Incorporating the Internet into Science and Technology Reference Instruction

Summary

The Internet has become an integral tool for library reference work in the sciences. This article briefly describes the importance of the Internet as an information resource for science and engineering librarians and outlines a strategy for introducing these resources to library school students enrolled in sci/tech literature and reference classes. Several factors make incorporating the Internet's information resources into the class difficult: time constraints for subject coverage; the nature of freely-accessible information; and technical competencies of the students. Inclusion of information available through the Internet can be accomplished by establishing student prerequisites, adding the Internet as a topic to the class syllabus, and providing at least one Internet-related assignment.