Article in liber quarterly · October 004 doi: 10. 18352/lq. 7780 · Source: oai citations 45 reads 6,104 authors: Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects

partnering with discipline faculty and other specialists for delivery of 
information and instruction;
•
designing instructional programs for information access;
•
teaching students and faculty how to access information, whatever its format or 
location, and how to evaluate what they find;
•
serving as consultants on information resources, issues, and problems;
•
developing and implementing information policy;
•
creating information access tools;
•
selecting, organizing, and preserving information in all formats;
•
serving as leaders and facilitators in introducing information technologies and 
ensuring their effective use (CETUS, 1997; Virkus, 2004b). 
It is believed that the library staff’s changing role will benefit students, faculty, 
university administrators and librarians. Students will acquire better information skills, 
stronger critical thinking skills, greater confidence, and the ability to transfer what they 
have learned to their post-graduate lives. Faculty will get opportunities to learn new 
information access, management, and evaluation skills which support better their 
research and teaching. Administrators will begin to view the benefit of new collaboration 
initiatives and new organizational relationships. Librarians will be called upon to think 
differently about their assignments in both the library and the broader academic 
community, they will develop closer relationships with discipline faculty and with 
technical staff assigned to other campus units, familiarizing themselves with each 
group’s goals, culture, and curriculum (CETUS, 1997). 
However, Peacock (2000) notes that this new “complex role demands more than sound 
pedagogical knowledge, advanced teaching skills and an ability to develop and deliver 
effective learning experiences. It also requires that the teaching librarian functions as an 
educational professional; that is, as one who can engage in educational debate and 
decision-making processes, influence policy, forge strategic alliances and demonstrate 
diplomatic sensitivity”. 
Specific elements essential for the success are identified by Kirk (1995) (cited in 
Peacock, 2000: 6): 
•
knowledge of educational theory and its practical application through 
instruction design, including knowledge of theories of learning and human 
development; 
•
the ability to write instructional goals and objectives; 

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SIRJE VIRKUS AND SILVI METSAR 
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•
the ability to develop instructional programs and materials appropriate to the 
instruction goals and consistent with a personal theory of learning and human 
development; 
•
the ability to formulate and execute an evaluation of instructional sessions and 
programs. 
These skills cluster into the three main categories of design, delivery and evaluation. The 
teaching librarian also needs deep knowledge of specific subject fields. 
Several authors pose the question how many librarians are qualified for the role as 
teachers (Brophy, 2001; Asher, 2003). Brophy put it in this way: ”Is it not more likely 
that teachers will develop their own information expertise?” (Brophy, 2001: 8). Breivik 
(1989: 9-10) also argues about the new active role of librarians. She notes: “few 
librarians become active in any professional organization that is not library related. Too 
few do research and publishing; the little that is done seldom focuses on issues of 
concern to educators; and libraries almost never publish in non-library publications”. As 
a result of the study carried out by the Information School of the University of 
Washington, in cooperation with the Washington State Library, Bruce and Lampson 
(2002: 81) note: “And yet while library and information professionals are often cast as 
primary players in the quest for universal information literacy, many of them still feel 
they lack the training and expertise for this role”. 
The report 
Libraries and Lifelong Learning 
of the Charted Institute of Library and 
Information Professionals (CILIP) points out the constraints that restrict the ability of 
libraries to effectively contribute to learning. The report notes that there is a need to 
define the learner support skills required by library staff. Only a few institutions in the 
education sector formally acknowledge library staff to be part of the teaching and 
learning process. There remains a major advocacy job to be done to convince key players 
of the important contribution libraries and library staff have to make. The report also 
refers to the lack of central encouragement, especially through funding arrangements, for 
the creation of partnerships to achieve the seamless service that learners seek (CILIP, 
2002: 9). Bunzel and Poll (2002: 424) also note that funding is not high enough for the 
dual task of keeping up everyday routines for the needs of the present student generation 
and at the same time introducing new and more effective services. They highlight the 
fact that funding institutions often believe that electronic information costs nothing and 
note that libraries need joint initiatives to demonstrate the value of their activities and its 
outcome. 
Peacock (2000: 27) argues that the relative inequality of librarians and academics 
prevents library professionals from fully integrating information literacy into curricula. 
Peacock suggest to develop a new generation of librarian educators, retrained as 

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General Introduction to the Role of the Library for University Education 
 
 
 
300
“learning facilitators” and to forge campus-wide “alliances” to ensure that librarians and 
libraries to overcome their marginalisation.
Peacock identifies four key barriers preventing librarians to have a greater role in the 
teaching and learning: 
•
Limited understanding of the inherent link between generic attributes and 
information literacy and the library’s contribution to the development of both. 
•
Narrow appreciation of the role of the library as an active contributor to 
teaching and learning process (as that which extends beyond being a passive 
resource).
•
Reluctance to engage the library in teaching and learning partnership and 
projects, either by exclusion or oversight. 
•
The high profile technologically driven initiatives which inhibit a library’s 
ability to (i) equally attract funding that relates to teaching and learning 
initiatives, (ii) acquire access to course development pathways and (iii)