Abstract

Author(s): Catherine Baldwin*

As academic librarians, we teach adolescent, adult and young adult students to access and utilize resources, many of which are accessible only through library services while students are matriculated within higher education settings. Therefore, librarians must also support the development of students’ critical thinking skills and research processes so that after graduation students will be empowered within their working and daily lives through well-developed information literacy skills. Librarians may provide highly effective instruction to support and guide students through meaningful research processes and their development of information literacy skills by understanding the cognitive development that traditional-aged college students experience while maturing from adolescence to young adulthood. By utilizing both pedagogical and andragogical instruction methods, instruction services librarians will better assist university students as they grow into independent, organized, critical thinkers who will maneuver smoothly through a complex information landscape on campus and beyond.