The Liberal Arts Foundation of Library Use Instruction

Abstract

In the past twenty years user instruction has emerged as a growing phenomenon in academic libraries, making greater demands on reference services and functions than ever before. Programs designed to teach student.show to use libraries have attracted a small but vocal chorus of critics who describe user instruction as superficial, repetitive, and self-defeating. More specifically, one of the foremost critics, William Katz, complains of a lack of thoroughgoing analyses of the assumptions underlying library use instruction.1 The need for instruction librarians to examine more closely the conceptual and philosophical assumptions that support their work is corroborated by Deborah Lockwood. After scrutinizing more than 900 publications for her bibliography on library instruction, Lockwood urged the profession to begin reaching beyond the library field and to start thinking in broader terms than individual programs and develop a philosophy and a concept that will be acceptable to our clientele and colleagues. 2

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