AARL

An instructional role for librarians: an overview and content analysis of job advertisements

Laurel A Clyde

Abstract: In library and information science programs, decisions have to be made from time to time about introducing new courses and reviewing existing course offerings. This article reports on a descriptive study undertaken to gain an overview of current library and information workplace needs (as of early 2002) for professionals with knowledge and skills related to user education and information literacy instruction. A secondary aim was to support the course development process by identifying the specific knowledge and skills that are presently in demand in the workplace. A literature review provided the basis for an overview of user education in libraries and information agencies. This overview is followed by a description and discussion of a small-scale research project that used content analysis techniques to study job advertisements posted to the international LIBJOBS listserv over a period of three months. More than half of the advertisements required at least some experience of and/or skills in user education of some kind. The final section of the article discusses the implications for a library and information science education program.

Around the world, library and information science schools or departments are being asked to add new courses[1] to their programs, particularly those that will make graduates more competitive in the employment market. 'Higher education programs are under great pressures from government funding agencies, but more importantly, students and employers, to provide the type of educational programs that meet their needs and standards', say Callison and Tilley,[2] with reference to work done by the Institute for Research on Higher Education of the United States Department of Education. [3] At the same time, though, there is also pressure on universities and colleges to review and restructure so that they are more efficient and effective in a time of financial constraints. Under these circumstances, it is often the case that fewer courses are offered, with the aim of reducing teaching costs. Consequently, it can be difficult to add new courses to the curriculum, especially in a situation where even established courses may be under threat. Thus, when any new course is being considered, there needs to be clear evidence that it will meet a real need in the workplace, and will be attractive to current and potential students. 'Most of the good library schools... re-evaluate their curriculum constantly and try to offer courses that are relevant to the jobs their students will take upon graduation'. [4]

In developing their programs, the library and information science schools or departments will be faced with a number of competing demands for new courses designed to meet emerging needs. This article describes research undertaken for a university outside Australia as part of the course approval and development process for a proposed new library and information science elective. The research was designed to be purely descriptive; the methodologies selected (literature review and content analysis) were ones that could be implemented within a limited time frame and the results were intended to be applied within the decision-making processes in the current academic year. The main aim was to gain an overview of current library workplace needs (as of the first half of 2002) for the knowledge and skills to be developed through the proposed course. A secondary aim was to ascertain ways in which content of the proposed course could be tailored to meet current and emerging needs in the workplace. The results may be of interest to other library and information science schools or departments that are considering or planning similar course offerings.

Instruction in libraries

Libraries have been involved in 'user education', in various forms, for a very long time. In academic and school libraries in the nineteenth century it usually took the form of 'library orientation' - making sure that new students and faculty knew how to find the books and other material for their courses. [5] In nineteenth and early twentieth century public libraries, it often took the form of literature promotion or reading promotion activities for children and young people, and even of 'lessons' on how to look after books, right down to the need for washing hands before handling books. [6] The introduction of card catalogues and classification systems such as the Dewey Decimal Classification resulted in a need for user education in all kinds of libraries, with sessions based on topics such as 'The card catalogue: The key to the library' and 'How to find a book on the shelves'. [7] The introduction of automated catalogues from the 1960s, and later, databases on CD-ROMs, online information services for end users, and the Internet, have increased the need and demand for formal and informal user education, regardless of the type and size of library. 'Over the past decade', says Marcum, 'information literacy has emerged as a central purpose for librarians, particularly academic librarians'. [8]

Various terms have been used to describe this work, including 'library tours',[9] 'library orientation',[10] 'bibliographic instruction',[11] 'library instruction',[12] 'library research courses',[13] 'user training',[14] 'library skills instruction',[15] 'user education',[16] 'library customer education',[17] 'end user education',[18] 'information skills instruction',[19] 'information literacy' education,[20] 'research instruction',[21] among others. These terms are sometimes used as synonyms or near synonyms,[22] however, they do not necessarily have the same meaning and may reflect different philosophical or theoretical approaches and practices, as well as the different aims and clientele of different kinds of libraries. Johnson[23] uses the combined terms 'library instruction and information literacy' to delineate the field covered by her bibliography compiled annually for the journal Reference Services Review. The purpose of introducing this brief discussion of terminology at this point is not to argue for the use of one term over others. Rather, it is provided to indicate the broad range of terminology and library activities that need to be considered when looking at the instructional roles of librarians.

Table 1
Publications related to Library Instruction and Information Literacy
by Type of library 2000
(based on Johnson, 2001)

An analysis of the 237 items included in Johnson's 2000 bibliography of 'library instruction and information literacy'[24] (see Table 1) shows that more than half (125 or 52.7 per cent) were related to university and college libraries, with a further 65 (27.4 per cent) related to school libraries. This is not surprising as universities, colleges and schools are concerned with teaching, learning, and, today, with developing lifelong learners. As Breivik noted at a 2001 NORDINFO meeting, 'policy makers have begun to realize the importance of information literacy to ensuring a lifelong learning workforce'[25] and she sees this as providing a basis for 'institutionalizing' information literacy into the tertiary education curriculum.

In addition to user education, librarians may be involved in training activities as part of their jobs. These activities might include training individual new members of the library staff in local procedures such as: catalogue data entry; training volunteer helpers; training staff members from branch libraries; running workshops for groups of people involved in a new library activity or program; and presenting professional development workshops for participants from outside the library.

Edwards has noted that

During the past quarter of a century, interest and concern for library instruction has grown dramatically, as evidenced by the increasing number of workshops and conferences held on the topic, as well as the number of committees and organizations dedicated to bibliographic instruction. Perhaps the strongest evidence of this surge of interest, however, is the number of bibliographies, monographs, and journal articles focusing on all aspects of BI. [26]

Support from Professional Associations

In terms of professional practice, professional associations have demonstrated interest in, and support of, user education in libraries. In the United States, the Association of College and Research Libraries has developed the Guidelines for Instruction Programs in Academic Libraries (1997),[27] the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education (2000),[28] the Objectives for Information Literacy Instruction: A Model Statement for Academic Librarians (2001),[29] and a document on Assessing Student Learning Outcomes in Information Literacy Programs (2002). [30] Other countries have also developed documents, standards or guidelines, for example the CAUL Information Literacy Standards,[31] Information Skills in Higher Education from the Standing Conference of National and University Librarians (SCONUL) in the United Kingdom,[32] while the LIANZA Taskforce on Information Literacy has been documenting practice in New Zealand. [33]

The Australian and New Zealand Institute for Information Literacy (ANZIIL) has been formed 'to promote the embedding of information literacy within the total educational process'[34] and to support organisations that are involved in information literacy work, through seminars and workshops, the co-ordination of mentoring relationships and internships, awards and other forms of recognition of excellent programs, facilitation of publication of relevant documents, and continuous review of the CAUL Information Literacy Standards, among other things. The activities of ANZIIL are being observed with interest from other countries.

Public and Special Libraries

While the above standards and guidelines are related specifically to academic libraries, Table 1 shows that public and special libraries are also involved in user education and information literacy work, to the extent that there are publications about it. Current ideas about lifelong learning and ongoing personal and professional development reinforce the importance of public library involvement in information literacy activities and programs. Poustie[35] has written about the role of the public library in information literacy through Internet instruction, while Todd and Tedd[36] have described 'training courses for ICT as part of lifelong learning in public libraries' in Belfast. Bull[37] has provided advice related to designing courses about electronic information sources for public library clientele, as have Burrell and Joseph. [38] In special libraries, user education programs, in various forms, have been developed for medical students,[39] pharmacists,[40] police officers and students,[41] and nurses,[42] among others.

Training and instruction publications

Instructional guides and manuals in the form of monographs include Training Skills for ILS Staff by Allan,[43] Teaching the Internet in Libraries by Gordon,[44] and Working With Faculty to Design Undergraduate Information Literacy Programs: A How-to-do-it Manual for Librarians by Young and Harmony. [45] Articles provide advice about user education for particular groups of users, such as mature adults,[46] senior citizens,[47] distance education students,[48] and staff or users in hybrid library[49] or virtual library[50] environments. There is also a considerable amount of information available about instructional strategies such as active learning,[51] inquiry-based learning,[52] and co-operative learning strategies,[53] assessment strategies,[54] evaluation of user education,[55] and developing Web-based instructional modules or tutorials. [56] The annual annotated bibliographies of publications related to bibliographic instruction and information literacy published by Reference Services Review since 1973[57] provide clear evidence for the growth in the number of publications in this field over almost 30 years: the 1973 bibliography listed 29 publications; this had increased to 109 by 1980, to 132 by 1990, and to 237 by 2000.

Library school curriculum

In 2000, Morgan and Atkinson[58] reviewed 'current trends in academic, mainly university, libraries'. [59] Among the trends they identified were involvement in lifelong learning, and involvement in teaching information handling skills (including instruction for students in distance education programs). [60] Another indication of the increasing acceptance of user education and information literacy instruction as part of the role of the librarian (and consequently as something for which library and information science programs should be preparing students) can be seen in the research of Newton and Dixon. [61] Their study of Scottish libraries indicated that user education was the 'area of greatest consequence for most professionals', especially at a time when electronic information services are becoming more and more important. Newton and Dixon recommended 'a strategic approach to teaching information professionals to teach', particularly in the case of established professionals, but they also considered pre-professional programs.

Westbrook's study of the curricula of American schools of library and information science[62] showed that between 1974 and 1996 there had been a gradual increase in the number of courses offered in the areas of bibliographic instruction, user education, and information literacy. Her analysis of the public websites of those library and information science programs that were accredited by the American Library Association, indicated that by 1996 more than half of those programs offered at least one full, regularly-scheduled subject in user education and related matters. In the same year, Sullivan[63] carried out a questionnaire survey of the 48 library schools accredited by the American Library Association in continental USA. Of the 33 institutions that responded, 19 (58 per cent) had a full subject devoted to aspects of user education, while five (15 per cent) integrated the topic into their program although it had no separate subject for it. In only nine (27 per cent) was the topic not dealt with in the curriculum. As Sullivan says, it seems that 'user education ... is an established part of the library school curriculum'. [64]

This overview of education or instruction in libraries has demonstrated that user education can take many forms. Librarians are involved in user education and information literacy activities in all kinds of libraries, including public and special libraries, though it is academic and school libraries that are most strongly represented in the literature. While there is no clear agreement about the nature of information literacy or the skills needed for lifelong learning, there are a number of professional documents that have gained wide acceptance. There is not always agreement either about the role of librarians in information literacy instruction,[65] though there is evidence of successful programs that use a wide range of strategies for planning and implementation. There is a substantial and growing professional and research literature related to the topic, with journals such as Research Strategies and Reference Services Review devoting a great deal of space to it. Finally, there is evidence that the majority of library schools, at least in the United States, are offering courses in this field. However, what about the workplace for which the students are being prepared? While it is clear that many, perhaps the majority, libraries are involved in formal and informal user education to some extent, to what extent are libraries and information agencies currently looking to hire librarians who have knowledge and skills in user education? The research that is described in the second half of this article is an attempt to provide an answer to this and related questions.

Job advertisements: a content analysis

In an international setting, what are today's library and information agency needs for professional staff with knowledge and skills related to user education and instructional practices? What kinds of knowledge and skills are most needed? For what kinds of user education or instructional activities do libraries and information agencies want to hire staff? Libraries and information agencies from time to time make public statements (in the form of job advertisements) about the knowledge and skills they require in their new professional staff. Statements in job advertisements represent the knowledge and skills that employers would like to have and are prepared to pay for. Consequently, the decision was made to use content analysis of job advertisements as the main strategy to address the research questions. Most job advertisements include information about the library or information agency, information about the position (including the duties that the successful applicant will be expected to perform), and information about the knowledge, skills and experience that are considered essential or desirable in the person who will fill the position.

Methodology

While a number of professional journals carry job advertisements aimed for librarians, most are national or state/local in their focus, even though they may carry some advertisements aimed at an international audience. Covering all the relevant journals, plus national and international newspapers, would have meant a large and expensive data collection project. However, there are some international listservs that are either wholly devoted to job advertisements in the field of library and information science or have this as one of their purposes. From among these, LIBJOBS was selected as the basis for the project, because it is devoted entirely to job advertisements in this field and carries a relatively large number of advertisements.

LIBJOBS[66] is an international listserv of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). It carries several advertisements each day for positions that require a library and information science qualification. While a considerable number of postings are American, there are also many advertisements from other countries, for example Canada, the European countries, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and Hong Kong. The positions advertised represent the range from entry-level positions through to library director. LIBJOBS does not usually carry advertisements for school library positions, however, this was not considered relevant for this project, since the library school for which the research was done has a separate program for the education of school librarians, and students of school librarianship would not normally register in the proposed new course. [67]

The LIBJOBS listserv was monitored daily for a period of three months, from 1st December 2001 to 28th February 2002. All job advertisements that contained statements related to library orientation, user education, information literacy instruction, information skills development, library skills instruction, bibliographic instruction, training, or variations on those terms, were saved and printed in full. For each advertisement, the following were recorded: the job/position title; the type of library or information agency; the level of emphasis on education/training functions in the job as described (education/training is the primary focus of the job, education/training is an important part of the job, education/training is a minor part of the job); the relevant words/phrases from the position description; the relevant words/phrases from the statement of required skills, experience or characteristics. Because the advertisements were saved in full, the recorded information could easily be checked against the original during the analyses. In addition, since all messages to the LIBJOBS listserv are archived on the IFLA website,[68] it was possible to carry out checks to ensure that no messages were missing as a result of any e-mail/system failures and that all were included in the analyses.

With content analysis being used as the basic methodology, each advertisement was treated as a document for the purposes of analysis. Only in one case did a relevant advertisement represent more than one job, and in this case, the two public service positions advertised by a university library were similar. Both quantitative and qualitative strategies were used. An example of the use of quantitative analysis is the simple counts (with percentages) that were carried out of the types of libraries or information agencies represented in the job advertisements. An example of the use of qualitative analysis is the categories developed to describe the instructional/educational tasks mentioned in the job advertisements. In this particular analysis, a grounded theory approach was used to permit the categories to emerge from the data (the data being the text of the job advertisements).

The results of the analyses will be presented in the next section, followed by discussion and conclusions.

Results of the analyses

The number of advertisements analysed was 150, representing 51.5 per cent of the total number of advertisements posted on LIBJOBS during the three months (see Table 2). This means that a little more than half the jobs advertised, had some type of education, instruction, or training component.

Table 2
Advertisements on LIBJOBS
December - February 2002

Of the 150 relevant advertisements, 13 (or 8.66 per cent) were for specialist information skills or bibliographic instruction librarians whose job would be primarily to educate or train others (see Table 3). They include university librarians who will work primarily in information skills or bibliographic instruction with students and/or faculty, who will take responsibility for co-ordinating or managing information literacy or information skills instruction programs and staff. For example, from a university library:

The co-ordinator of Undergraduate Library Instruction works with library staff to teach library research and information literacy skills to a wide range of audiences. This position is responsible for organizing first-year library instruction programs - such as Freshman and Transfer Student Orientations, Freshman Interest Groups, and Freshman seminars as well as course-integrated sessions with departments such as Rhetoric and Composition. A significant portion of the time will be spent teaching sessions with these programs, as well as other programs for undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, librarians, and the public. The co-ordinator maintains communication with instructors and department liaisons, develops sample active learning activities and scenarios, schedules classroom and library instructors for sessions, and supports staff in developing their instructional skills. Additionally, this position will participate in monitoring and updating content for the ... Information Literacy Tutorial.

Table 3
Emphasis on education/training functions in the advertisements
n=150

While some advertisements required a knowledge of current bibliographic instruction or information literacy developments, only one (from an American university library) specifically cited 'experience working with the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, or other competency standards'.

The great majority of the positions in this category (11 out of the 13) were in university libraries where information literacy and bibliographic instruction are usually important, however, two were in other kinds of services. One was a position for a Trainer in the corporate sector to 'plan and conduct customer training on all modules' of an automated library system product and to 'co-ordinate customer training needs... develop, maintain, and enhance training materials to ensure effective training... develop and present workshops at national and regional customer meetings'. The other position was for a Public Access Computing Trainer for a non-governmental organisation for libraries to 'teach instructional sessions on software, networking, and troubleshooting to public library staff... spend 2 of every 3 weeks training in the field ... user education and instruction'.

The majority of the 150 advertisements (82 or 54.6 per cent) specified education or training duties as an important part of the job, though not the primary focus of the job. For example, an advertisement for a Government Documents Librarian in a college library specified that the appointee, among other tasks:

participates in general reference and instructional programs of the library... Promotes use of the documents and maps collection to the college community and prepares user guides and web pages. Provides specialized instruction and reference assistance focusing on government documents and electronic government information... trains other staff on documents reference... will take an active role in providing library instruction... for assigned social sciences department(s).

An advertisement for a children's librarian in a public library specifies that the appointee 'provides assistance in study-oriented activities and in developing children's reading interests; arranges children's programs and schedules and conducts class visits'.

In 55 of the 150 advertisements (36.66 per cent), the education or training component was a minor part of the job. In a university library, the Electronic Records Archivist 'participates in the library's training and development programs'; in another university library, an American/African American Studies librarian 'participates in instructional programs by giving tours, demonstrations, and individual counselling sessions' and is required to have an 'interest in storytelling'. In a state library, a librarian for Electronic Resources and Collection Development is required to 'design and provide related training for staff, library users, and/or other librarians'. In a public library, the library director is required to share 'expertise with the staff of the library region through training development and other activities', while in another public library, a librarian I 'may be assigned any of the following responsibilities: ...training of other staff, training of scheduled groups of patrons, programming for patrons, ...community outreach'. In an advertisement for the Head Librarian of a law library, the appointee is required to 'develop and implement training programs for attorneys and paralegals on research-related matters'.

Table 4
Instructional tasks mentioned in the job advertisements
n=150

Table 4 summarises the educational or instructional tasks that are mentioned in the 150 job advertisements. In 71 advertisements (47.33 per cent), bibliographic or library instruction for groups was the instructional or educational activity that was most often mentioned. Some 23 advertisements (15.33 per cent) specifically stated that 'information literacy' or 'information skills' instruction was part of the job. The provision of training for library staff was specified in 50 (33.33 per cent) of the advertisements. Training for library patrons (such as training for searching an automated library catalogue or CD-ROM) was specified in 30 (20 per cent) of the advertisements. Other activities mentioned in ten or more advertisements included co-ordination or leadership of user education or training programs, working co-operatively with university or college faculty to develop instructional programs, developing Web pages (to support users) or online instructional tools or guides, and developing printed instructional materials and handouts.

Table 5
Types of employers represented by advertisements
that specified education/training
n=150

Table 5 shows that university and college libraries together accounted for almost two thirds (64.66 per cent) of the 150 advertisements that specified user education or training activities (broadly speaking) as part of the job. Public libraries accounted for 11.33 per cent, and corporate libraries for 9.33 per cent, while research or special libraries taken together (medical, law, research, church, and art libraries) accounted for 7.97 per cent. The other positions were with library consortia, state libraries, non-governmental organisations, an online information service provider, and a library support service. While it might have been expected that the education sector (university and college libraries) would account for the greatest number of positions that involved educational and/or instructional activities, it is worth noting that 35.34 per cent of the positions were in other sectors.

Discussion and conclusions

It is clear that libraries of all types, but particularly university and college libraries, are seeking to recruit professionals who have skills in bibliographic instruction, user education, and information literacy development. Not only did academic libraries account for 125 of the 237 publications related to library instruction and information literacy in 2000 (52.74 per cent, see Table 1), but they also accounted for the majority of the job advertisements on LIBJOBS that required skills in this area. Nevertheless, the other library sectors are also involved in this field to a significant degree.

Once appointed, the work of these professionals, in all kinds of libraries, is supported by a specialist professional and research journal (Research Strategies), by a growing literature (as shown by the annual bibliography published in Reference Services Review since 1973), and by a range of professional documents and standards (amongst which probably the most influential internationally has been the ACRL Guidelines for Instructional Programs in Academic Libraries).

The professionals who are appointed may be expected to perform a wide range of tasks and activities, from teaching full for-credit courses in universities to presenting occasional short demonstrations of a website. The tasks may include library orientation, face-to-face instruction, developing materials for remote library users, working with university and college faculty to design and develop programs, managing teaching facilities used for library instruction, creating print materials, and training library staff and others. User education or instructional activities may be the primary focus of a job in which the librarian does nothing (or almost nothing) else. Alternatively, it might be an important part of a job (such as the job of reference librarian) where the instructional role appears to have at least equal weight with other tasks, or it might be a minor part of a job that is mainly focused on other activities such as cataloguing or collection development. Within some libraries or library systems, leadership positions are emerging for co-ordinators or managers of instructional or information literacy activities and programs.

Library schools are clearly aware of the need to produce graduates with skills and knowledge in this field. The evidence from surveys carried out in the United States suggests that the majority of library schools either have a specialist course related to user education or cover this topic within their program in some other way.

Content analysis of job advertisements proved to be a useful strategy for investigating the current needs of libraries and information agencies for librarians with knowledge and skills in the area of user education and training. This has demonstrated a strong need to include a specialist course or module related to user education and library instruction in educational programs for librarians.

Notes

1. The terms course, unit and subject are synonymous
2. D Callison and C L Tilley 'Descriptive Impressions of the Library and Information Education Evolution of 1988-1998 as reflected in Job Announcements, ALISE Descriptors, and New Course Titles' Journal of Education for Library and Information Science vol 42 no 3 Summer 2001 p199
3. Institute for Research on Higher Education United States Department of Education 'Market-driven Accountability in Postsecondary Education' Change vol 32 no 3 2000 pp53-56
4. V A Walter 'The Once and Future Library' School Library Journal vol 47 no 1 January 2001 p52
5. L A Clyde The Magic Casements: A Survey of School Library History from the Eighth to the Twentieth Century PhD Thesis Townsville James Cook University of North Queensland 1981
6. L A Clyde Report of a Document Survey for a New Elective Course in Library and Information Science Perth Netweaver 2002 p3
7. Ibid
8. J W Marcum 'Rethinking Information Literacy' The Library Quarterly vol 72 no 1 January 2002 p1
9. V Burford 'Public Library Instruction: A Novice's Experience' Research Strategies vol 15 no 2 Spring 1997 pp106-111; D A Moseley 'Assessing the Comfort Level Impact and Perceptual Value of Library Tours' Research Strategies vol 15 no 4 Autumn 1997 pp261-270
10. M Graubart 'Orientation Sessions in Israeli Academic Libraries' Research Strategies vol 13 no 3 Summer 1995 pp165-175; M I Piette and B Dance 'A Statistical Evaluation of a Library Orientation Program for Graduate Students' Research Strategies vol 11 no 3 Summer 1993 pp164-173
11. L Holman 'A Comparison of Computer-Assisted Instruction and Classroom Bibliographic Instruction' Reference and User Services Quarterly vol 40 no 1 2000
12. C Bober S Poulin and L Vileno 'Evaluating Library Instruction in Academic Libraries: A Critical Review of the Literature 1980-1993' Reference Librarian vol 51/52 1995 pp53-69; S Rogers J Nance and L Butler 'Slide-tape Presentations: Cost-effective Library Instruction' Research Strategies vol 11 no 1 Winter 1993 pp4-8
13. J Newby 'Evolution of a Library Research Methods Course For Biology Students' Research Strategies vol 17 no 1 2000 pp57-62
14. M N O Silva 'Users Training Programs Developed by the Brazilian University Libraries' in P Layzell Ward and D E Weingand (eds) Human Development: Competencies for the Twenty-first Century, Papers from the IFLA/CPERT Third International Conference on Continuing Professional Education for the Library and Information Professions Munchen K G Saur 1997 pp40-48
15. S Morgan 'Future Academic Library Skills: What Will They Be?' in P Layzell Ward and D E Weingand (eds) Human Development: Competencies for the Twenty-first Century, Papers from the IFLA/CPERT Third International Conference on Continuing Professional Education for the Library and Information Professions Munchen K G Saur 1997 pp19-29
16. R Newton and D Dixon 'User Education as a Core Professional Competency within the New Information Environment' Journal of Education for Library and Information Science vol 40 no 3 Summer 1999 pp151-160
17. D A Cronau 'Lifelong Learning and the Library Connection: A Perceptual Model for Library Customer Education' The Australian Library Journal vol 50 no 4 November 2001 pp335-347
18. J Burrell and M Joseph 'Now for the Hard Part: End User Education' Australasian Public Libraries and Information Services vol 12 no 3 September 1999 pp105-113
19. D K Logan Information Skills Toolkit: Collaborative Integrated Instruction for the Middle Grades Worthington, Ohio Linworth Publishing 2000
20. K Poustie 'Educating for Information Literacy through the Internet: Another Role of the Public Library' Australasian Public Libraries and Information Services vol 12 no 2 June 1999 pp60-68
21. M Asselin 'Research Instruction' Teacher Librarian vol 27 no 5 2000 pp64-65
22. See, for example, W Abbot and D Peach Building Info-skills by Degrees: Embedding Information Literacy in University Study ERIC Document ED 447 821; R J Bower 'The Development of an Online Library Instruction Tutorial at Pellissippi State Technical Community College' Community and Junior College Libraries vol 9 no 2 2000 pp15-24
23. A M Johnson 'Library Instruction and Information Literacy - 2000' Reference Services Review vol 29 no 4 2001 pp338-362
24. A M Johnson op cit pp338-362
25. P S Breivik 'Information Literacy' Nordinfo-Nytt no 4 2001 pp76-82
26. S Edwards 'Bibliographic Instruction Research: An Analysis of the Journal Literature from 1977 to 1991' Research Strategies vol 12 no 2 Spring 1994 pp68-78
27. Association of College and Research Libraries Guidelines for Instruction Programs in Academic Libraries 1997 http://www.ala.org/acrl/guides/guiis.html [14/2/02]
28. Association of College and Research Libraries ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education 2000 http://www.ala.org/acrl/ilcomstan.html [14/2/02]
29. Association of College and Research Libraries Objectives for Information Literacy Instruction: A Model Statement for Academic Librarians 2001
    http://www.ala.org/acrl/guides/objinfolit.html [14/2/02]
30. Association of College and Research Libraries Assessing Student Learning Outcomes in Information Literacy Programs: Training Academic Librarians 2002
    http://www.csusm.edu/acrl/imls/ [10/4/02]
31. Council of Australian University Librarians Information Literacy Standards 2001 http://archive.alia.org.au/sections/ucrls/aarl/fulltext/infolit.html [16/2/02]
32. Standing Conference of National and University Librarians Information Skills in Higher Education London SCONUL 1999
33. A Koning 'Information literacy in New Zealand Public Libraries' New Zealand Libraries vol 49 no 5 September 2001 pp174-179
34. I Doskatsch 'What is ANZIIL?' InCite April 2002 p36
35. K Poustie op cit pp60-68
36. M Todd and L A Tedd 'Training Courses for ICT as part of Lifelong Learning in Public Libraries: Experiences with a Pilot Scheme in Belfast Public Libraries' Program vol 34 no 4 2000 pp375-383
37. S Bull op cit pp154-161
38. J Burrell and M Joseph op cit pp105-113
39. K E Gibson and M Silverberg 'A Two-Year Experience Teaching Computer Literacy to First-Year Medical Students using Skill-Based Cohorts' Bulletin of the Medical Library Association vol 88 no 2 2000 pp157-164
40. J K Kirk et al 'Connecting Pharmacy and Literacy: The North Carolina Medication Information Literacy Project' American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education vol 64 no 3 2000 pp277-282
41. H Ramachandran 'Reference Services to Police Officer Students at the School of Police Staff and Command, Traffic Institute, Northwestern University' The Reference Librarian vol 69/70 2000 pp247-258
42. M C Wallace et al 'Teaching Information Literacy Skills: An Evaluation' Nurse Education Today vol 20 no 6 2000 pp485-489
43. B Allan Training Skills for ILS Staff London Library Association Publishing 2000
44. R S Gordon Teaching the Internet in Libraries Chicago American Library Association 2001
45. R Young and S Harmony Working With Faculty to Design Undergraduate Information Literacy Programs: A How-to-do-it Manual for Librarians New York Neal-Schuman 1999
46. For example, D Fidishun 'Tutorial: Teaching Adult Students to use Computerized Resources: Utilizing Lawler's Keys to Adult Learning to make Instruction Effective' Information Technology and Libraries vol 19 no 3 September 2000 pp157-158; C Little 'Working with Adult New Learners: Library/literacy Program Partnership' Illinois Libraries vol 83 no 2 Spring 2001 pp25-28
47. For example, C van Fleet and K E Antell 'Creating Cyberseniors: Older Adult Learning And Its Implications for Computer Training' Public Libraries vol 41 no 3 May/June 2002 pp149-155; L A Burwell 'Too Old to Surf? No way! An Internet course for Seniors' American Libraries vol 32 no 10 November 2001 pp40-42
48. For example, K Manuel 'Teaching an Online Information Literacy Course' Reference Services Review vol 29 no 3 2001 pp219-229; N K Getty B Burd S K Burns and L Piele 'Using Courseware to Deliver Library Instruction via the Web: Four Examples' Reference Services Review vol 28 no 4 2000 pp349-359
49. For example, P Garrod 'Staff Training and End-User Training Issues within the Hybrid Library' Library Management vol 22 no 1/2 2001 pp30-36
50. For example, I Henderson 'User Education in a Virtual Library Environment: Challenges and Opportunities at the Institute for Research Construction' in Internet Librarian International 2001, 26-28 March 2001, Olympia 2, London, UK London Information Today 2001 pp64-72
51. For example, M Lorenzen 'Active Learning and Library Instruction' Illinois Libraries vol 83 no 2 Spring 2001 pp19-24; M Fosmire and A Macklin 'Riding the Active Learning Wave: Problem-Based Learning as a Catalyst for Creating Faculty-Library Instructional Partnerships' Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship 34 Spring 2002
52. For example, N Dennis 'Using Inquiry Methods to Foster Information Literacy Partnerships' Reference Services Review vol 29 no 2 2001 pp122-132
53. For example, K N Cook L R Kunkel and S M Weaver 'Co-operative Learning in Bibliographic Instruction' Research Strategies vol 13 no 1 Winter 1995 pp17-25; C H Mabry 'Using Co-operative Learning Principles in BI' Research Strategies vol 13 no 3 Summer 1995 pp182-185
54. For example, L A Knight 'The Role of Assessment in Library User Education' Reference Services Review vol 30 no 1 2002 pp15-24; S Samson 'What and When Do They Know? Web-Based Assessment' Reference Services Review vol 28 no 4 2000 pp335-342
55. For example, S Shoham 'Evaluating the Effectiveness of Bibliographic Instruction' Journal of Librarianship and Information Science vol 33 no 1 March 2001 pp39-46
56. For example, R G Edwards 'Web Tutorials for Education Students: A Practical Alternative to Traditional Library Instruction - Basic Issues and Concerns' Behavioural and Social Sciences Librarian vol 18 no 2 2000 pp17-25
57. H Rader 'Library Orientation and Instruction - 1973' Reference Services Review 2 January/March 1974 pp.91-93; A M Johnson op cit pp338-362
58. S Morgan and J Atkinson 'Academic Libraries' Library Review vol 49 no 9 2000, pp448-453
59. Ibid p448
60. Ibid p450
61. R Newton and D Dixon 'User Education as a Core Professional Competency within the New Information Environment' Journal of Education for Library and Information Science vol 40 no 3 Summer 1999 pp151-160
62. L Westbrook 'Passing the Halfway Mark: LIS Curricula incorporating User Education Courses' Journal of Education for Library and Information Science vol 40 no 2 Spring 1999 pp92-98
63. B S Sullivan 'Education for Library Instruction, A 1996 Survey' Research Strategies vol 15 no 4 1997 pp271-277
64. Ibid p276
65. M Nimon 'Developing Lifelong Learners: controversy and the Educative Role of the Academic Librarian'Australian Academic & Research Libraries vol 33 no 1 March 2002 pp14-24
66. More information about LIBJOBS is available on the IFLA website, at
    http://ww.ifla.org/II/lists/libjobs.htm
67. It should be noted that during the course of the research, a new electronic service, 'Global InfoJobs', was commenced as what was advertised as being a regular notification of job advertisements in library and information science; the first issue, in the form of an electronic newsletter with links to job advertisements online, appeared on 20 March 2002. This service was checked to see if it offered better coverage than LIBJOBS. However, this check revealed that a number of the jobs either did not require library and information science qualifications or were of marginal relevance to library and information science (for example, jobs in personnel administration or sales). In addition, though the links to the job advertisements were checked within days of the electronic newsletter arriving, some links were found to be not working. The conclusion was that LIBJOBS, with its daily e-mail delivery of job advertisements in full text form (rather than as links), backed by a full searchable archive, provided better coverage for the purpose. Global InfoJobs can be accessed through http://www.isim.org/ or subscribe@global.infojobs.com.nospam (please remove '.nospam' from address)
68. See http://www.ifla.org/II/lists/libjobs.htm

Anne Clyde, professor, Faculty of Social Science, University of Iceland, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland. E-mail: anne@hi.is.nospam (please remove '.nospam' from address).