The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which environmental factors pertinent to bibliographic instruction are represented in the library literature and to determine any changes in the female to male ratio of authors that may have occurred over time. In 1990 the Bibliographic Instruction Section (BIS) of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) issued a mission statement that recognized 10 environmental factors important to library instruction programs: Population; Home Environment; Schools and Learning; Work and Income; Information and Government; Information Industry Structure; Technology and Access; Public Libraries; Higher Education; and Scholarly Communication Patterns. Forty-seven bibliographic instruction articles were selected for content analysis from two journals recognized as forums for research in academic librarianship during four time periods between 1976 and 1992. The analysis focused on themes of articles and on words or phrases that reflect awareness of environmental factors. User needs (Population) was a frequently cited factor, and technological changes (Technology and Access), and changes in the student population (Higher Education) were somewhat less frequently cited factors. An examination of the authorship of the articles according to gender revealed that the female-to-male ratio has been larger in each succeeding period, with 50% female authorship of the articles in 1976-1977 and 76.9% female authorship of the articles in 1991-1992. (Contains 96 references.) (KRN)