Abstract
Today's students should no longer be training for a job for life. They should be acquiring an education that both encourages and equips them to become and remain life-long learners able to respond positively and quickly to today's rapidly changing world. If these graduand skills are to be fostered, academic libraries must play an active role. They need to introduce new services that help to lay a groundwork for encouraging familiarity with a wide range of information sources and bibliographical skills, for fostering an enquiring and independent mind and for developing the ability to pursue a self-directed study programme. The ResIDe Electronic Library at the University of the West of England, Bristol was originally introduced as an electronic reserve to provide wider and easier access to library materials. It has now evolved, through co-operative academic and library staff working, into a valuable support tool for teaching and learning that encourages such skills and attitudes.