ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


394

P reco n feren ce P rogram  Planning— P h ilad el­
phia, 1982: Saturday, January 23, 8:00-10:00 
p.m.

Preconference Program Planning, Los Angeles, 
1983: Saturday, January 23, 9:30-11:00 a.m.

S tandards: M onday, January 25, 8:30-11:00 
a.m .; Tuesday, January 26, 8:30-11:00 a.m.

Science and Technology Section
Nominating: Sunday, January 24, 11:30 a .m .- 

12:30 p.m.*
Slavic and E ast E uropean Section

Executive C om m ittee: Monday, January 25, 
9:30-11:00 a.m.

C o n tin u in g  E d u c a tio n  on Slavic an d  E ast 
European Librarianship in North America: 
Monday, January 25, 11:30 a.m .– 12:30 p.m.

University L ibraries Section
S tee rin g  C o m m ittee: M onday, Jan u ary  25, 

9:30-11:00 a.m.; Tuesday, January 26, 9:30- 
11:00 a.m.

N ominating: M onday, January 25, 2:00–4:00 
p .m .; W ed n esd ay , Jan u ary  27, 8:00– 9:00 
a.m. *

estern E uropean Specialists Section
Executive Committee: W ednesday, January 27, 

2:00-4:00 p.m .
Conference Program Planning— Philadelphia, 

1982: Monday, January 25, 11:30 a.m .– 12:30 
p.m.

Conference Program Planning—Los Angeles, 
1983: Saturday, January 23, 4:30-5:30 p.m.

Language and L ite ra tu re  D iscussion G roup: 
Tuesday, January 26, 9:30-11:00 a.m.

Nominating: M onday, January 25, 4:30-5:30 
p.m .*

Planning: Monday, January 25, 9:30-11:00 a.m.
Research and Publications: Monday, January 

25, 2:00-4:00 p.m.
Social Science Discussion Group: Wednesday, 

January 27, 9:30-11:00 a.m.

W

B ib liograp h ic In stru ction

T h in k  T a n k  R e c o m m e n d a tio n s 
fo r  B ib lio g r a p h ic  In str u c tio n

Almost five years ago the Bibliographic Instruc­
tion Section (BIS) was formed. Im m ediately it 
became one of ACRL’s largest and most active 
sections, a reflection of the growth and develop­
m ent experienced within bibliographic instruction 
itself. At its preconference in July, 1981, a Think 
Tank of “first generation” bibliographic instruc­
tion librarians* was organized to discuss the pres­
ent state and future direction of what now may 
be considered the bibliographic instruction move­
ment.

The result of the Think Tank’s deliberations is 
a series of recommendations for the “second gen­
eratio n ” of bibliographic instruction librarians, 
which is h ere presented. It is not intended to be 
a definitive statem ent of all issues facing instruc­
tion theorists and librarians; rather it focuses on 
what th e Think Tank m em bers agreed are the 
most pressing issues facing bibliographic instruc­
tion as it moves into what is expected to be a pe-

* P aula W alker, U n iv ersity  of W ashington; 
Carla Stoffle, University of Wisconsin-Parkside; 
Anne Roberts, State University of New York at 
Albany; Brian Nielsen, Northwestern University; 
Donald K enney, Virginia Polytechnic In stitu te 
and State University; Frances Hopkins, Temple 
U niversity; and Joanne E u ste r, San Francisco 
State University, facilitator.

riod of maturation.
There are two recurring them es in the docu­

ment: 1) “building bridges”—to the rest of the 
profession, to the larger academic community, 
and the library schools— and 2) consolidating the 
discipline by fostering research, publication, criti­
cal analysis, and developm ent of an underlying 
pedagogy of bibliographic instruction. It is the 
hope of the Think Tank members that by sharing 
th e ir deliberations and conclusions, th e ir work 
will stimulate widespread discussion and contrib­
ute to the growth of bibliographic instruction and 
to the increase in the quality of library service to 
the academic community.

I. Integration of Bibliographic Instruction 
into the Library Profession

The Think Tank members viewed bibliographic 
instruction as a client-centered approach to li­
brary service which has implications for the re­
design of all library activities. They rejected the 
traditional notion of th e academic library as a 
m ere adjunct to the education program, which 
led to th e establishm ent of a type of reference 
service borrowed almost unconsciously from the 
public library model. They rejected as well the 
n o tio n  of th e  lib ra ry -c o lle g e , in w hich th e  
academic library loses its special identity within



395

the institution. The Think Tank further rejected 
the notion of bibliographic instruction as a sec­
ondary activity of library reference departm ents, 
and instead viewed it as the very heart of the ref­
erence process. Bibliographic instruction advo­
cates are concerned with much more than how 
reference departm ents conduct their work. Be­
cause they believe that academic libraries should 
have a central role in the general education of all 
undergraduates and should actively support edu­
cation w ithin th e academ ic disciplines, biblio­
graphic instruction librarians are coming to define 
th e m s e lv e s  as a p o litic a l m o v e m en t w ith in  
academic librarianship. Recommendations:

A. Sharing the values which underlie the bib­
liographic instruction movement should become 
th e means for continuing developm ent of th a t 
movement. This can be done by creating support 
groups for those both “in the trenches” now and 
those in the “first generation” who have moved 
into other jobs not identified with bibliographic 
instruction.

B. As bibliographic instruction concerns arise 
in other areas of librarianship, the responsibility 
should be taken to communicate those concerns 
openly and loudly. Specifically:

1. Leaders in BIS should turn greater attention 
to ongoing developments outside BIS in order to 
identify decision points that could affect the fu­
ture of the movement.

2. Instruction librarians should strive to influ­
ence the future directions of ACRL and ALA by 
becoming involved in sections and com m ittees 
other than BIS, by seeking office in the associa­
tions, and by openly questioning and reviewing 
candidates for ACRL and ALA offices.

3. A ttention should be paid to th e areas of 
technological change, m anagem ent of academic 
lib ra rie s , an d  th e  eco n o m ic c o n d itio n s of 
academic libraries and the processes of informa­
tion transfer.

II. I ntegration of Bibliographic Instruction 
and the W hole of Academic Librarianship 

into H igher E ducation
The lib rary  is an in teg ral co m p o n en t of an 

academic institution. It affects and is affected by 
external factors which impinge on higher educa­
tion as a whole, such as the economy, the birth 
pool, and public attitudes toward education; and 
by internal factors as well, including the organiza­
tion of th e individual institution’s teaching m eth­
ods and emphasis, curriculum, and quality of fac­
ulty expertise. Recommendations:

In order to develop successful library service 
programs and integrate such programs into the 
curriculum of the institution, especially programs 
of bibliographic instruction, it is necessary to do 
the following:

A. Define the purpose of the academic library, 
communicate this purpose to the higher educa­
tion community and investigate useful program­

matic structures and activities for fulfilling that 
purpose.

B. D ev e lo p  m ech an ism s to e n s u re  th a t 
acad em ic lib ra ria n s  u n d e r s ta n d  th e  com plex 
power structure of colleges and universities, learn 
how to analyze the governance and power struc­
tures of their own institutions, and learn ways to 
achieve desired objectives using those structures.

C. Develop a b etter understanding of the his­
tory and nature of higher education in general.

D. Develop means to help academic librarians 
become aware of and take advantage of changes 
taking place in higher education. Areas for con­
cern include the renaissance of the general edu­
cation movement, th e concerns for th e mainte­
nance of quality teaching, educational standards 
and basic skills, changes in the nature of the stu­
dent body, and financial retrenchm ent.

E . B ecom e aw are of an d  u n d e r s ta n d  th e  
socialization and priorities of faculty. Use this in­
formation to improve the library’s involvement in 
the teaching/learning process.

F. Develop means to capture the attention of 
college and university adm inistrators and make 
them aware of the potential of academic libraries 
and librarians. D emonstrate an understanding of 
their problems, and show how librarians, particu­
larly bibliographic instruction librarians, can help. 
Possibilities include publishing articles in higher 
education publications, attendance at programs of 
h ig h er education associations, and conducting 
workshops.

G. Encourage academic librarians to join and 
participate in discipline associations. Provide a 
list of discipline association meetings (time, loca­
tion) yearly and especially encourage librarians in 
that geographic area to attend and/or prepare pa­
pers.

H. Review  th e  basic textbooks o f all disci­
plines. Evaluate w hat they say and do not say 
about libraries. Becom e vocal w ith publishers 
about changes needed.

III. I ntegrating Library Use Skills, 
Bibliographic Concepts, 

and Available Technology
Bibliographic instruction is in ten d ed  to teach 

students to make intelligent, in d ep en d en t deci­
sions about library use. To be able to use the 
card catalog, reference sources, or com puter te r­
minals to retrieve information on very specialized 
topics, or to recognize that libraries are classifica­
tion systems to organize the materials, are fun­
damental skills that each student should possess. 
Reduced funding means fewer materials and pro­
fessional staff are available to library users. It is 
through effective bibliographic instructional pro­
grams that users can be taught to make the most 
of the available research materials and to exploit 
all resources at hand.

The ability to retrieve information online needs 
to b e fully in co rp o rated  into th e  instructional



396

program both in terms of the capabilities and the 
limitations of various information systems. How­
ever, in order to teach users to make maximum 
use of the collection and to develop interpretive 
and evaluative skills concerning information, it is 
necessary that instructional programs go beyond 
the typical “bag of tricks” so prevalent in many 
instructional programs. Studying and observing 
the methodologies of other disciplines could en­
rich bibliographic instruction programs. Adapting 
and adopting various teaching approaches and 
methods from these disciplines would enable in­
structional programs to maintain their vitality and 
appeal. Recommendations:

It is necessary for all bibliographic instruction 
program s to in te g ra te  skills, co n cep ts, and 
technology. This can best be achieved if the fol­
lowing goals become guiding principles:

A. All sound instruction is based on the impart­
ing of the basic tenets of a body of knowledge; all 
instruction should be conceptually based.

B. Technological changes should be adopted to 
enhance the methods utilized with library in­
stru c tio n . D ev elo p in g  technology, how ever, 
should not be viewed as reducing the need for 
instruction programs.

C. Teaching methodologies of other disciplines 
should be studied and observed to adapt to bib­
liographic instruction.

IV. Relationships with the Schools 
of Library Science

T h ere is g en eral ag re em e n t am ong b ib lio ­
graphic instruction librarians th at we need to 
build bridges with the library schools and their 
faculties, and encourage them to offer courses in 
bibliographic instruction so that their graduates 
possess the skills and specialties that are needed 
for library programs. Library schools should be 
encouraged to restructure and refocus their pro­
grams to be more responsive to the library mar­
ket. The lead ersh ip  in the library profession 
comes from the practitioners as well as from li­
brary school faculty, and instruction librarians, as 
practitioners, need to exert this leadership on the 
cu rricu lu m , c o n ten t and d irectio n  of library 
schools. Recommendations:

A. Propose a model program for the library 
school curriculum for bibliographic instruction. 
The model program should include a statement of 
rationale, course content, and materials for the 
teaching of bibliographic instruction.

B. Maintain a roster of librarians prepared to 
teach and act as speakers and resource people for 
courses, workshops, and conferences in biblio­
graphic in struction. D evelop a list of library 
school faculty who are willing to team teach or 
work with instruction librarians in the area of bib­
liographic instruction.

C. Indentify library school courses and other 
graduate school courses which relate to library in­
struction in method and/or content. Identify li­

brary science and other faculty who may have an 
interest in bibliographic instruction and act as a 
resource to them for bibliographic instruction in­
formation.

D. Promote and publicize bibliographic in­
struction in library schools by recognizing those 
which offer courses. Reward those schools by hir­
ing their students and honoring their faculty.

E. Seek collaboration with library school fac­
ulty on research projects. Work with them in 
other professional activities such as conferences 
and symposia. Provide them with an environment 
for internship and laboratories in academic librar­
ies.

F. Encourage library school faculty to be active 
in ALA and ACRL, as opposed to focusing their 
energies solely on the library educators’ group.

G. Stop sending surveys to library schools ask­
ing about their bibliographic instruction curricula. 
Instead, spend the time and effort on indentifying 
bibliographic instruction related courses by work­
ing with students and faculty in the above rec­
ommended manner.

V. Importance of Research
A. Bibliographic instruction should be based on 

knowledge of the social and intellectual charac­
teristics of the academic disciplines which give 
rise to their different patterns of scholarly, biblio­
graphic, and encyclopedic literature. Recommen­
dations:

1. Preparation of studies by bibliographic in­
struction practitioners which review, synthesize, 
and apply to bibliographic instruction a) analyses 
by scholars of th e goals and methodologies of 
their own disciplines, and b) analyses by external 
researchers of the intellectual history, emergent 
sub-fields, and publication and citation patterns of 
the academic disciplines.

2. D issem inate such studies to the authors 
cited and invite those authors to participate in 
BIS co n feren ces, in o rd e r to p ro m o te th e ir 
awareness and criticism of applications of their 
work to bibliographic instruction.

B. L ibrary research com petence has tra d i­
tionally depended largely on tacit knowledge ac­
quired through the process of socialization to a 
discipline. While library use has been studied 
mainly through surveys of user groups and compi­
lation of statistics on services rendered, the be­
havior of individual users is still largely a mys­
tery. Instruction librarians should make explicit 
(and thus teachable) the tacit knowledge of exper- 
enced researchers and determ ine the concepts 
and techniques which should be taught. Recom­
mendations:

1. Record and analyze the library research be­
havior of scientists and scholars in different disci­
plines as they move from initial formulation of a 
research problem through various uses of the lit­
erature to the final production of new knowledge.

2. Study the research efforts of students to



397

identify and analyze prevalent patterns of ignor­
ance and misunderstanding.

C. Competency in library research should be a 
fundamental goal of education. Effective biblio­
graphic instruction contributes to students’ mis­
u n d e rsta n d in g  of th e  n a tu re  of learn in g  and 
scholarship, directly supports their coursework, 
and helps prepare them for self-directed life-long
learning. Recommendations:

1. Bibliographic instruction needs no more jus­
tification than instruction in composition or any of
the liberal arts, and evaluation studies aimed at
justifying its existence are unnecessary.

2. Evaluation studies should be used primarily
to improve the effectiveness of existing biblio­
graphic instruction programs and should rarely
re q u ire  dissem ination beyond th e in stitu tio n
where the data was gathered.

D. Few bibliographic instruction practitioners 
work in circumstances conducive to ongoing re­
search, and every effort should, therefore, be
made to expand the number of researchers in the
field. Recommendations:

1. Library and information science faculty in
the field of scholarly communication should be
made aware of the applications of their work to
bibliographic instruction, and their collaboration
should be sought in defining research problems
suitable for their doctoral students.

VI. I mportance of P ublication
Literature should serve as a common base for

communication among all librarians involved in 
bibliographic in stru ctio n , including academic, 
school, public, and special libraries. Recommen­
dations:

A. The bibliographic in stru ctio n  m ovem ent 
should publish a journal of its own which:

1. Maintains an editorial policy directed toward 
 the concerns of bibliographic instruction;

2. Contains substantive articles of high quality;
3. Includes review articles of the bibliographic 

 instruction literature and evaluative reviews of 
 teaching materials and methods from other litera­

ture;
 4. Is graphically well-designed and professional 

in appearance.
 B. Librarians involved in the bibliographic in­
 struction movement should publish articles in a 

wide variety of journals in order to disseminate 
the latest information on bibliographic instruc­
tion, to share current research, and to generate 

 scholarly discussion.
 1. Journals concentrating on teaching methods 

are published in many academic subject fields. A 
 list of these journals should be prep ared  and 
 made available to bibliographic instruction librar­
 ians.
 2. Journals, such as Change and the Chronicle 
 o f Higher Education, are read by administrators. 

Articles on bibliographic instruction are needed 
in these publications to reach key people who 
may not read journals concerning librarianship or 
teaching methods.



398

C. Resource materials for teaching library skills 
and for learning bibliographic instruction methods 
should be collected, critically evaluated and made 
available on a selective basis.

1. Materials for use in teaching librarians how 
to do bibliographic instruction (such as textbooks, 
course outlines, etc.) should be published.

2. A collection of model exercises and other 
teaching materials should be maintained.

3. A means should be devised by which mate­

rials collected and/or published are evaluated and 
those evaluations shared with librarians utilizing 
the materials.

D. An ongoing review should be conducted of 
the research literature within library/information 
science and in other academic disciplines having 
implications for bibliographic instruction (e.g., in 
scholarly communication, economics of publish­
ing, learning theory). This information should be 
disseminated to instruction practitioners.

A CRL C an d id ates, 
1982 E lection s

The listing for each of the following candidates 
includes the title, institution, and institutional 
address.

Vice-President/President-Elect
Joyce Ball, U niversity L ibrarian, California 

State U niversity-Sacram ento, 2000 Jed Smith 
Drive, Sacramento, CA 95819; David H. Stam, 
The Andrew W. Mellon Director of The Research 
Libraries, The New York Public Library, 5th Av­
enue & 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018.

Board of D irectors
ACRL Representative to ALA Council: Milli- 

cent D. Abell, University Librarian, Central Uni­
versity Library C-075-G, University of California, 
San D iego, La Jolla, CA 92093; W illiam  J. 
Studer, D irector of Libraries, The Ohio State 
University Libraries, 1858 Neil Avenue Mall, 
Columbus, OH 43210.

ULS Director-at-Large (1982-1986): Charles B. 
Lowry, Director of Libraries, University of South 
Alabama, Mobile, AL 36688; Jean A. Major, Di­
rector, University L ibraries, N orthern Illinois 
University, Dekalb, IL 60115.

Anthropology & Sociology Section (ANSS)
Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect: Jean Shaw Adelman, 

Librarian, The University Museum, University of 
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104; Patricia 
W and S ilv ern ail, H ead , Access Services, 
Humanities & History Division, Columbia Uni­
versity Libraries, 535 West 114th Street, New 
York, NY 10027.

M em ber-at-L arge (two-year term): Chris D. 
F erguson, Social Sciences Bibliographer, The 
U niversity L ibrary, U niversity of California- 
Irvine, Irvine, CA 92713; K athleen G unning, 
Head of Reference/Information Services and Col­
lection Development, University Libraries, Cen­
tral Campus, University of Houston, Houston, 
TX 77004.

Asian and African Section (AAS)
Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect: Tze-chung Li, Profes­

sor, Rosary College, Graduate School of Library 
Science, 7900 West Division, River Forest, IL 
60305; Frank M. McGowan, Director, Acquisi­
tions and Overseas Operations, Library of Con­
gress, Washington, D.C. 20540.

Secretary (three-year term): Pauline Tina Les- 
nik, South Asian Bibliographer, Room 304, Inter­
national Affairs Building, Columbia University, 
New York, NY 10027; Ravindra N. Sharma, Head 
L ib rarian , P en n sy lv an ia S tate U niversity, 
Beaver Campus Library, Monaca, PA 15061.

M em ber-at-L arge (tw o-year term ): Moham­
med M. Aman, Dean, School of Library Science, 
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, 
WI 53201; David L. Easterbrook, African Studies 
Area Specialist, Indiana U niversity L ibraries, 
E660 Main Library, Bloomington, IN 47405.

Bibliographic I nstruction Section (BIS)
V ice-Chair/C hair-Elect: Carolyn D usenbury, 

Head of Reference Service, 153 University Li­
brary, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 
85281; Maureen Pastine, Library Director, Li­
brary, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA 
95192.

Secretary (one-year term): Cerise Oberman- 
Soroka, Head, Reference Department, College of 
Charleston Library, College of Charleston, Char­
leston, SC 29401; Richard Hume Werking, Col­
lection Development Librarian, Trinity Universi­
ty, San Antonio, TX 78284.

M em b er-at-L arg e (one-year term ): Mignon 
Adams, C oordinator of Inform ation Services, 
Penfield Library, SUNY/Oswego, Oswego, NY 
13126; Ross Atkinson, Humanities Bibliographer, 
Collection Management Division, Northwestern 
University Library, Evanston, IL 60201.

M em ber-at-L arge (tw o-year term ): Stephen 
Lehmann, Humanities Librarian, Love Library,