An Analysis of the Literature on Instruction in Academic Libraries

Abstract

This research examined the literature on instruction in academic libraries to determine the journals in which such articles were published, the types of articles, and changes in the types by year. Results show that Research Strategies, Reference Services Review, College & Research Libraries, The Journal of Academic Librarianship, and Reference & User Services Quarterly have published the most articles on academic library instruction. The most frequent types of articles were those classed as essays, which included articles on current developments and the philosophy of instruction, and articles discussing instruction for searching online catalogs and databases. No significant differences were determined for changes in type of articles by the year in which they were published. For articles that were research-based, surveys or questionnaires were the most frequently used data collection tool. The most frequently used inferential statistical tests were chi-squares and t-tests.