“Putting standards, guidelines and theory into practice”

Citation

Watstein, E.S.M.B. (2014), "“Putting standards, guidelines and theory into practice”", Reference Services Review, Vol. 42 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/RSR-02-2014-0002

“Putting standards, guidelines and theory into practice”

Article Type: Editorial From: Reference Services Review, Volume 42, Issue 2

This issue of Reference Services Review is, well, all over the map – the map of information literacy: assessment, improvement, integration and theory. In this issue, you will find manuscripts on metaliteracy in which authors Witek and Grettano look at the effect of social media on student information literacy (IL) practices; on instructional improvement through the adoption of theatrical techniques such as storytelling (Furay); and on the impact of authenticity on student engagement and IL (Klipfel). These thoughtful pieces are followed by manuscripts that dig more deeply into IL in the disciplines. Bombaro describes an integrated approach to IL for upper-division English students. Drabinski and Boss consider evidence-based instruction integration in the business curriculum. White-Farnham and Gardner tackle problems in teaching IL in Writing Programs with a consideration of scale and divergent instructors’ pedagogies.

Pendell and Armstrong look at the potential for a more expansive approach to research guides, incorporating instructional elements along with sources; while they ground their proposal in the discipline of psychology, there is relevance to any discipline, well beyond that subject. Readers will explore student research approaches through manuscripts about peer reference (Faix); the use of transaction log analysis to assess student search behavior (Avery and Tracy); and the use of a library mobile application by first-year students transitioning to university-level research (Hahn). Blake and Warner investigate scientific IL through the example of the remote sensing (a cross-cutting scientific discipline.) Completing the issue is an assessment of academic librarians’ instructional performance in Sri Lanka. Reflecting our commitment to global perspectives, this manuscript by Wickramanayake articulates the challenges facing our Sri Lankan colleagues’ implementation of IL in their libraries.

Readers will be well served to read these manuscripts in context – in context of the several current national professional standards and guidelines that frame our work in libraries in higher education, as well as our work in reference and instructional services. These include Standards for Libraries in Higher Education[#fn1], Guidelines for University Library Services to Undergraduate Students[#fn2] and the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education[#fn3]. A complete list of standards and guidelines on academic libraries is available from the Association of College and Research Libraries[#fn4]. These standards and guidelines are intended to help libraries, academic institutions and accrediting agencies understand the components of an excellent library.

Today’s academic librarians are challenged by the “tall order” of bringing 21st-century skills into the heart of the learning process. The numerous sound, practical manuscripts in this issue of Reference Services Review will help practitioners put professional standards in action.

Eleanor Mitchell and Sarah Barbara Watstein

Notes

http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/standardslibraries (accessed 15 February 2014).

http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ulsundergraduate (accessed 15 February 2014).

http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/informationliteracycompetency (accessed 15 February 2014).

http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards (accessed 15 February 2014).