LS 7222 - PRELIMS VERSION ALL COVERAGE

Steps to reference searching

1. The question is clarified so it is as precise as possible.

2. The question is linked to a particular reference source.

3. The methods of searching are employed to narrow or expand the quest.

Basic steps to finding a correct answer follow several well-known routes

1. Understand the question, whether it be simple fact query.

2. When the question is clarified one further modifies the question by turning to key words, phrases and subject headings which best describe what one hopes to find.

3. If in quandary as to what words or phrases to employ, try one or two things:

   1. Go to an index that is close to the subject of interest and see what subject headings they employ. Note, too, the see and

      see also references to find specific subject words and to find matching subject terms.

   2. Consult standard works such as the Library of Congress Subject Headings, a multi-volume work that gives subjects in alphabetical order.

4. Once the topic is isolated, one must know where to go to find the information. A basic decision concerns whether it should be print or online.

5. Keep an ongoing record of the information journey, at least for questions that require no more than a few minutes to answer. When an important site on the Internet has been found, bookmark it for future references.

6. All of the steps to find data turn on where to begin the search. The secret of economical efficient reference is to know precisely where to go.

Guidance Function

The reference librarian acts as a guidance counselor in the choice of books for the readers. This necessitates knowledge of the reader’s capabilities as well as their interest. Materials offered to them must be weighed. Bibliotherapy has very much to do with this function.

Bibliotherapy

The use of books selected on the basis of content in a planned reading program designed to facilitate the recovery of patients suffering from mental illness or emotional disturbance. Ideally, the process occurs in three phases: personal, identification of the reader with a particular character in the recommended work, resulting in psychological catharsis, which leads to rational insight concerning the relevance of the solution suggested in the text to the reader’s own experience. Assistance of a trained psychotherapist is advised.

Instruction Function

This involves two types of teaching: informal and formal.

Bibliographical Function

Bibliographies play a very important role in research. These must be available in the library.

Appraisal

The librarian checks his reference collection. He must be able to make these materials available to library users. The value and success of reference work is evaluated.

This is generally based on:

1. possession of the right materials

2. knowledge on how to use these materials to the maximum.

Different types of reference service

• Traditional reference desk

• Reference consultation model

• Tiered reference service

• Team staffing

• Integrated service point concept

• Roving

• Virtual reference

• Outreach model

Traditional reference desk

One of the models of reference service. Librarians serves user at the reference desk Closest to the liberal/maximum model Primarily role is to answer patron questions and secondarily to provide advisory services

Pros: Easy to staff-one service point Emphasizes the values of personal service, access to information, knowledge of the discipline and collections, accuracy, and timeliness

Cons: Only serve users who come to the desk

Reference consultation model

One of the models of reference service. Complex questions are referred to a consultation service Example of the conservative/minimum approach Represents the extreme opposite of the traditional model

Pros: Uses librarians for complex questions Not to answer questions, but to provide instruction in the research process Reference librarians working under this model often work with patrons in groups or classroom settings rather than individually at a reference desk.

Cons: Limits the number of users who can be served

Tiered reference service

One of the models of reference service. Three levels of service – information desk, general reference desk, and consultation service. Different librarians or staff answers different kinds of questions Initially made popular as the Brandeis model of reference service A primarily goal of tiered reference service is to use research skills.

Pros: Their common feature, support staff or students answer the majority of the simple queries and reference librarians are reserved for answering in-depth questions.

Cons: Must train staff to do appropriate referrals and limits the number of users who can be served

Team staffing

One of the models of reference service. Librarian and paraprofessional work together at reference desk

Pros: Librarian available to answer more difficult questions

Cons: Paraprofessional must make appropriate referrals to the librarian

Integrated service point concept

One of the models of reference service. Integration of reference and circulation desks

Pros: Only one point of service for users

Cons: Requires ongoing training of staff

Roving

One of the models of reference service. Librarians circulate throughout the reference area

Pros: Reaches users who have not approached the reference desk

Cons: Requires additional staffing

Virtual reference

One of the models of reference service. Librarians answer questions by e-mail and chat These services are designed to help patrons using technology by using email, chat, and call center-based software

Pros: Users assisted who cannot visit the library Librarians help patrons in real time over computer networks Service places the highest value on access, accuracy, and timeliness. Also values personal service and focus is usually on providing answers rather than instructing users.

Cons: Technology slow and harder to communicate with users

Reference service initiated electronically. Communication channels include chat, videoconferencing, Voice over IP, and e-mail.

Outreach model

One of the models of reference service. Librarians go out to departments, groups, and organizations

Pros: Can reach new audiences

Cons: Requires additional staffing

Types of reference services

• Direct category

• Indirect category

Direct category of types of reference service

Reference or Information services

Formal or informal instruction

Indirect category of types of reference service

Selection

Accession

Interlibrary loan activities

Evaluation

Organization

Reference administration

Miscellaneous tasks

Readers’ Advisory

It is the process of recommending sources to library users.

It recommends specific titles and/or authors, based on knowledge of the patron’s past reading preferences, and may also compile lists of recommended titles

Ready Reference

It is the provision of short, factual answers to highly specific questions. Answers to these questions are verifiable as accurate or inaccurate.

Research Consulting

A more common form of reference service is assisting users with research questions. In this case, the librarian may suggest sources, search terms, and pathways that will lead to material relevant to the research project.

Bibliographic Verification and Citation

It is the process of reading, identifying, and interpreting citations to information sources. Those sources include books, journals, theses, Web pages, manuscripts, or any other form of publication.

In the process of verification, the librarian usually finds other reference sources that cite the same publication, corrects errors, and determines where to find the desired information.

Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery

The process of sharing material between libraries. One library may loan a physical item to another library for a specific period of time or may copy the original and deliver it to the requesting library. Interlibrary loan is a common service in most libraries of all types because it extends the range of material available to users beyond the home library’s collection.

Types of Instruction

• Direct - characterized by the librarian communicating directly to the user and is delivered through any of a number of channels

• Indirect - the librarian does not communicate directly with the user, but communicates through instructional tools. In order to assist users with common problems, librarians write guides or pathfinders that describe how and where to approach various research problems

Direct

One of the types of instructions

Characterized by the librarian communicating directly to the user and is delivered through any of a number of channels.

Indirect

One of the types of instructions

The librarian does not communicate directly with the user, but communicates through instructional tools. In order to assist users with common problems, librarians write guides or pathfinders that describe how and where to approach various research problems.

Literacy Programs

In addition to providing resources for the literate segment of society, libraries have continued to play a role in education itself. Many librarians conduct these programs that are designed to teach reading skills to those members of the community who have not acquired such skills through other channels.

Outreach and Marketing

Librarians today have gone beyond this passive approach of waiting for users to come to the library and now work to generate interest in their communities. Academic and public libraries frequently have staff whose primary responsibility is to work with specific segments of the community to increase library awareness and use within those populations. In the academic environment, the library may target outreach efforts at specific disciplines or departments, or toward specific types of users, such as faculty or graduate students.

Information services

Also called research assistance

Includes both reference transactions and directional transactions

The process of helping library users to identify sources of information in response to a particular question, interest, assignment, or problem.

Sometimes referred to as reference service

It is not limited to helping users who approach the reference desk to ask a question. Many libraries offer remote assistance via the telephone, email, or to “frequently asked questions,” all designed to anticipate user questions and help people find information independently.

Types of information services

• Current Awareness Service (CAS)

• Abstracting and Indexing Service

• Technical Inquiry Service

• Translation Service

• Reprographic Service

• Bibliographic Service

• Other Services

Current Awareness Service (CAS)

One of the types of information service

A service or publication designed to alert scholars, researchers, readers, customers or employees to recently published literature in their fields of specialization, usually available in special libraries serving companies, organizations, and institutions in which access to current information is essential. Such services can be tailored to fit the interest profile of a specific individual or group.

Synonymous with Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI)

Technical Inquiry Service

One of the types of information service

Assistance in using the library, conducting literature searches, and reader education.

Reprography

A general term encompassing the processes of document reproduction or copying by any method except large-scale professional printing, including photography, microphotography, photocopying and photoduplication.

Kinds of information service

• Answering Reference Questions

• Reader’s Advisory Service

• User Instruction

Common types of information service

• ready reference questions

• research questions

• bibliographic verification

Answering reference questions

In the light of the immense diversity and range of possible questions, being approached by a patron with a reference need can seem like a daunting prospect. Categorizing reference questions by type is a useful way to make sense of such concerns.

Three common types of information services are:

• ready reference questions

• research questions

• bibliographic verification

Reader’s advisory service

Sometimes considered a type of information service

It is the quest to put the right book in the hands of the right reader. Librarians are increasingly expected to provide an answer to the dreaded question, “Can you help me find a book?”

User instruction

Sometimes known as information literacy, may range from showing an individual how to use the library’s online catalog and basic reference sources to formal classroom sessions about conducting research in the library. The basic component of information literacy includes demonstrating how, when and why to use various reference sources in an integrated way that will capture the user’s attention at the teachable moment.

Reference service

It demands a lot from its practitioners: a wide general knowledge, a sense of curiosity and willingness to learn, the ability to listen, familiarity with the collections and services offered by your institution as well as those of others nearby, a genuine desire to help, and the capacity to treat all library patrons (and your coworkers) with courtesy, interest, and respect. An unlimited supply of patience and a healthy sense of humor are also essential.

It embodies a basic principle of librarianship — direct assistance to readers: we answer their questions, help them locate needed information, and guide them through our sometimes (make that often) confusing library systems.

Reference interview

The interpersonal communication between a reference staff member and a library user to determine the precise information needs of the user. Synonymous with question negotiation.

The interpersonal communication that occurs between a reference librarian and a library user to determine the person’s specific information need(s), which may turn out to be different than the reference question as initially posed.

A structured conversation to ascertain and respond to a library user’s information need.

Qualities and skills needed to conduct a reference interview

• Approachability

• Interest

• Listening/inquiring

• Searching

• Follow-up

Approachability

One of the qualities and skills needed to conduct a reference interview

A person with a question needs to feel welcome and know that there is someone who can help. A welcoming presence is essential, whether that is an actual presence consisting of an engaged and attentive person at a reference desk (clearly visible and with appropriate signage) or a friendly, professional voice on the phone or an easily found link to an electronic reference service.

The main idea here is that a person, who may be confused or intimidated, is put at his or her ease and is assured in some way that there is someone ready and willing to help.

Interest

One of the qualities and skills needed to conduct a reference interview

The librarian must demonstrate that he or she is interested in the question and committed to providing assistance. Attention is focused on the patron, either with eye contact and verbal and nonverbal behaviors at an in-person service point, by timely written acknowledgments and responses in an online environment, or by a friendly, articulate voice on the telephone.

Listening/Inquiring

One of the qualities and skills needed to conduct a reference interview

Good communication skills are essential for good reference service. The librarian must be able to listen carefully to the patron’s question and respond in an encouraging way, asking questions to help clarify the request and ensure that it is completely understood. This applies to any form of reference service, whether in-person, on the phone, or online. In addition, the librarian must maintain his or her objectivity about the nature of the question and its subject matter.

Follow-up

One of the qualities and skills needed to conduct a reference interview

This step involves determining whether the question has been answered to the patron’s satisfaction. At this point appropriate referrals to other sources may be made if the original question was not, in the patron’s opinion, answered completely. These “other sources” may be other reference tools, another department in the library, or other libraries or institutions that may provide additional information or assistance.

A good reference interview is a collaboration.

User and librarian are equal partners in the search, with different areas of expertise. The user is the expert in the question itself and knows how the question arose, what necessary information is missing in her understanding of the topic, and how the information will be used. The staff member is the expert on the library system and the organization and retrieval of information. Both need to work together.

Bopp and Smith's types of reference services

• Reader's Advisory

• Ready reference

• Research Consulting

• Bibliographic Verification and Citation

• Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery

• Instruction

• Literacy Programs

• Outreach and Marketing

Contemporary reference service

Takes place anywhere the library exists. From the library’s web presence to the in-person experience.

Networked databases and e-resources

They have reduced dependence on the reference room as the place where library research begins.

E.g. Google, Bing, Wikipedia

Mobile software applications

These deliver information directly to the user’s smartphone.

Reference librarians

They serve as subject specialists and hold responsibility for managing collection development and faculty or community outreach.

They often manage community information and referral services, offer readers’ advisory services, and organize programming.

They also build websites, work on teams that implement new systems, engage in public relations, and otherwise contribute to a wide variety of library initiatives.

They function as intermediaries, instructors, and troubleshooters, providing a human connection between the user and sources of information, regardless of format and location.

Reference departments

They may hold responsibility for managing collections and services such as government documents, periodicals and microforms, and interlibrary loan.

Primary responsibility is to assist readers.

Reference as a place in the library

• Reading rooms

• Mixing chambers

• Information commons

Reading rooms

Represent the library as a seat of learning and scholarship and as a repository of recorded knowledge.

Often incorporating a time-honored print collection (e.g., many of the titles described in this book), archetypal furnishings, and wireless technology, they combine past and present with oak tables and wireless networks, with classic print titles and computer screens, to provide a space that supports individual productivity and contemplation

Mixing Chamber

An award-winning building inaugurated by the Seattle Public Library.

It is a 21st-century library space, glossy metal workstations have replaced stately oak tables. It sounds remarkably like a reference room.

Reference rooms

Originally built around a print collection and remain generally conducive to solitary research.

Also known as learning commons or scholarly commons.

Generally refers to a designated area that provides a variety of digital resources, productivity tools, and other technologies to facilitate both research and production.

A place where users can find information, utilize computing and communications technologies, and obtain a variety of services, either individually or in groups.

Information commons

It includes a large number of computer workstations and a team of staff, including libraries, information technology specialists, and assistants, generally in partnership with the campus computing unit. Here, reference service is provided within the context of a holistic research experience.

Large public and academic libraries

They frequently provide subject-based departments, such as business, genealogy and local history, music, and science and technology.

Medium-sized libraries

Occasionally follow the same model as large public and academic libraries, arguing that the quality of reference assistance is improved because subject specialists are better equipped to provide in-depth, subject-based service.

Smaller and more homogeneous library units

Librarians enjoy greater autonomy and control, and user studies have indicated a preference for more focused units of library service and small, client-centered work groups.

User-centered library

It is the ultimate goal of library design.

User experience

This pushes librarians to look at all elements (signage, desk configuration, available resources) of in-person library service and all its components as well as virtual service and its components.

User experience design

This critiques the library’s service anywhere the user interacts with any attribute of the library.

Totality of in-person and virtual services

It produces a complete “experience” of service for the library.

Maximize use of the librarian’s expertise

Holy grail of staffing a reference service

Tiered service

Used in large public or research libraries

Includes optimizing the user of librarian’s time and expertise, reduction of stress and burnout, presentation of an appropriate professional image, and more efficient use of human resources.

Help desk or information desk

A separate service point of tiered service which is staffed by paraprofessionals or students.

It is set up to address directional and quick-answer questions.

Mobile librarians

They move not only beyond the desk but also beyond the library, setting up outposts in student unions, academic departments, campus computing centers, undergraduate dormitories, and wherever their users gather or work.

Embedded librarian

Brings the library and the librarian to the user, wherever they are. Embedding themselves in research and learning environs.

This role includes involvement in course-integrated instruction, participation in research teams, and collaboration with faculty in scholarly communication activities.

It represents the apex of successful outreach and user service.

Digital reference service

It is variously referred to as electronic, digital, or virtual reference service.

It encompasses service that can be delivered at the user’s point of need. This entails instant messaging reference services and SMS reference service as well as proprietary online chat platforms, known simply as chat.

It occurs online as a means to meet the needs of users where they are.

SMS reference

Also referred to as a text-a-librarian-service.

Virtual reference services

It developed in response to a number of interrelated factors:

• the ubiquitous popularity of the Internet as an avenue of communication

• increasing availability of networked digital resources and the corresponding need for service

  • reports of decreasing numbers of in-person reference transactions

• librarians’ continuing efforts to respond to user preferences

Asynchronous service

One of the two basic modes of digital service.

Service via e-mail. It offers many immediate advantages. Software costs are negligible, and the medium is familiar to nearly all users of the Internet. This service works well for short-answer or known-item questions.

Pros: It offers advantages to users who are less technically savvy or who use slow Internet connections.

Cons: Users with limited English skills or typing skills might prefer composing at their own pace.

Synchronous service

One of the two basic modes of digital service.

It offers a partial solution. Though “chat” service implies a casual conversation, in its more sophisticated incarnations, it has the potential to provide a more effective communication and learning tool than email.

Pros: The librarian can share screens with users, guiding them to appropriate databases and teaching effective search strategies.

Cons: Librarians frequently experience frustration with software performance: connections are inexplicably dropped, co-browsing or other features do not work, and users have a difficult time following what is happening.

Chat widgets

These are made up of snippets of HTML code that can be dropped into a library’s reference department web page in order to connect the user directly with that reference staff’s IM window.

Staffing the service from an office or other location away from the desk

One of the models for integrating virtual reference into existing services.

It views virtual reference as a research consultation service.

This configuration offers the advantages of better focus and fewer distractions and interruptions and facilitates in-depth transactions an instruction.

Pros: Offers the possibility for flexible staffing from a distance

Cons: Libraries cannot always afford enough personnel to staff a separate virtual service point during all the hours that the library is open.

Staffing from the reference desk

One of the models for integrating virtual reference into existing services.

Virtual transactions are seen as just another mode of access to reference service, not unlike the telephone.

Pros: Works well with a team of staff at the desk, with someone on the team theoretically available to take a virtual question

Cons: Not an optimal environment for lengthy or involved transactions. Frequently requires multitasking on the part of the librarian

Late 1990s

The period when the idea of institutionalizing collaborative or cooperative reference was born.

The year when the Library of Congress undertook development of the Collaborative Digital Reference Service.

Collaborative Digital Reference Service

Purpose was to build a system including software that capitalizes on the specific strengths of individual libraries in answering virtual questions from users from any of the participating libraries.

Handheld Computing and Reference Service

Context-aware services offer users the ability to gain information about their surrounding environment as they experience it, delivering information to their handheld device based on where they are and what filters of information are requested. Mobile applications that deliver this level of interactivity are emerging as an important part of the reference librarian’s toolkit. Other types of handheld computing services that augment the in-person library experience are SMS tools that allow users to text the call number of their book to their phone. This service helps the user navigate the library space as they seek to obtain their identified item.

Development of SMS reference service

Allows libraries to answer reference questions that users ask from their cell phones.

Catalog notification services through SMS

Services that allow users to be notified at the exact moment requested books have arrived or to be notified when books they have checked out are about to be overdue.

Mediated service for handheld computing

Library and library staff serve as a gateway to library information by way of library resources or tools. A librarian may design a library iPhone app that acts as a chat widget or perhaps a video tour of the library. These resources are mediated by the librarian.

Unmediated service for handheld computing

The library may also have no such gateway when it comes to other types of software components for access to information. Search for information by way of mobile apps cuts out the librarian as intermediary to information.

Types of managing service delivery

• Roving or mobile services

• Virtual

Roving reference

Implies a model whereby reference librarians were encouraged to be less stationary in their tradition posts behind a reference desk and more proactive in approaching users.

Virtual

The successful integration of remote access to reference information services has created an important additional responsibility for reference managers. Hiring or training staff to provide this service, apportioning staff time; effectively evaluating the services provided, and staying on top of the quicksilver advances in remote access technology must all become part of the management environment.

Types of virtual reference service

• 24/7

• “Ask A“ Services

24/7 access - chat reference

The most robust form of virtual reference.

Recent literature on the provision of this form of virtual reference suggests that its cost effectiveness can vary dramatically from one institution to another.

“Ask A“ Services

Michigan State University for example, has installed a Trillian-based IM service with the idea that it enhanced virtual reference by providing “convenience” to the many users who already used IM (Behm, 2005)

The Schreyer Business Library at Pennsylvania State University has also embraced IM as a potentially high-use addition to its virtual services (Zabel, 2005).

The Orange County Library Systems were the first public library system to adopt RSS (Really Simple Syndication) to enhance its content distribution.

Discussions on including special enhancements to Web contact center software such as VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) that allows for vocal interaction; “knowledgebases” that hold frequently asked questions and answers; and improved cobrowsing even with proprietary databases hint at future trends in virtual reference (Coffman, 2001).

Types of Service Models

• In-person service

• Mobile Librarians and Embedded Service

• Digital Reference Service

• Asynchronous versus Synchronous

Types of delivering virtual reference services

• Cooperative and collaborative reference

• Handheld computing and reference service

Professional Competencies for References and User Services Librarians

Originally written by the RUSA Task Force on Professional Competencies.

Approved by the RUSA Board of Directors in January 26, 2003.

Extensively revised and rewritten by the RUSA Professional Competencies for Reference and User Services Librarians Task Force in 2016 - 2017.

Approved by the RUSA Board of Directors in September 7, 2017

Reference and Users Services Association (RUSA)

They formed a task force in 2021 to review and revise these guidelines (Behavioral Performance of Reference and Information Service Providers) to reflect changing aspects of reference work.

They have developed and updated a model statement of competencies essential for successful reference and user services librarians.

Reference and User Services Librarians

Librarians who assist, advise, and instruct users in accessing all forms of recorded knowledge. The assistance, advice, and instruction include both direct and indirect service to patrons.

Competencies

Behaviors that excellent performers exhibit consistently and effectively. A behavioral basis is necessary because effective assessment of competencies depends on observed behavior

Offers services responsive to individual expressed user needs

1. Applies Guidelines for Behavioral Performance of Reference and Information Service Providers

2. Recognizes, honors, and responds appropriately to diversity and cultural differences

3. Determines situational context of individual information needs

4. Engages in discussion and expresses interest in individual experiences related to information needs

5. Understands and applies laws and policies governing confidentiality and rights to privacy

6. Consults with the user to identify the most appropriate resources in the context of accuracy, authority, interest, and content level

7. Respects the right of individuals to pursue their research preferences

8. Assists the user in evaluating, managing, formatting, storing, using, or displaying information

9. Consults with the user to select appropriate technology for providing answers, balancing the nature of the information being provided with user preferences

10. Applies knowledge of state of the art information retrieval technologies and systems to assist the user in identifying and obtaining information

11. Identifies opportunities for instruction that empowers users to improve their own information seeking abilities

Organizes and designs services to meet the needs of the primary community

1. Creates physical and virtual environments that encourage use of all available services

2. Designs services that reflect the demographics, cultural diversity, and special needs of the community

Identifies and presents highly recommended sources

1. Connects users to tools that can help them identify diverse sources of information

2. Connects users to highly recommended, carefully selected sources in many formats

3. Evaluates reference tools and sources for quality, relevance, authenticity, authority, and inclusiveness

4. Identifies any bias or point of view in an information resource

5. Creates useful research guides, web pages, bibliographies, finding aids, and other appropriate tools in areas of expertise

6. Compiles and maintains information about community resources

7. Develops programming, displays, tutorials, and other specialized instructional materials reflective of the cultural diversity of the primary community