ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


684 / C&RL News ■  July/August 2001

I n t h e news 

We can always gain by looking at issues 
from more than one perspective. As librarians 
we have the perspective that students need to 
know how  to find, critically evaluate, and use 
information. In “Information literacy in the In­
formation Age’’ (page 689), Topsey Smalley 
reminds us why we are teaching students these 
skills. She reminds us that from an employer’s 
perspective, these skills are fundamental.

Carol Anne Germain suggests in “Are we 
overlooking our most valuable resource” (page 
720) that w e see the world through our stu­
dents’ eyes w hen we partner with them. Who 
can better tell us w hether the library’s Web 
pages are easy to navigate or w hether a new  
tutorial is clearly written?

Peter Giordano, Christine Menard, and 
Rebecca Ohm Spencer looked at the reference 
desk from the student’s perspective and de­
cided that changes w ere needed in “The dis­
appearing reference desk.” At Williams Col­

lege they removed their “fortress-like” desk and 
began prom oting “research appointm ents” 
(page 692).

S tep h an ie W illen B row n an d  B onnie 
Vigeland took the research appointment idea 
one step further and implemented librarian 
advisors—w here each incoming freshman is 
assigned to a particular librarian with promis­
ing results (page 717).

Finally, it pays for the person searching for 
a job to look at things from the perspective of 
the potential employer. Janice K. Christopher 
reminds us of the importance of providing 
good, strong references to support our appli­
cations in “Personnel officer to Robin the Boy 
Wonder: ‘Do you have any references besides 
Batman?’” (page 728).

—Man,1 Ellen K. Davis 
Editor-in-chief 

medavis@ala.org

mailto:medavis@ala.org