Educating the Data User: The Role of Bibliographic Instruction

The program of credit courses in research methods and materials offered by the Library Instruction Division at Baruch College, CUNY, has been in existence since the early 1970's. With the exponential growth of information and the advancement of technology the courses have shifted dramatically from a practical "how to use the library" approach to a more conceptually based one that integrates process and product, tools and techniques, traditional print and electronic information sources. What were pioneered as library research courses two decades ago have come to bear the titles " Information Research in Business" and "Information Research in the Social Sciences and the Humanities", testimony to the fact that the site of research is now just as often an online laboratory or a personal computer in the office or home as a library.