Librarians at Onondaga Community College (New York) view their function in the education process as librarian-teachers who instruct students in the access routes to information, and who enrich and augment the course curriculum while encouraging life-long habits of inquiry. (JG)

Discussion of techniques of response to the reference query from public librarian's point-of-view covers patron's need-motivation; structuring library instruction program (teaching skills related to encyclopedia use, library instruction on special subjects-health); and assisting patron in gathering materials on-site and through use of…

This paper argues that more cooperation is needed between scholars and librarians. Toward this end, we need first to produce more literary scholars who are truly skilled in librarianship, and second, we need to produce more librarians who are true scholars. Some library-oriented professors give copies of their lesson plans to the reference…

Social and economic issues affecting the vitality of public libraries in California are discussed. A 1993 study by the California State Library identified diminishing reference skills and reference collections, reduced funding which impacted staffing, increased demand, technology change, and language/culture issues as contributing factors to…

Twelve articles describe the impact of library technologies on reference services. Staff training, the academic librarian as teacher and information provider, decision-making models for planning reference services, patron database access options, management of reference services, systemwide electronic access, and the electronic library are among…

This 16-item questionnaire was sent to 142 selected college and university libraries in February 1987 to determine which library skills academic librarians consider desirable for undergraduate students. Questionnaires were returned by 89 respondents (62.7%). The number of respondents for each question and the titles of the resources cited in their…

One in a series of bibliographies related to rural library service, this document lists 164 entries dealing with reference services. The entries, dated from 1970 to 1978, are listed alphabetically by author with complete bibliographic information and consist primarily of national and regional library journals (nearly all published in the United…

The purpose of this manual is to provide a structure for a comprehensive user education program at the University of California, Santa Barbara. It is intended to provide a general direction for librarians to review when developing new instructional programs or examining current programs. The purpose of this program is to provide basic library…

Teaching critical thinking is a relatively new dimension of bibliographic instruction (BI) in the academic environment. It marks a departure from the teaching of "user skills" in which the primary concern is enabling library patrons to determine the appropriateness of reference tools and to use those tools effectively. This report assembles a…

At the 1989 annual meeting of the American Library Association (ALA), the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) used a think tank as a dynamic mechanism for exploring future directions both in the discipline of library user education and for the Bibliographic Instruction (BI) Section of ACRL. Discussion centered on the following…

This book offers approaches for teaching adult patrons how and where to find information in libraries and through information services. It includes 34 papers, organized in seven sections, expressing the views of faculty, adult students, and administrators as well as librarians on theories of educational psychology that explain how adults learn.…