Highway Guide: Teaching lnternet Skills

Abstract

No doubt about it, library users are feeling the weight and stress of information overload. In addition to the sheer enormity of the amount of information "out there," the tools used to archive, categorize, and access . information are becoming increasingly complex. No group understands this overload better than those of us who work in libraries. Like our users, we struggle daily to keep up with our reading, wade through all our e-mail, and identify and learn to use new sources of information, and new access tools. Unlike our users, however, we are obligated by dejinition, to provide what I call "information guidance" - the best access to quality information. Library staff members must proactively rise to the challenge and must provide guidance through the infomation glut. I watch the users in our library. What do they state that they need? What do they need that they do not know they need? How can we use new technologies to improve their access to information? How can we best point them toward the most accurate, timely, and useful information? As the complexity of the tools increases, the need for training in the use of the tools increases. If we are to guide, we must educate. In the case of the library where I work, the Clarian Health Partners Medical Library, we are part of the Educational Services Department, and so, specifically charged with educating users.