Until recently the provision of distance education was undertaken mainly by various professional associations and commercial agencies offering vocational training. Library provision to meet the needs of registered students was limited. Over the past 30 years, however, the delivery of higher and further education to students studying at a distance has become a core part of the activity of many academic institutions: a few specialist higher education institutions such as the Open Universities established in Britain and India, and some conventional universities that established teaching centres away from their main campuses
