A reference/instruction librarian used targeted outreach to furnish library services to faculty and students while assigned to work in the College of Education during a library renovation project. Due to the success of this temporary assignment, the author has subsequently maintained regular office hours in the College to provide research…

This article focuses on the model used at the University of Kansas Medical Center to reach graduate students in the School of Nursing. Like many students returning for graduate degrees, distance students are balancing the demands of professional positions, graduate studies, and family life. Topics addressed include: point-of-need assistance,…

The society relies on institutions of higher education to produce a literate workforce; one that is able to function in a dynamic, technological, information-overload environment. In support of this new thrust, most universities have incorporated the use of new media and ICTs in the teaching learning process resulting in a multi-modal approach…

This article provides a brief history of the development of library subject guides (often referred to as pathfinders) from the late 1800s to the present. During this period, subject guides have changed both their focus and format. The needs of academic institutions at the turn of the 20th century were very different than they are today, and…

In this article, the authors discuss how the University of Rochester's two-year ethnographic study reveals what students do on campus and how the library fits in. Under Nancy Fried Foster's guidance, teams of librarians and staff conducted a two-year investigation. The goal: to improve the libraries' reference services, facilities, and web pages…

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…

"ARL" is the bimonthly report on research library issues and actions from ARL (Association of Research Libraries), CNI (Coalition of Networked Information), and SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition). "ARL" reports on current issues of interest to academic and research library administrators, staff, and…

Twenty-three scholarly papers and twelve abstracts comprise the content of the eleventh annual Brick and Click Libraries Symposium, held at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri. The peer-reviewed proceedings, authored by academic librarians and presented at the symposium, portray the contemporary and future face of…

Given the many changes in our students and their study and research practices, libraries are finding it necessary to seek new ways to reach these students. The Undergraduate Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign created a new model to do so. Librarian's Office Hours are a hybrid of reference and instructional services that…

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…

Identifies nature of problems affecting library instruction in smaller public libraries and reports on writings which may be helpful to those libraries having no formal library instruction programs. Trends, a definition of the problem, literature reviewed, philosophy of library instruction, and programs over past 10 years are highlighted. (29…

The University of Wisconsin-Stout library has developed a keyword out of context (KWOC) index to handle repetitive, routine or directional questions for students. (PF)

Library Pathfinders offer the opportunity to share reference methodology in an organized, nationwide manner. Intended to introduce users to the variety of information sources available, Pathfinders have been published in a wide range of disciplines. The authors describe Pathfinders and indicate how they can provide improved user service and…