This Systems and Procedures Exchange Center (SPEC) kit on Bibliographic Instruction (BI) in Association of Research Libraries (ARL) examines current developments as well as anticipated trends based on a SPEC telephone survey of 25 ARL libraries with active BI programs. Two themes which ran through the mid-1985 interviews were the use of new…

This paper, presented at the Indiana Library Association Meeting, discusses critical thinking in general terms and then briefly discusses why it is important to include critical thinking skills in bibliographic instruction sessions at the higher education level. A discussion of the instructional design of bibliographic instruction in relation to…

Discusses types of knowledge that should define the academic librarian: (1) background in history and development of higher education; (2) appreciation for history of scholarship and learning; (3) understanding of how knowledge is obtained in various disciplines; (4) ability to evaluate research findings. Three reactions to essay are included.…

This activity book was written for the purposes of: (1) increasing students' awareness of nature and environmental issues; (2) providing an interdisciplinary curriculum for environmental issues; (3) encouraging students to use a variety of current nonfiction sources to research activities; and (4) encouraging students to work together in small…

In order to evaluate its library instruction program, a postal survey was conducted of students who participated in library orientation courses at the Technische Universitaet Wien (Technical University of Vienna) in Austria during the winter term of 1982/83. The orientation courses consisted of a 1-hour lecture on use of the library and a library…

Reviews curriculum guides and the research literature to examine locational skills instruction in elementary schools and the transferability of skills to the public library. Factors that may limit instructional effectiveness are identified and the need for public children's librarians to have realistic expectations of children's abilities to…

Librarians use subject guides to introduce students to library materials. Surveys, usability tests, and usage statistics demonstrate that students do not relate well to subject guides. We suggest that library resources organized or delivered at a course level are more in line with how undergraduate students approach library research. (Contains 26…

This report describes the library instruction program at the Technische Universitaet Wien (Technical University of Vienna) in Austria and proposes various program improvements, which are based in part on the results of a 1979 survey of over 2,600 faculty and students. An overview of the present state-of-the-art of library user education and…

Presents the position of the American Association of School Librarians on the essential contribution of school library media programs to elementary education. Twelve principles that codify the role of school library media centers are given and 35 research studies supporting them are listed. (EM)

Summaries of research findings on the following topics are compiled in this document: (1) students in schools with well-equipped resource centers and teacher-librarians perform better on achievement tests; (2) developing student competence in research and study skills is most effective when integrated with classroom instruction through cooperative…

Assessment of student learning, the measuring of students' progress and performance, is an important concern for library media specialists. Twelve articles are presented which address the issue of assessment of library media services. The titles are: "The Growth of Assessment" (George F. Madaus, Ann G. A. Tan); "Library Information…

Develops the argument that academic research libraries should use their materials budget to provide access to materials in all formats, including machine readable information in both locally available systems and commercially owned remote online databases. (CLB)