Instructional practices in Canadian public libraries

Abstract

This article reports on a national survey of information literacy (IL) instruction in urban and rural public libraries in Canada and public librarians' attitudes towards these services. The survey is the first phase of a study exploring the actual and potential role of Canadian public libraries in developing the public's IL skills. Despite an urgent need to develop such skills, and expectations that public libraries fulfill that role (specifically articulated by the federal government through its “Connecting Canadians” initiative), the real experiences of public librarians and of public library customers may not bear out this expectation. The survey analyzes the role of the public library, as a non-profit institution and primary stakeholder, in advancing federal government information policy. In addition, the study gives voice to a community of professionals expected to fulfill an important federal policy function, but provided with few resources with which to do so.