Found this article as a result of one of my EBSCO Alerts:
Best Practices for Helping Students Complete Online Degree Programs.
By: Gaide, Susan. DistanceEducation Report, 10/15/2004, Vol. 8 Issue 20, p8, 1p; (AN 14742493)
If you have a subscription to Academic Search Premier, that link should take you right in.
Basically it’s a one-pager listing 10 things an institution can do to ensure the success of their distance students, and number 9 is, " Library Resources. Institutions must make available to online students the same academic resources available to on-campus students. Lesht recommends that institutions subscribe to databases and invest in the archiving of resource materials to provide accessibility to online students."