Reference Source Instruction: A Model for Teaching

Abstract

The ideology of American librarianship places a very high value on librarians’ ability to find information and make that information accessible to the public. A broad and deep knowledge of reference sources is one of the facets of a “competent” reference librarian. The study of reference procedures and information sources has consequently been regarded as one of the staples of library and information science (LIS) education. Our 2004 survey of reference instructors revealed that respondents use a variety of methods to present reference sources to students. Survey results were used to support an exploratory investigation into the frequency of use of various teaching methods for information resources. We used Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning to classify instructional levels, and analyzed types of teaching methods based on their fit within these categories. Final results suggest that much reference source instruction occurs at the lower level, while higher level instruction falls to students to complete outside of class.