Preparing to Teach in Cyberspace: User Education in Real and Virtual Libraries.

Teaching librarians to teach is an ongoing concern for instruction librarians. The literature confirms that many library and information science programs provide no formal coursework to prepare their students for a career in user education. This lack of formal preparation is compounded by additional demands for a grounding in educational technology and pedagogy. On-the-job-training has become the rule rather than the exception for most instruction librarians. This paper addresses practical concerns encountered at the University of North Texas (UNT) Libraries in providing resources and empowering education for librarians and staff members who teach, as well as the philosophical adoption of Computer-Based Education (CBE) principles and a modification of Raganathan's five laws of library science to create a flexible teaching and learning environment for real and vitrual libraries.