Technology has shaped the world into a far smaller place — individuals once stifled by their location have sought out virtuality, discovering a wealth of opportunities and choices. Education can be continued without the need for campuses or even the physical presence of a teacher. Miles can instead be defied with the simple tap of a keyboard. Continents can exchange information, ensuring that all who wish to learn can. It is the revolution of the university experience.

It is also the proof that libraries remain essential.

Distance learning courses are undeniably valuable. None could refuse their appeal. Their process only succeeds, however, when individuals are willing to work independently — without the guidance of a professor, the structure of a classroom setting. All must be able to sustain their own curiosity, to master the lessons as they are given. This is far from an easy feat, though, without the assistance of libraries.

Research is necessary within these programs. The material is offered without the needed explanations. Individuals are forced to dissect it without aid, answering their own questions and solving their own concerns. The Internet becomes a helpful ally but it can’t always provide the needed relief. Its information is too dependent upon its users, with so many encrypting sentences without validating them first. Errors are easy to find.

Through libraries, however, students can search through books (each checked and verified). Academic journals mingle with fairy tales; atlases collect interest with poems. The diversity is grand — and will offer all the needed facts. Becoming familiar with a chosen subject is made a simpler thing, if only because all truths can be relied upon. There is no concern for false data or misconceptions. There is no worry for personal bias or failing. There is merely convenience.

Distance learning is possible (and even worthy). It must simply be accompanied by the pages of a local library.