Lesson 1 - Information Literacy and Reference Services

This week's readings were very short as I'm sure we were eased into the content.  (If only they were all like this).  While the readings were short, there was a lot of important information which I believe will serve as the foundation of this course.

Fundamentally important to this week's lesson were key definitions regarding information literacy, reference services and reference sources.  I had never really thought of what reference sources were and how they could be categorized.  However, upon reading about control vs. access vs. directional references sources, I realize there are a variety of ways to help/refer library users (information seekers).  This section as well as the detailed definitions made me more comfortable with the terminology and also helped me better understand the process which causes the demand for reference services and sources.

Referencing is necessary because of individuals need for accessing information.  Users need information, to address a question, which they search to answer and then evaluate their findings.  This process is overly simplistic, however it does sum up why we require libraries and why libraries need referencing services and sources.

As we move on in the course I look forward to developing a better understanding of how exactly referencing materials can be used by TL's and students to aid in the process of acquiring information and information literacy skills!