ABSTRACT

Amid growing trends toward curriculum reform on many campuses, librarians may find an opportunity to contribute significantly to the improvement of undergraduate education. In the Bibliographic Instruction and Writing Across the Curriculum movements, recent developments suggest that librarians may work more closely with their classroom colleagues to create more effective learning situations. While curriculum reform has a most apparent impact on user education, it also touches upon collection development (and bibliographic control), reference and circulation activity, professional development and the library’s public image. At Washington State University, the library is prominently represented on a campus-wide committee to develop a new core course under the auspices of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The librarians involved have expanded their professional practice in unexpected ways, causing an increased respect for the library among teaching faculty, and an added dimension to their careers as academics. Their experience is offered as a model for those whose institutions are similarly undergoing reforms in general education.