Self-Regulated Learning at the Reference Desk

Hello there! My colleagues on the Information Literacy Roundtable asked me to inform you all about an article of mine that has just been published in the latest issue of Reference & User Services Quarterly (Fall 2007). The article is called "Fostering Self-Regulated Learning at the Reference Desk" (pp.16-20).

Here is a short abstract:

"The independent research skills that are an integral part of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education have a great deal in common with the educational concept of self-regulated learning. A self-regulating researcher is able to formulate a research plan as well as monitor and control
progress toward the completion of the research. Furthermore, this self-regulation is an essential aspect of information literacy that is short-changed when librarians at the reference desk, with the best of intentions, insist on finding answers for students. This article focuses on the one-on-one nature of reference interactions, and how they relate to tutoring interactions. It argues that, in approaching reference interactions as tutorial interactions, librarians can scaffold the self-regulation of student researchers and thereby more effectively support their emerging information literacy."