Reference Service:

The philosophy of reference librarian-patron public service can be traced back to Ihe ideas of Samuel Green, a reference librarian from the nineteenth century. With the advent of information technology and the dramatic changes in the economic, political, and social fatdc of the United States, this public service philosophy seems to have lost relevance and become a thing of the past. The purpose of this article is to argue that the traditional philosophy of publlc service has remained vital to overall reference service despite the information technology and other societal changes.