This paper criticizes the checklist model approach (authority, accuracy, objectivity, currency, coverage) to teaching undergraduates how to evaluate Web sites. The checklist model rests on faulty assumptions about the nature of information available through the Web, mistaken beliefs about student evaluation skills, and an exaggerated sense of…

Compares research studies conducted by Kuhlthau, McGregor, and Pitts that investigated the library research process used by high school students and their information retrieval and utilization strategies. Topics discussed include research methodologies; information seeking; cognitive aspects; narrowing the topic; stages in the research process;…

Discusses steps taken in planning, implementing, evaluating, and revising library instruction in a general education course for freshmen at the University of the Pacific, and examines results of student library skill tests taken before and after having library instruction. Figures offer example test questions and tables display test averages and…

The organization and development of the library education system in the USSR is described by K. I. Abramov of the Moscow State Institute of Culture and is summarized in a comment paper by Charles D. Churchwell, Washington University. Abramov begins by stating the philosophical basis for the existence of libraries and librarians in the USSR, and…

Discusses how to help students apply thinking skills to library research and provides examples of techniques for teaching comparing and contrasting, sequencing, classifying, cause and effect, problem solving, and decision making. Examples were effective with middle schoolers but could also be adapted for high school or older elementary school…

This paper describes the rationale behind and the development and utilization of a bibliographic instruction course which incorporates formal abstract reasoning skills. The limitations of the search strategy technique of bibliographic instruction are discussed as well as the fact that many college students have not developed sophisticated…