You may have heard us librarians talking about BIs.

No, it isn’t some kind of medical procedure librarians undergo.

Rather, it stands for bibliographic instruction. A key component to the librarian profession is our calling to instruct library patrons how to use research. More or less, people know how to find information used for personal needs. But when it comes to finding information needed on the job or in classroom studies, many library users aren’t as versed in navigating web searches and database research. This concept of understanding how to find information and evaluate it is called information literacy. In today’s twenty-first century, students enrolled as early as first grade are already being taught basic information literacy skills. With technology playing such a influential role in society, possessing an aptitude to harness technology in a way that enables one to extract from it vital information is becoming paramount.

The Association of College & Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Associate, places great emphasis on librarians to provide information literacy to library users within an academic or research environment. Here is a link to their site devoted to advocating the need for information literacy- http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/advocacy/infolit/infolit.cfm. Some information literacy competencies from ACRL include the abilities to:

• Determine the extent of the information needed
• Identify a variety of types and formats of potential sources for information
• Construct and implement effectively-designed search strategies

Want to learn more? Stop by the Reference Desk or contact a Warner Librarian. We’d be happy to talk more about information literacy!