D:\SUNEEL\C.R.L.N\VOL.56\DECEMBER\pdf


750/C&RL News

In the News
The more I read about the Internet the more 

convinced I am that librarians have an impor­
tant educational role to play in its use.

While scanning the November 1, 1995, is­
sue o f the Chicago Tribune my eye caught pho­
tos o f Senator Bob Dole and President Bill 
Clinton in images as they appear on the Inter­
net. At first glance I thought it just another ar­
ticle about the use o f the Net by politicians, 
but this article had a twist. It was about the use 
o f the Internet for political pranks. I had missed 
the fact that the picture o f Dole was headlined 
with the Dole fruit company logo and the sub­
heading was “Bob Dole for President: The Ripe 
Man for the Job.” A closer reading o f the article 
showed that these Web sites have quite au­
thentic-sounding addresses: www.dole96.org 
and www.clinton96.org. Since names for sites 
are issued on a first-come, first-served basis, 
some political pranksters were able to get these 
addresses.

So why mention this article at all? It demon­
strates just how important it is for librarians to 
teach critical evaluation skills. It’s not enough 
to teach people how to find information; we

have to teach them to evaluate what they find. 
I can only imagine some ill-informed student 
burning the midnight oil to prepare a paper on 
Senator Dole and citing the “facts” gleaned from 
this Web site.

In this issue the Instruction Section has a 
draft o f its proposed “Guidelines for instruction 
programs in academic libraries.” One o f the 
purposes o f an instruction program as stated in 
the “Guidelines” is to recognize “that instruc­
tion programs not only prepare learners for im­
mediate curricular activities, but also enable 
them to be effective lifelong consumers o f in­
formation in its many forms and contexts.”

If librarians can help develop “effective life­
long consumers o f information,” then w e will 
have prepared our learners with the resources 
needed to cope with the increasing flood of 
information— both real and satirical.

Also in this issue: be sure to read through 
ACRL’s Annual Report (page 791) to get a 
glimpse o f just how much your association has 
accomplished with your help.

— Mary Ellen K. Davis
Editor & Publisher

http://www.dole96.org
http://www.clinton96.org