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More than any other area of academic library collection, periodicals demonstrate the immense gap between the infinite nature of human inquiry and the finite quality of the resources available for the acquisition, organization, and maintenance of this inquiry. The number of periodicals currently available is far beyond the capabilities of most academic libraries to acquire and maintain. For example, Katz and Katz wrote in their introduction to the most recent edition of Magazines for Libraries that they included some 6,500 periodicals from over 65,000 possibilities. Fewer than a half a dozen major research libraries subscribe to 65,000 or more periodicals, and only a similar number of liberal arts college libraries subscribe to even 3,000 titles.

Although some institutions of higher learning seem to have difficulty acknowledging it, teaching should be the single most important part of their mission; it is a college or university's reason for being. Accordingly, the primary mission of an academic library should be to support the teaching mission of the university. For example, in three college libraries with successful bibliographic instruction (BI) programs, library directors viewed the teaching role of the library as central to the purpose of the library. Teaching support from the library, and interaction between the library staff and the university's teaching faculty and students, can come in a variety of ways, one of which is BI. Bibliographic instruction is an activity that bridges the gap between academicians and librarians. Although BI can be generic or integrated (subject‐specific), the latter seems to offer greater potential for close interaction between librarians and the teaching faculty. Course‐integrated BI has been described as bibliographic instruction designed as a part of course objectives, and viewed as essential to knowledge of the subject and successful completion of the course. This article describes a series of four unique workshops that meet this definition of course‐integrated bibliographic instruction.