Libraries and Librarians in the MOOC age

There are huge ways of learning through the internet, from text-based tutorials to podcasts, vidcasts, etc. MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) is a recent phenomenon in online learning. It has been very popular since 2012 as MOOC offers a complete course based on academic pedagogy. It is free and is available to people around the world. Enrolling in MOOC does not need any prerequisite. Many papers have discussed the role of libraries and librarians in MOOC. They suggest that there are many opportunities in MOOC for libraries and librarians to extend their role beyond providing information resources and becoming educators. The literature suggests that copyright clearance and teaching information literacy are potential roles for librarians. Library and information professionals are encourages to enroll in MOOC courses to extend their knowledge and skills and also to learn how it works and to get teaching ideas for their information literacy instruction.
In this paper the history of MOOC and how it works, its structure; challenges and opportunities it offers and the roles of librarians and libraries in MOOC have been discussed.