Implementing and Assessing Library Reference Training Programs

Comprehensive assessments have shown that academic library users prefer a welcoming environment that provides the opportunity for self-sufficiency. Libraries need to meet these expectations and improve the quality of library reference by creating a comprehensive training program for librarians, staff, and students. This article will review standards for reference training in academic libraries with a focus on one-desk service points and consider best practices for planning, implementing, and assessing training programs for staff, students, and librarians.     

Going Where the Students Are

Summary

Increased student use of the Internet and declining reference desk statistics are factors encouraging academic reference librarians to look for new ways to reach patrons. Web-based customer contact center software gives librarians the tools to provide interactive, 24/7 reference service to Internet users. This article describes how the library at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona developed its live/web reference service. We discuss the factors that encouraged us to launch the service, the challenges that we encountered along the way, and examples of our experiences to date.     

Administrative Research Support Service

Public services librarians at South Dakota State University (SDSU) piloted a project to provide personalized reference services to university administrators. The goals of the Administrative Research Support Service were to provide quality information results that inform institutional decision making, to assist SDSU administrators in focusing their research questions, to provide a convenient venue for SDSU administrators to request library research, and to highlight the library’s contribution to SDSU’s mission. During a rollout of the service in 2012, five librarians contributed to the service and ten projects were completed. This initial offering of the service fostered connections between librarians and administrators, allowed librarians to be visible to the campus in an unexpected and innovative manner, and garnered the informal appreciation of administrators. Suggestions for improvement included establishing more formal evidence of the service’s benefits, promoting direct communication between librarians and administrators who are end users of the information, and setting up clearer expectations for librarians’ time commitment to the service.     

Reference Services in Law Firm Environments

SUMMARY

Law firm libraries have undergone drastic changes in recent years. This chapter chronicles the evolution in the size of the law firm library and its collection, the changing expectations of law firm library users, and the inventive ways that law firm librarians are fulfilling the needs of the law firm library users with technology and other means. This chapter also explores how law firm libraries can improve service and overall efficiency through limited outsourcing of reference services.     

The Librarian's Library

Abstract

The breadth and depth of subjects and the size of user population of a major university library demand a well-organized reference service. To manage such diverse disciplines and clientele, librarians rely on each other for shortcuts recorded and saved in a staff-access vertical file. A team approach of sharing useful reference sources helps all reference librarians improve their service to library users. If reference staff can efficiently store and organize fugitive material that can be shared by all staff members, they can use that material to meet immediate ready reference needs, and later develop sophisticated information-access tools such as pathfinders and knowledge bases.     

The Nuts,Bolts, and Teaching Opportunities of Real-Time Reference

ABSTRACT

Since the implementation of its instant messaging reference service in the 2000-2001 academic year, the librarians at the University at Buffalo (UB) have succeeded in creating a vital presence for virtual reference. The Instant Librarian chat service, open 57 hours per week during the fall and spring semesters, supplements the traditional face-to-face and e-mail reference services available at UB. Real-time reference using AOL Instant Messenger addresses the expectations of a well-informed population of UB users comfortable with the conveniences enjoyed via the Internet, such as file sharing and instant messaging. Librarians at UB use Instant Librarian to their advantage by employing active learning techniques, while answering both simple and complex questions. A chat session is a unique way to reach a patron who normally would not come into the library for help. In the chatroom, the librarian creates a positive teaching environment, prompting repeat visits and even in-person follow-up research consultations. This paper describes the nuts and bolts of UB's chat reference service and illustrates ways UB librarians attempt to incorporate teaching strategies within the online environment. The first section discusses issues such as staff training, technology/software problems, marketing/publicity matters, and the methodology and purpose of a user survey. The second section addresses the instruction element of UB's Instant Librarian. Librarians take advantage of the online environment to promote self-directed learning. The paper also includes a literature review highlighting published articles, books, and surveys that examine the significant facets of a real-time reference service.     

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.     

Best Practices in Chat Reference Used by Florida's Ask a Librarian Virtual Reference Librarians

Chat reference has presented a unique set of problems for reference librarians. Lacking the visual and auditory cues of face-to-face or telephone reference interactions, librarians providing service for the virtual desk have developed digital techniques and resourceful maneuvers to help them navigate this new frontier. Still, many chat librarians find it difficult to conduct a meaningful transaction using just words, software components, and a mastery of online resources. Technical and communication problems further complicate their efforts. However, virtual reference librarians are rising to the occasion and engaging in exemplary chat transactions that conform to the highest standards of service.     

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.     

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。     

The Plugged-in Reference Librarian: Who Do We Think We Are?

In recent years, academic reference librarians often find themselves working in closer proximity to computer workstations, labs, and information commons. They are spending a greater portion of their time assisting library users with the vast array of software and hardware used to access library resources. This study examines whether an increased demand for technological knowledge and proficiency is reflected in job expectations for academic reference librarians. Researchers compared randomly chosen academic reference librarian job advertisements from 1999 to those from 2011, examining both job responsibilities and candidate qualifications. Results were mixed, with some variables gaining prominence but others declining. There was no apparent increase in demand for technological skills and responsibilities overall.     

Enhancing Reference Services Through Technology

Summary

Technology makes it possible for library users to ask reference questions using e-mail or forms on the web and for librarians to conduct reference interviews using chat or videoconferencing software. This article explores each of these technologies and their current and potential use in reference services. A discussion of how technology has changed the way librarians find answers to reference questions is followed by a review of the tools needed for a well-equipped reference desk.     

Selling the Library from the Reference Desk

Abstract

Many library directors and administrators spend a significant portion of their time attempting to market the library and its services. Getting patrons into the library and keeping their business is an integral part of the day-to-day management of the library. This mission, however, is not always effectively passed on to the front lines to the one group of people who face the patrons on a daily basis -the reference librarians.

This article will show how the library's service points can be used as marketing tools; outline what librarians and public service staff should know about their library; and discuss ways in which reference service librarians can help further the library's marketing and public relations goals.     

How the New Web Generations are Changing Library and Information Services

The new Web generations are influencing the minds and changing the habits of software developers and end users. Users, librarians, and information services professionals can interact more efficiently, creating additional information and content and generating knowledge. This new scenario is also changing the behavior of information providers and users in health sciences libraries. This article reviews the new Web environments and tools that give librarians opportunities to tailor their services better, and gives some examples of the advantages and disadvantages for them and their users. Librarians need to adapt to the new mindset of users, linking new technologies, information, and people.     

Now What?

Abstract

Moving from graduate school into an academic reference position can be a difficult transition. A new environment, a variety of new people and the challenge of meeting expectations can quickly become overwhelming. This article reviews the pertinent literature and relates the relevant experiences of two reference librarians during their first three years in professional positions. Topics addressed include: reference service, collection development, committee work, relating to faculty and colleagues, professional development and understanding set procedures while striving to be innovative in the workplace.     

Reaching Additional Users with Proactive Chat

ABSTRACT

Despite a general decline in recent years in academic libraries’ reference desk statistics, research indicates that library users continue to have complex research questions but are largely unaware that librarians are waiting and ready to assist them. The challenge for librarians is to connect with users at their point of need. At Bowling Green State University, we are making a move in this direction with proactive (pop-up) chat widgets embedded within our library Web pages, catalog, and databases. Since implementation, the number of chat reference questions received has more than doubled, helping us reach additional users from on-and off-campus.     

基于LibQUAL+^■的高校图书馆空间服务质量评估研究——以厦门大学嘉庚学院为例

研究运用LibQUAL+^■评价工具,修正并构建包括“空间环境”“馆员服务”“资源设备”三个层面22个指标的图书馆空间服务质量评估指标体系,并结合问卷调查和IPA分析法,探讨用户对图书馆整体空间的使用需求和效果评估。调查显示用户的图书馆空间理念有待转变,用户青睐安静的个人学习空间,图书馆员的职业素养有待改善,用户仍重视图书馆资源的提供。研究提出发挥图书馆空间价值引导作用,配置符合用户需求的馆舍空间,前瞻性地改变图书馆员角色,优化图书馆资源建设策略。     

Reference for the Remote User Through Embedded Librarianship

Embedded librarians serve an important role in assisting remote users. Despite the varying degrees of embeddedness, all maintain the goal of ensuring the same high-quality reference and instruction services that users have come to expect from the traditional library setting. Embedded librarians select and use technology that most effectively meets the needs of this unique user group. This technology can include the library Web site, course management systems, research guides, lecture and screen capture software, remote reference (including telephone, chat, and email), web conferencing, online survey tools, citation management, and social media.     

Desk Bound No More: Reference Services at a New Research University Library

The authors discuss a newly established academic library at the University of California, Merced, as a model for reference service that foregoes a desk staffed with reference librarians. The library provides innovative, quality reference services for its users by using well-trained staff at a library services desk and employing new technologies for asynchronous communication and instruction.