, marine sciences, and a variety of other fields. The university has so far produced over 85,000 alumni (NSU, 2007b).
NSU is rapidly gaining recognition as a pioneer and leader in distance education, particularly at the graduate level. NSU was the first institution of higher education in the nation to offer graduate programs in an online format (NSU, 2007b). "NSU has been offering online programs and programs with an online component since 1983. NSU was also the first to use the Unix system to host online courses, and one of the first to use the Internet to support instruction" (NSU, 2007b, Distance Education at NSU section, para. 1). The majority of NSU's academic programs currently offer courses online in addition to the traditional on-campus courses (Quinlan & Tuñón, 2004). In addition to online courses, NSU administers many of its programs through academic centers and sites located across the country and in international locations such as the Caribbean, Greece, Mexico, and the United Kingdom (NSU, 2007b).
THE MAIN LIBRARY
The main library at Nova Southeastern University is the Alvin Sherman Library, Research, and Information Technology Center. The library officially opened in December 2001 and is the outcome of a collaboration between the county (Broward) and the university. As a result, the library is a joint-use facility that offers an assortment of public and academic services to members of the NSU community and Broward County (Lubans, 2002). At 325,000 square feet, the library is the largest library building in the state of Florida. The high tech-building is open more than 100 hours each week, offers wireless service, a cafe, study rooms, fully equipped electronic classrooms, and numerous print and online resources (Quinlan & Tunon, 2004). Other libraries at NSU include the Health Professions Division Library, the Shepard Broad Law Library and Technology Center, and the William S. Richardson Ocean Sciences Library.
The library's collections and...