Bibliographic Instruction: Planning for the Electronic Information Environment

Abstract

Movement toward an increasingly distributed, electronic information environment places new demands on library instruction programs. Thus, bibliographic instruction should figure prominently in the strategic planning efforts of academic libraries so that it will continue to provide knowledge and skills for lifelong learning in a changing setting. In addition to anticipating new technologies, instructional planning should reflect projected changes in the following: student population, curricula, academic-industrial relationships, scholarly communication, information industry, governmental information activities, schools, public and special libraries, home, work, and income. Ongoing environmental scanning will permit the modification of instructional goals, as necessary, to meet the challenges ahead. cademic research has been enriched in recent years by the use of insights, findings, and models crossing traditional disciplinary boundaries. Similarly, new perspectives on the electronic information environment can be acquired outside the literature of librarianship. Several examples from higher-education literature, airline in-flight magazines, and professional conferences will serve to underscore the differences between librarian and nonlibrarian perceptions of the fast-changing information environment.