Librarians seek opportunities to improve outreach to faculty and promote shared interests in information literacy. A comprehensive review of syllabi for all undergraduate courses offered during one academic term examined course-level learning outcomes and graded assignments to see how well they aligned with the five Association of College and…

Despite the old-fashioned view of the academic library as a static institution, libraries can and do change in response to the needs of users and stakeholders. Perhaps the most dramatic shift in services has been the transition from a purely physical to a combination physical/virtual or even virtual-only environment. This article examines how…

Information literacy instruction is provided in five formats: reference, one-shot sessions, credit courses, library Web sites, and embedded librarians. Each method offers distinct merits as well as limitations. Much can be gained by considering the swirl or interplay of all five and how working with one approach informs the others and results in a…

The librarians at Northern Kentucky University's W. Frank Steely Library have successfully added a new embedded librarianship program to their established reference and instruction services, without the support of increased staffing. In fact, this program was established and has matured during a period of staff reductions. The decisions made in…

The need for information literacy continues to increase as colleges and universities begin to globalize their curricula and include global readiness in institutional missions. This article reports pretest and posttest data collected during a librarian-faculty collaboration to determine the effect of information literacy instruction on students…

Creating online options for students has become more of a focus with the growth of distance-education programs. It has also become necessary with the growth of online databases, electronic journals, and electronic books. Teaching classes is one of the few areas where libraries have not all switched to online access. Reference librarians still tend…

Academic reference librarians continually observe that many students are embarrassed about not knowing how to use the library and are reluctant to approach the reference desk. The theory of library anxiety offers an explanation, proposing that a fear of being in and using libraries serves as a psychological barrier, hindering many university…

This essay arguing for retention of sophisticated reference-desk service as separate from library instruction notes brief history of relationship and two fundamental reasons for separation: a "one-shot" lecture could not cover every tool useful for research needs of each individual student; and not all patrons are experiencing library instruction.…

The relation between library instruction and the reference function is explored, noting characteristics and aims of both functions, terminology (bibliographic instruction and library instruction), user attitudes toward library use, correlation of the two services, and purposes of both bibliographic instruction and the reference process. Sixteen…

Intended for school librarians, the guide describes a 9-week course of study in library reference skills for junior high academically talented students. The course description is presented in a thematic day-by-day and week-by-week format designed for one-to-one and small group instruction. Lesson plans include information on time requirements,…

The purpose of these guidelines is to assist librarians in providing students and faculty with appropriate information about computerized sources of information, particularly national online and compact disc (CD-ROM) databases. The guidelines offer ideas for brief, medium-length, and long presentations on the use of online searches, including…

Discusses whether librarians should aim to give "answers" (attempt to answer information need) or "clues" (instruct user in use of information sources) when responding to users' questions. Peripheral factors concerning questions (when, how, where, why, what), cost and benefits, and approaches associated with academic library…

This document is the library intern orientation packet for Pfau Library at California State University, San Bernardino. The packet contains the following: (1) a checklist for training; (2) a list of duties for reference services; (3) a list of "things to know" that includes library and employee rules; (4) frequently asked reference…

Traces the development of cooperation between reference librarians and catalogers, highlighting cooperative goals, role of the library catalog in meeting informational requirements of patrons, involvement of catalog librarians in library instruction, and patterns of library organization. Future trends are discussed. Twenty sources are given. (EJS)

This report describes a 1986 survey of procedures and priorities at Indiana University and Purdue University regional campus libraries designed to aid the librarians at the Walter E. Helmke Library at Indiana University-Purdue University, Fort Wayne, in re-evaluating various library procedures. Responses were received from nine of the 11 libraries…