The library starter kit

Abstract

Each Fall thousands of new students arrive at the University of California at Santa Cruz and the Library’s goal is to ensure that each new user has the basic skills to enable them to find, evaluate and use information resources from print, online and Znternetbased sources. But the reality is that the orientation programs, online classes and printed documentation the library provides may not be available when and where students need them. Our Bibliographic Instruction program had to evolve to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse user population with varying learning styles. The World Wide Web (WWW) offered a new medium to address this need, with the potential for providing a self-directed approach to learning available all hours from any WWW station on or off campus. A conzbination of grants, student developers and lots of sweat equity were used to initially create a WWW Virtual Tour of the McHenry Library. This was expanded to become the “Library Starter Kit” (http:/!ob.ucsc.edu/library/reefnstruction/skit), a WWW resource that provides new users with the basics for getting started with library research