Reimagining Reference in the 21st Century

Description

Reference service, the idea that librarians provide direct assistance to users, has been a central function of libraries for over a century. Today's libraries are even more complex and intimidating to new users than libraries of the past, and the technical and social contexts in which users experience their library's resources add to this complexity. The availability of a friendly librarian who helps users find materials, search for information on a topic, interpret citations, identify quality information, and format bibliographies has become a standard component of what libraries do. However, changes in technologies, economics, and user populations are causing many libraries to question the need and function of traditional reference services. This book examines how library services meet user needs in the twenty-first century. Many libraries are asking key questions about reference services, such as: Should librarians be on call waiting for users or out in the community promoting the library? Should we assign staff to help users one-on-one or is it more effective to assign them to build and use tools to teach users how to find and evaluate information? Will we continue to purchase commercial reference sources or just use Wikipedia and other free resources on the web? With the proliferation of information available today, how can we help users evaluate search results and select the best resources that they can find? And how do we evaluate the effectiveness of reference services? Through contributions from the leading scholars and practitioners in the field, this volume addresses such issues and how they affect practices in public and academic libraries. In addition, it presents perspectives from the publishing community and the creators of discovery tools. Each section is enhanced by short case studies that highlight real-world practices and experiences.
Foreword, by Joseph Janes

About the Book

Introduction, by David A. Tyckoson and John G. Dove

PART 1: SKILLS and SERVICES

1 Participatory Approaches to Building Community-Centered Libraries, by Anastasia Diamond-Ortiz and Buffy J. Hamilton

2 Guiding Learners: Information Literacy, by Alesia McManus

3 The Reference Interview Revisited, by M. Kathleen Kern

4 Readers’ Advisory Services as Reference Services, by Jessica E. Moyer

PART 2: CONTENT and INFORMATION SOURCES

5 Reference Publishing in the 21st Century: Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way, by Rolf Janke

6 Wikipedia, User-Generated Content, and the Future of Reference Sources, by Phoebe Ayers

PART 3: TOOLS and TECHNOLOGIES

7 Discovery Tools, by Michael Courtney

8 Collaborative Virtual Reference: Past, Present and Future Trends, by Kris Johnson

9 The Value of Reference Services: Using Assessment to Chart the Future, by Amanda Clay Powers

Innovation in Action: Studies and Examples

A Alienation, Acceptance, or Ambiguity?: Qualitative Study of Librarian and Staff Perceptions of Reference Service Change, by Mara H. Sansolo and Kaya van Beynen

B Meet Your Personal Librarian, by Martha Adkins

C Roving Reference, by Madeline Cohen and Kevin Saw

D On-Call Reference, by Krista Schmidt

E Peer Reference Tutoring, by Michelle Twait

F A Single Service Point, by Diane Hunter and Mary E. Anderson

G Community Outreach Through LibGuides, by Mandi Goodsett and Kirstin Dougan

H 24/7 Global Virtual Reference Cooperation: The Case of QuestionPoint, by Susan McGlamery

I Serving the “Somewhere Out There” Patron: The View From the Digital Cooperative Reference Desk, by Nicolette Warisse Sosulski

J Integration of Library Resources Into the Course Management System, by Janet Pinkley and Margaret Driscoll

K Negotiating Space for the Library: Embedding Library Resources and Services Into a University Learning Management System, by Jolanda-Pieta van Arnhem and James Williams

L Boosting User Engagement With Online Social Tools, by Georgina Parsons

M You Have a Question, So Tweet Me Maybe: A Study in Using Twitter for Reference, by Amanda L. Folk

N Embedding LibraryThing for Libraries in the Online Library Catalog, by Amanda Viana

O CrowdAsk: Crowdsourcing Reference and Library Help, by Ilana Stonebraker and Tao ZhangP The Guide to Reference: A Solution for Teaching Reference Sources, by Denise Beaubien Bennett

Q Reference to Patrons With Disabilities, by Michael Saar

R Discovery Service: Goals, Evaluation, and Implementation of OhioLINK Academic Consortium, by Ron Burns and Theda Schwing

S OCLC and Discovery, by John McCullough

T Discovery and the Digital Reference Desk, by Andrew Nagy

U Reference: An Architect’s View, by Rayford W. Law

V Addressing User Intent: Analyzing Usage Logs to Optimize Search Results, by Christine Stohn

W Educating Reference Librarians for First-Day Success, by Elizabeth Mahoney and Christinger Tomer

Where Do We Go From Here?, by David A. Tyckoson and John G. Dove

About the Contributors

Index

Sujets

• Information Science
• Disciplines
• Language Arts
• Library

Informations

• Publié par: Purdue University Press
• Date de parution: 15 novembre 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781612493664
• Langue: English

Extrait

Reimagining Reference in the 21 st Century
Reimagining Reference in the 21 st Century
Edited by David A. Tyckoson and John G. Dove
Charleston Insights in Library, Archival, and Information Sciences
Purdue University Press West Lafayette, Indiana
Copyright 2015 by Purdue University. All rights reserved.
Cataloging-in-Publication data on file at the Library of Congress.
Contents
Foreword Joseph Janes (University of Washington)
About the Book
Introduction David A. Tyckoson (California State University, Fresno) and John G. Dove (Former CEO of Credo Reference)
PART 1: SKILLS AND SERVICES
1 Participatory Approaches to Building Community-Centered Libraries
Anastasia Diamond-Ortiz (Cleveland Public Library) and Buffy J. Hamilton (Norcross High School Media Center)
2 Guiding Learners: Information Literacy
Alesia McManus (Howard Community College, Maryland)
3 The Reference Interview Revisited
M. Kathleen Kern (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
4 Readers’ Advisory Services as Reference Services
Jessica E. Moyer (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee)
PART 2: CONTENT AND INFORMATION SOURCES
5 Reference Publishing in the 21 st Century: Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way
Rolf Janke (Mission Bell Media)
6 Wikipedia, User-Generated Content, and the Future of Reference Sources
Phoebe Ayers (Wikimedia Foundation and University of California, Davis)
PART 3: TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGIES
7 Discovery Tools
Michael Courtney (Indiana University)
8 Collaborative Virtual Reference: Past, Present and Future Trends
Kris Johnson (AskColorado/AskAcademic Virtual Reference Cooperative)
9 The Value of Reference Services: Using Assessment to Chart the Future
Amanda Clay Powers (Mississippi State University)
INNOVATION IN ACTION: STUDIES AND EXAMPLES
A Alienation, Acceptance, or Ambiguity?: A Qualitative Study of Librarian and Staff Perceptions of Reference Service Change
Mara H. Sansolo (Pasco-Hernando State College, Florida) and Kaya van Beynen (University of South Florida St. Petersburg)
B Meet Your Personal Librarian
Martha Adkins (University of San Diego)
C Roving Reference
Madeline Cohen and Kevin Saw (Lehman College, City University of New York)
D On-Call Reference
Krista Schmidt (West Carolina University)
E Peer Reference Tutoring
Michelle Twait (Gustavus Adolphus College, Minnesota)
F A Single Service Point
Diane Hunter and Mary E. Anderson (University of Missouri-Kansas City)
G Community Outreach Through LibGuides
Mandi Goodsett (Georgia Southwestern State University) and Kirstin Dougan (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
H 24/7 Global Virtual Reference Cooperation: The Case of QuestionPoint
Susan McGlamery (OCLC QuestionPoint)
I Serving the “Somewhere Out There” Patron: The View From the Digital Cooperative Reference Desk
Nicolette Warisse Sosulski (Portage District Library, Michigan)
J Integration of Library Resources Into the Course Management System
Janet Pinkley (California State University, Channel Islands) and Margaret Driscoll (University of California, Santa Barbara)
K Negotiating Space for the Library: Embedding Library Resources and Services Into a University Learning Management System
Jolanda-Pieta van Arnhem and James Williams (College of Charleston)
L Boosting User Engagement With Online Social Tools
Georgina Parsons (Brunel University London, United Kingdom)
M You Have a Question, So Tweet Me Maybe: A Study in Using Twitter for Reference
Amanda L. Folk (University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg)
N Embedding LibraryThing for Libraries in the Online Library Catalog
Amanda Viana (Norton Public Library, Massachussetts)
O CrowdAsk: Crowdsourcing Reference and Library Help
Ilana Stonebraker and Tao Zhang (Purdue University)
P The Guide to Reference: A Solution for Teaching Reference Sources
Denise Beaubien Bennett (University of Florida)
Q Reference to Patrons With Disabilities
Michael Saar, (Lamar University, Texas)
R Discovery Service: Goals, Evaluation, and Implementation of OhioLINK Academic Consortium
Ron Burns (EBSCO) and Theda Schwing (OhioLINK)
S OCLC and Discovery
John McCullough (OCLC)
T Discovery and the Digital Reference Desk
Andrew Nagy (ProQuest)
U Reference: An Architect’s View
Rayford W. Law (Rayford W. Law Architecture+Planning)
V Addressing User Intent: Analyzing Usage Logs to Optimize Search Results
Christine Stohn (Ex Libris)
W Educating Reference Librarians for First-Day Success
Elizabeth Mahoney and Christinger Tomer (University of Pittsburgh)
Where Do We Go From Here? David A. Tyckoson (California State University, Fresno) and John G. Dove (Former CEO of Credo Reference)
About the Contributors
Index
 
Foreword: Exactly the Same and Completely Different
Joseph Janes, University of Washington
“Reference,” to be honest, has always been a problematic word for me. Let’s be clear: I’m fine with the concept. When I went to graduate school lo these eons ago, I fully intended to be a reference librarian, spending my professional life and career digging out hard-to-find answers to challenging questions for a grateful populace, trusty World Almanac, American Heritage Dictionary , and Encyclopaedia Britannica by my side, along with the more exotic sources like the Essay and General Literature Index and Famous First Facts . The one time I got to enter the sanctum sanctorum of a busy public library telephone answer service, and beheld the six-foot-tall lazy susan stacked with the tools of the trade, I could feel a thin trickle of drool forming in the corner of my mouth.
The word, though, the name of the service, always left me a bit cold. Yes, I know it denotes the ability we have to “refer” people to the right information or source, and yes, it’s been plastered on every service desk and millions of bookmarks for about a hundred years, but let’s face it, that name (a) doesn’t actually denote the nuanced, complex, and sophisticated nature of the work, and (b) means precisely zero to your average person.
However, we soldiered on, and when the Internet came to stay, many of us were faced with the once-in-a-lifetime challenge of translating this familiar service into that domain. Which we did, by using and adapting email, web forms, video, instant messaging, text, and chat, proving that everything old is new again, revisiting the discussions around providing reference service by mail correspondence, telephone, and even teletype each in their turn.
Throughout much of this, over the last twenty years or so, I’ve been teaching courses to prepare students to fulfill this function in a variety of settings. The titles of the courses and the settings and the sources have evolved, as have the delivery mechanisms. I was cleaning out some old files the other day and found some of my old class notes and was startled to see just how dramatically some topics have changed. 1 On the other hand, there are a number of larger principles, dare one say truisms, which have stayed constant or even deepened over the years:
Method over material . I stole this from Isadore Gilbert Mudge, perhaps one of the first academic reference librarians worthy of the name, who established much of what we think of as reference practice in her time at Columbia and in compiling early versions of the Guide to Reference Books . This phrase captures the importance and centrality of process, even and perhaps especially in the face of new, changing, and dying sources, and the fact that she coined this about a hundred years ago is pretty darned impressive.
Content over containers . I don’t know if OCLC coined this in their 2003 report, but it rang a bell then and still does today. Simply put, lots of the time, people don’t really give a fig what format information comes in; they just want it, which partially explains why streaming music and television are soundly thrashing discs (except vinyl, which is having its own renaissance) and, well, television. Pay attention to the what, and the how-represented will often follow.
Memory and imagination . Another blatant theft, this time from Eva Miller, a friend and former student, who used it in a keynote address once and rang another bell. That’s really what reference work is, isn’t it? Remembering a source you know or suspect has the answer, and if not, imagining what one might look like. I don’t know that there’s a specialized dictionary of geological terms, but I can sure picture it.
The au courant question for the last few years for the faux-information-sophisticate set has been, “What do we need a library for, when everything’s on Google?” We all have our private answers to that one—preferably delivered after counting backward from ten in Latin to avoid bloodshed—but in the context of reference, I can rattle off a bunch for you: We know multiple ways of searching; in fact, try to stop us. We know information and information sources, and which ones are trustworthy, authoritative, and worth the trouble. We can use Google in ways that will make your eyes spin. We know when to stop searching. I could go on. For the record, if somebody had demonstrated Google to any decent reference librarian twenty years ago, she would have fallen on her knees in awe and admiration and thought of a dozen ways her service could be improved using a magical too