Information literacy, or the ability to locate, access, evaluate, and use information efficiently and effectively, has been identified as a component of critical thinking and an essential element of lifelong learning. As institutions of higher education and the organizations that accredit them continue to incorporate information literacy into their standards and curricula, academic librarians are taking on ever greater responsibilities for instruction. Indeed, reviews of academic library job postings indicate that instruction has become an integral part of the academic reference librarians job, signaling a "major change in the job of the reference librarian." A comparative study of U.S. and Australian job postings found that information services, including information literacy, bibliographic instruction, and user education appeared more frequently in job postings in the U.S., and in fact constituted one of the core competencies sought by employers. Instruction responsibilities are even making their way into job announcements for catalogers and other positions traditionally regarded as "technical services."
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