This essay offers suggestions to make online public access catalogs (OPACs) less idiosyncratic and more usable. Discussion covers qualitative difference between online catalog and predecessors, challenge of debunking assumptions, skills for success, maintaining an instructional perspective, catalog development for the people by the people, and the…

Presents comments by faculty members asked to introduce new colleagues to how they and their students use library services and materials. Three approaches to the incorporation of bibliographic instruction into science courses are outlined: a research paper importance and citation rate exercise; a library resource location exercise; and the library…

Describes a course on information gathering and evaluation that is required for journalism and mass communication majors at the University of Minnesota. Search strategies and the search process are emphasized; weekly assignments and requirements for the final project are explained; and goals and objectives of the course are discussed. (LRW)

Describes a library research skills course taught at the University of California at Santa Barbara with team teaching. Revision of a previous course is explained; course design is described; class assignments are outlined; an evaluation of the first year is discussed; and the future of the course is considered. (LRW)

Students' library usage, attitudes, and skills were surveyed three years after they had participated in a university library instruction program. Results of the questionnaire, which was based on the design of a pre-posttest developed to evaluate the program in 1982-83, indicated that most students are using the library on a regular basis. (6…

This article outlines the advantages and disadvantages of various question types in tests for library classes, including selected-response, constructed-response and alternative-response test items. It examines a test case in which students in a for-credit library course were given a take home quiz with search story problems. Sample "search story"…

Librarians at the University at Albany, State University of New York (SUNY), in response to a new requirement for an information literacy component in the University's general education program, formed a committee, which quickly created a successful and flexible information literacy credit course. The committee's progress as they worked through…

Describes the restructuring of Pepperdine University library's freshman seminar library instruction because students were not acquiring needed library and information literacy skills due to too much material being presented in too short a time with no hands-on experience. Explains the use of independent Web-based instruction in addition to…

Describes a library instruction program at the University of Illinois that consists of a narrowly focused one-shot lecture, complemented by a series of library activities that can be completed independently by students. The reasons for revising the program, the variety of instructional approaches and media used, and the effectiveness of the…

Describes a pilot in which bibliographic instruction sessions were conducted entirely in French for students majoring in French, as a means of enhancing their skills and demonstrating an application of the language to other fields. The results of tests of instructional effectiveness are discussed and recommendations for designing such programs are…

Presents the results of a student survey conducted in 1989 and used to evaluate the bibliographic instruction program at Stockton State College (New Jersey), which includes a self-paced workbook for freshman seminar classes, subject classes, online demonstrations, and a library research methods course. Further research is needed to identify…

Reports on college freshman research unit in biography that suits writing level of students and incorporates library research as integral part of course. The freshman research paper unit, advantages of biography as topic, freshman library instruction program, and strengths of biography research are covered. Useful topics and worksheets are…

Guidelines for developing effective research assignments were distributed to University of Colorado, Boulder, teaching assistants and faculty by the Instructional Services Librarian. Suggestions concerning what to do (i.e., clarify research objectives, schedule library presentation) and what not to do (i.e., limit research to particular index or…

Statistical analysis of data evaluating the effects of a bibliographic instruction program on college students' library-related behavior--changes in library usage, attitude toward libraries and librarians, understanding of basic library skills--indicates that students scored significantly higher on posttest than on pretest. Sample test questions…

Discussion of changes in academic library instruction needed for teaching Internet access to electronic databases focuses on a study at the University of Connecticut that compared differences in effectiveness between an online, real-time hands-on class with an eclectic format that combined lecture and a hands-on component. (Author/LRW)