They Not Only CAN But They SHOULD: Why Undergraduates Should Provide Basic IL Instruction

Introduction Academic libraries are behind the curve in leveraging the advantages of peer learning dynamics for basic information literacy instruction.1 With a handful of documented exceptions, librarians have chosen to cling jealously to the lectern instead of seizing optimal pedagogical opportunities of letting peers teach peers. This, in spite of decades of research on the cognitive and affective benefits of peer learning,2 and in spite of the increasing implementation of peer learning programs in many other facets of higher education.3 This brief paper lists several reasons, both pedagogical and organizational, why undergraduates should provide basic information literacy instruction. It then presents several varieties of practice-based evidence to support the necessary premise that undergraduates can deliver basic information literacy instruction.