Information Literacy in Music: An Instructor’s Companion. Beth Christensen, Erin Conor, and Marian Ritter, eds. Middleton, WI: A-R Editions, Inc., 2018. 254p. Paper, $125.00 (ISBN 978-0-89579-856-5).

Abstract

The topic of information literacy has become increasingly common in scholarship and discourse within the field of music librarianship, reflecting shifts in the library profession at large. Of course, music possesses unique challenges to information retrieval and literacy—challenges that are often not present in other disciplines—due to a long and complicated history of dissemination, publishing, and languages. These challenges are integral to access, discovery, and literacy, but they can be difficult to explain to patrons who do not possess formal backgrounds in music. Moreover, nonmusic specialists, such as librarians called upon to teach music instruction who have expertise outside of music, may grapple with the inherent obstacles present in music’s unique subject matter, formats, and printing practices.