I. SEARCH ANALYSTS AS SUCCESSFUL REFERENCE LIBRARIANS

In most academic libraries, reference librarians are confronted with increasing patron demands for online database searching. Since this type of service requires unique skills and expertise, there is also demand for librarians who can provide traditional reference service integrated with online searching. This article will examine five critical factors which must be considered for successful functioning of search analysts as reference librarians: professional training, background knowledge and working experience in reference services, personality characteristics and interpersonal skills, the marketing of online services, and patron evaluations supplemented by postsearch reference assistance.     

The Changing Instructional Paradigm and Emerging Technologies: New Opportunities for Reference Librarians and Educators

As the next millennium approaches, libraries must change and evolve in the very near future in order to survive. Reference services can no longer stay behind a desk or wihtin a building's walls. Instead, reference librarians must examine their clientele, determine their unique information needs, and develop and market appropriate collections and services. The changing instructional paradigm in America's classrooms provides an opportunity for reference librarians to modify and expand their efforts to encourage information use and literacy for education faculty, student teachers, classroom teachers and administrators. This paper briefly discusses present day information seeking and library use by educators and then suggests new overtures to this library patron community.     

基于网络调查的图书馆咨询服务研究

论文通过网络调查的方式,对国内外40所知名图书馆的咨询服务现状进行调查,并通过若干典型案例得出了一些改进图书馆咨询服务工作的启示：图书馆应拓展咨询服务方式,积极利用社交网络工具开展咨询,重视图书馆主页及咨询页面的实用性、美观性和亲和力,加强特色服务和校友服务,加强馆员培训,建立与用户沟通的长效机制,提高咨询服务质量。     

Delivering and Assessing Music Reference Services

The nature of music collections and their use means that patrons have always required specialized guidance from librarians to access what they need. Currently, library patrons' expectations are growing as collections and their delivery modes evolve. Music reference services must adapt to effectively address these needs. This article examines the challenges to delivering effective music reference service, the basics of reference assessment, and how assessment models such LibQual+, the Wisconsin-Ohio Reference Evaluation Program, and the Reference Effort Assessment Data Scale can help librarians build patron-centered music reference services.     

美、英、澳国家图书馆参考咨询服务政策比较研究

指出参考咨询服务是各级公共图书馆的重要业务之一,一直为图书馆界所重视,而国家图书馆的参考咨询服务政策具有很强的示范效应,往往为各图书馆所仿效。以美国国会图书馆、英国大英图书馆及澳大利亚国家图书馆为研究对象,由参考咨询服务政策分析比较国家图书馆对于服务对象与范围的界定,并藉此针对我国图书馆参考咨询服务的发展提出相关意见建议。     

What We Do

Summary

Reference service as we have come to know it first began over 100 years ago. At that time, its proponents called for librarians to assist readers by providing instruction in the use of the library, answering readers' questions, aiding readers in the selection of good books, and publicizing the library within the community. Since that time, we have seen many changes in the size, complexity, relationships, and technologies used in our libraries. However, despite the introduction of a wide array of new concepts, services, and access methods, the role of the reference librarian remains essentially unchanged. This article highlights the commonalities of reference service from its inception to the current day and suggests that we must retain those principles when looking at rethinking or redesigning reference services.     

Current Issues in Music Reference

Abstract

The climate of change in music reference represents a challenge to librarians. The three issues in the library literature that probably have the greatest impact on music reference service and are the subject of this paper are changes in users, sources, and modes of access to sources. These three issues are certainly related, as users need to use sources, and they need to know how to access them in order to use them. Reference librarians are called upon to mediate this process. Music library collections have their own peculiarities, however. Because they contain a wider variety of materials than many other kinds of library collections, reference librarians for music collections must be aware of the format, content, and intended uses of these materials, as well as the research patterns of their patrons. In the recent past, as cultural norms have changed with the paradigm of Western culture, users have wanted to use music libraries in new ways, and librarians are challenged to accommodate them. The musical genres used and requested by today's library patrons are different than they once were, both for listening and for academic study. Musical reference sources are being issued in electronic formats, and this represents a challenge for some users. The expanded use of interlibrary loan and electronic access to materials represents new opportunities and challenges. Music librarians are being called upon to provide services to patrons they may never see.     

The 21st Century Reference Department

Abstract

Reference service in academic libraries has evolved over the years from what was the “reference interview” to the kind of service transaction which takes many forms and involves numerous information resources and the highest librarian expertise in some situations. Reference is more versatile now than ever, and this may be attributed to the abundance of resources and the multitude of ways librarians can acquire access to needed information. Coordination of efforts, expertise, and resources can make a great reference department function efficiently and effectively. College and university libraries with huge reference departments may need reference managers or heads of reference to manage them, but there are smaller libraries with small reference departments which employ less than five reference librarians. Managing these small libraries with an even smaller pool of reference librarians may not seem as complicated as managing large ones.

The head of reference position is an important one in the library, both for the staff and for the users served. This article will try to present views on the qualities, qualifications, and requirements which the head of reference should possess in the 21st century.     

The Reference Librarian as Audience for NLS Reference Publications

The author describes the collections, roles, and services of the Reference Section of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), Library of Congress. He suggests that there is an audience among reference librarians for the publications produced by the NLS Reference Section. The reference librarians of the NLS network of regional and subregional libraries serving visually impaired and physically disabled readers are, of course, a primary audience for NLS reference publications. However, all items may be used as well by other librarians serving visually impaired and physically disabled people, the majority of whom undoubtedly work in public libraries. The author argues that as reference tools these publications may be used to answer quite specific inquiries and to make sound referrals on a wide range of questions. Librarians may request individual titles or have their libraries placed on a mailing list for any of the cited series.     

巡回参考咨询服务——图书馆参考咨询服务的新模式

相对于传统的咨询台服务而言,巡回参考咨询服务是一种馆员主动向用户提供参考咨询服务的方式。近年来,巡回参考咨询服务被国外高校图书馆和公共图书馆广泛采用,并取得了良好的效果。我国图书馆在开展巡回参考咨询服务时应结合图书馆实际制订相应的服务计划,为馆员提供相应内容的培训,并且开展相关的服务宣传。     

Information Literacy in the Reference Environment

Summary

The academic information environment is changing greatly as we enter the millennium. These changes are affecting libraries and, specifically, reference services. In the past and even in recent times librarians have been concerned with library orientation, library instruction, and bibliographic instruction. Now they have to worry about teaching students and others viable information and computer skills to cope effectively in the information society. Reference work as practiced this century will undergo major changes in the electronic information environment, and the teaching of effective information skills will become a very important component of reference services. The challenges thus presented to academic librarians will be great but success in this area will mean effective professional survival.     

The Omnipaedia Is Here,But Where Is It?

Summary

Electronic access to information is transforming both the vision of future libraries and the way in which librarians today deliver information services. In reference service, especially in academic libraries, the wide availability of electronic access to periodical indexes and full-text periodical databases has raised speculation about the possibility of relying on purely electronic reference collections. A field test indicates that this is not yet a viable option and points to the continued vital role of the reference librarian as guide, interpreter, and integrator of print and electronic information sources. In the tradition exemplified by Charles Bunge's “Potential and Reality at the Reference Desk: Reflections on a ‘Return to the Field,’” this article rests on field experience and testing, and is written in part in the first person.     

清华大学图书馆学科服务:20年回顾与未来展望

[目的/意义]对清华大学图书馆学科馆员制度的建立和学科服务的开展情况进行系统总结,为学术图书馆开展学科服务提供借鉴。[方法/过程]通过文献和网络调研,回顾清华大学图书馆设立学科馆员制度的缘起,梳理20年来学科服务内容的拓展情况以及学科服务管理模式的优化过程,并对学科服务发展中遇到的瓶颈进行讨论和展望。[结果/结论] 20年的实践证明,学科服务是大学图书馆服务转型的有力举措,学科服务内容不断拓展的同时也必将带来服务内容的规范化要求;未来,可持续的高素质学科馆员队伍、学科服务绩效的考核以及对用户需求的调研将成为突破学科服务瓶颈、提高服务成效的重点和难点。     

Adult Learning Theory and Reference Services: Consonances and Potentials

Summary

There is a long history of exchange between librarians and adult educators. This history not only points to previous successes but also highlights a tension of defining an appropriate focus within libraries for the provision of adult education. The similarities between contemporary adult education thought and reference services can provide some interesting possibilities in looking toward the future of reference in a digital age, both in terms of service and professional development.     

Trends Affecting the Roles of Reference Librarians

Technological, economic, social, and demographic developments transcend every library and affect the way libraries provide services to users. This article reviews societal and general library trends in relation to roles of reference staff in libraries. Four bends are described that characterize the substance of future directions of front line reference librarians. These include contextual perceptions, technological competence, a human dimension, and creativity and innovation. Front line reference librarians must be astute environmental scanners; technological wizards; sensitive, proactive, advocates of diverse library users; and creative innovators of information delivery systems.     

Joy Is Bustin' Out All Over

When the American Library Association's Reference and Adult Services Division adopted "Information Services for Information Consumers: Guidelines for Providers" in June of 1990, it set the positive tone that reference work can and should have throughout the decade and beyond. Efforts by corporations to promote end-user online services, consumer-oriented CD-ROMs, and the like constitute an attempt to recreate the library. These attempts are, however, inherently flawed in that, unlike the library, they do not marshal the wide variety of information resources - print, online, CD-ROM, audio-visual, etc. - that libraries routinely make available. "Information Services or Information Consumers: Guidelines for Providers" challenges information providers (i.e., libraries and reference librarians) to take full advantage of new information and communications technology to make not only the services marketed to end users useful to library patrons, but to realize more fully the potential of the rich resources already concentrated in libraries. The guidelines offer reference librarians and library administrators and governing boards a vision of a comprehensive information service centered in and delivered by the library to the members of the community it is intended to serve. They also challenge reference librarians, library administrators, and governing boards to make that vision a reality. This will require creativity, entail some risks, and depend for its success upon the quality of the resources allocated to the task. The most important variable will be the quality of the front-line reference librarians and their commitment to that vision and the spirit of the guidelines.     

A Fast Track Over Rocky Roads:

In order to keep pace with a sophisticated clientele who expect instantaneous delivery systems, reference service specialists who have typically looked at document delivery as their ultimate job function now need to look at satisfaction of patron needs. For reference librarianship to be successful, it has to be seen as a valuable and convenient commodity to the user, who comes to rely on the librarian and to trust in the necessity of the service as well as its availability. Reference librarians, then, should look at broadening their services to reach individuals and specialized populations, not "the general public." They will revamp their present service programs to accomodate adult learners, small business owners, and communities with strong ethnic and cultural majorities. Continuing education activities have to be offered in tandem with this transformation of the service itself so that librarians build on traditional reference skills by incorporating business administration, marketing, and adult learning as part of the total educational picture.     

The Effect of Information Brokers on Reference Services:

Twenty-four public and academic reference librarians were surveyed for the purpose of obtaining information about the services if any, that they currently provide for information brokers, the appropriateness of providing reference services for those who market the information obtained, and whether or not reference departments of public and academic libraries should provide competing fee based reference services. Few public or academic librarians objected to providing reference services for information brokers. Academic reference librarians expressed the view that service should not interfere with services for their primary clientele. Public reference librarians generally held the opinion that their services should be available to all and had already been provided for with public funds. Both public and academic reference librarians expressed concern about qualifications of some commercial suppliers of information as this effected their relationship with them. Public reference librarians were of the opinion that information brokers did not compete with the library and the library should be hesitant about providing fee based reference services. Academic reference librarians were divided in their opinoins about the latter.     

Valuing Diversity:

Penfield Library at SUNY Oswego is in its fourth year of an innovative program to bring cultural diversity to its reference services. Jointly sponsored by the Library and the Office of Learning Support Services, the Library Reference Assistant (LRA) Program recruits and instructs students of color and non-traditional students in assesting librarians at the Reference Desk. Involving these students in the process of providing reference services makes a strong statement about our confidence in their ability to succeed and to serve as role models for non-traditional students and students of color. The sucess of the LRA Program has required a strong commitment on the part of both librarians and student participants in the development and implementation of this program. The LRA Program is serving as a model for similar programs in other SUNY libraries.