This volume has provided a full discussion of the concept of the teaching library in general and specifically of bibliographic instruction. However, it has not provided a defense of the need for such programs. What follows is a brief argument that bibliographic instruction be an essential part of an undergraduate educational program.
A bibliographic instruction program can be justified on the practical level since it meets the immediate needs of students. At best, students graduate from high school with a working knowledge of a high school library; they will know the Readers' Guidc, a card catalogue for a collection of several thousand volumes, and such reference tools as a general encyclopedia and dictionary. At worst students will brag that they got through high school without using the library. Then, when students enter college, they are expected to know how to use the vast array of subject encyclopedias, specialized bibliographies and other reference tools, and the card catalogue for a much larger collection. Furthermore, students will have access to a wide range of indexes from the general Hutnunitics I& to the more specialized indexes such as Child Development Abstracts and Bibliography or Enngv I n f o m w n Abstracts.
But how will students learn to use these research tools? There are four answers. The most likely, unfortunately, is they do not learn. Students will continue to use the tried and true methods of high school-the card catalogue, and, if the teacher insists on journal articles, the Readers' Guidc. A second answer is that the student learns by trial and error, expending many hours in T. G. Kirk (Ed ). I m ' q Ibr i'khug R& o/Am&w~U Lib&.