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Almost all academic libraries carry out some form of user education; that is, they attempt some instruction for their users on the use of the library. The amount of instruction given varies from a short tour of the library to a detailed course of bibliographic instruction lasting several hours.
The literature of this subject is vast. Much of it describes how a particular library has approached the problem of providing user education or any new initiatives with which the library is experimenting. Other contributions to the literature propound the necessity of providing user education or, conversely, argue that too much time and effort are being devoted to a task of unproven worth. There are also many works giving advice on how to set up and run a programme of user education, how to evaluate such a programme and surveys of how user education is currently being carried out.
This article provides an overview of the user education scene in academic libraries with regard to the arguments presented for and against the activity, the degree and type of instruction provided and how librarians should set about providing instruction. It attempts to answer the three questions: Why?, What form?, and How?. It is concerned primarily with libraries in the United Kingdom but also makes use of American and Australian literature.
WHY?
User education is expensive in terms of both money and time and so it must be justified. This is particularly important in today's financial climate, since the user education programme must compete for resources with the book fund and other basic library needs.
ARGUMENTS FOR USER EDUCATION
Although user education may be a drain on resources, there is little point in providing a wide range of books, journals and bibliographical tools if students are unable to access them. Assistance can, of course, be obtained from the librarian at the time of need but, with librarian/student ratios generally declining, this may not always be practicable. Also, students are often reluctant to approach a librarian. User education should help to make students more independent in the library and, hopefully, lead to an improvement in their work.
Changes in teaching methods, for example the increased use of project work and tutorials, have resulted in students needing to be more...