Instruction Librarians: Acquiring the Proficiencies Critical to their Work

A bibliographic instruction librarian must possess many proficiencies. In an initial survey of members of the Bibliographic Instruction Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries, respondents evaluated the importance of eighty-four bibliographic instruction skills in thirteen categories. Skills in communication, instruction, and planning accounted for fourteen of the top twenty-five skills. In a second survey, respondents indicated how they had acquired the most important proficiencies and where they would have liked to have acquired them. For thirteen of the twenty-five skills, respondents preferred library school to other alternatives. For the other twelve skills, on-thejob training and other formal education were preferred.