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With so many academic librarians now employed in split or multi‐task job assignments, those who teach may question how they can develop the skills they need to be challenging and innovative in the classroom. Instruction librarians may turn to their colleagues to help them cultivate their teaching skills, particularly during times when bibliographic instruction (B.I.) workshops or training sessions are not imminent. Noticing the informal coaching that exists among trusted colleagues, some libraries have given structure to this exchange through peer coaching programs.

Many traditional library practices are currently being re‐examined in response to the technological changes that are taking place in libraries. Additionally, pervasive budget reductions require the scrutiny of service patterns in an effort to find those that most efficiently and best serve the user. No area is more affected by these pressures than public services—both technology and budget restrictions are challenging traditional reference service. Asking why we do what we do in regard to the ready reference collection is a good place to start rethinking our libraries' practices.

A barrage of criticism has been leveled recently at those librarians championing the importance of bibliographical instruction and the reference interview. Some critics claim reference librarians, unable to restrain their “yen to teach,” insist on telling patrons which sources to use and which to avoid instead of providing them with requested materials. According to this view, instruction has replaced service, despite the evidence showing patrons prefer “user‐friendly CD‐ROMs such as Infotrac” to more traditional print reference services. In fact, claims one writer, the entire concept of the reference interview (or at least its present permutation) is a myth. Patron queries may need clarification, but no drawn‐out, analyzed interaction with patrons is mandatory for providing effective reference. Instead of posing counter‐questions, which may illustrate ineptitude as much as perspicacity, librarians should redirect their efforts toward mastering substantive knowledge.

The following is an annotated list of materials dealing with information literacy including instruction in the use of information resources, research, and computer skills related to retrieving, using, and evaluating information. This review, the twenty‐second to be published in Reference Services Review, includes items in English published in 1995. After 21 years, the title of this review of the literature has been changed from “Library Orientation and Instruction” to “Library Instruction and Information Literacy,” to indicate the growing trend of moving to information skills instruction.

The following is an annotated list of materials dealing with information literacy including instruction in the use of information resources, research, and computer skills related to retrieving, using, and evaluating information. This review, the twentieth to be published in Reference Services Review, includes items in English published in 1993. A few are not annotated because the compiler could not obtain copies of them for this review.

The following is an annotated list of materials dealing with information literacy including instruction in the use of information resources, research, and computer skills related to retrieving, using, and evaluating information. This review, the seventeenth to be published in Reference Services Review, includes items, in English published in 1990. A few are not annotated because the compiler could not obtain copies of them for this review.

The usefulness of loyalty as a construct for understanding and analysing the market for banking services is here discussed. Using empirical data, the socio‐demographic, attitudinal and behavioural characteristics of loyal versus non‐loyal bank patrons are described. Bank loyalty can be measured and is useful in explaining differences in banking skills, expected benefits and attitudes towards banks and level of utilisation of banking services.

Indexing companies and database search services are contributing to the epidemic of ignorance surrounding HIV and AIDS. They are failing us, even killing us. Doctors, patients, students, and researchers seeking information about HIV are offered access only to a narrow range of “mainstream” and “professional” publications through the leading indexes. And, while a certain slate of periodicals is represented over and over by rival indexes, gay/lesbian periodicals and community‐based health publications containing vital, often vanguard HIV/AIDS information are systematically excluded from mainstream indexes and database search services. This article offers a critique of current indexing practices of AIDS‐related periodical literature and suggests strategies to remedy the situation.

America began the process of funding public education beyond the military colleges and American Indian School in 1965 with the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). ESEA has evolved over the past 40 years to be called No Child Left Behind (NCLB). NCLB has had three major evaluations in which I participated in the last two evaluations by the U.S. Department of Education and each evaluation found that NCLB did not make a difference in the education lives of the students who received services from the program; but it did not harm. This chapter explored all the school choice options available to k-12 students in public and private schools; and reviewed the evaluation of these school choice options. Research reveals that for disadvantaged students, traditional public schools outperform private schools and charter schools. Voucher programs are also reviewed. This chapter concludes that educational equity is not adequately addressed by NCLB, school choice programs, charter schools or the traditional public schools.