SPEC Kit 287: Instructional Improvement Programs

by Scott Walter

Over the past decade, there has been a sharp increase in the amount of direct instruction provided to faculty, staff, and students by librarians, and increased attention to the conduct and quality of instructional services in academic libraries. Likewise, there has been increased attention to the development of full-scale instructional programs in public libraries, special libraries, and affiliated cultural heritage organizations. Despite the increased importance of instructional responsibilities for librarians and other information professionals employed in a variety of organizational contexts, few librarians are prepared to teach as part of their professional education. The purpose of this study is to identify the activities that librarians pursue in order to become more effective teachers and the ways in which library administrators have incorporated assessment of instructional performance into formal methods of professional review. The focus of this study is on the librarian as teacher, the organizational culture of libraries, and the contemporary form of in-house training programs that are focused on instructional improvement.

138 pages, Paperback

Published July 20, 2005