Reference And Information Services: An Introduction Kay Ann Cassell

0 views

Skip to first unread message

Message has been deleted

Raiquen Courcelle

unread,

Jul 18, 2024, 11:37:23 AM7/18/24

to ziodownrinlang

From the ongoing flood of misinformation to the swift changes occasioned by the pandemic, a myriad of factors is spurring our profession to rethink reference services. Luckily, this classic text is back in a newly overhauled edition that thoughtfully addresses the evolving reference landscape. Designed to complement every introductory library reference course, Cassell and Hiremath's book also serves as the perfect resource to guide current practitioners in their day-to-day work. It teaches failsafe methods for identifying important materials by matching specific types of questions to the best available sources, regardless of format. Guided by a national advisory board of educators and experts, this thoroughly updated text presents chapters covering fundamental concepts, major reference sources, and special topics while also offering fresh insights on timely issues, including

Reference and Information Services: An Introduction Kay Ann Cassell

Download File https://imgfil.com/2yXG0h

As librarians experience a changing climate for all information services professionals, in this book Cassell and Hiremath provide the tools needed to manage the ebb and flow of changing reference services in today's libraries.

Catalog Description: A process-oriented examination of how information professionals answer reference questions. The interpersonal skills required for effective question negotiation and the sources with which questions are answered are stressed.

Full Description: This course provides an overview of reference and information services. We will be examining and evaluating key information sources in a variety of formats and becoming familiar with professional resources. Because the field of librarianship is changing rapidly, we will be exploring various methods and models for delivering information and examining how emerging trends and ways to use new ideas and skills may impact the future of reference services and access to information.

Core Journals
Finally, you should begin to become familiar with professional journals that address reference and information service issues appropriate to your career plans, e.g.:

Discussion Lists
Electronic discussion lists are an important part of professional dialogue and support for reference and information service librarians. All students in this class should subscribe to LIBREF-L, the largest electronic discussion list dedicated to issues in reference librarianship.

In addition to LIBREF-L, you will find a variety of electronic discussion lists dedicated to specific subject areas (e.g., history librarianship), to specialized service areas often administered as part of reference and information service programs (e.g., instructional services), and to the use of information technology as a means of delivering reference and information services. Students may be especially interested in DIG_REF, the discussion list dedicated to digital reference services.

Cassell and Hiremath note the six steps in a successful reference interview: (1) establishing rapport, (2) negotiating the query, (3) agreeing on a strategy, (4) locating and evaluating the resources available, (5) following up to ensure satisfaction, and (6) ending the interview (p. 17). How does such a breakdown play out in a real library? Is each of these factors relevant in the various formats library reference desks now offer? This paper describes my personal experiences when requesting information from the reference desk. Four interview methods will be examined: in-person, e-mail, live chat, and telephone. Obviously such a small sampling is statistically insignificant, but hopefully this study will highlight the various factors at play in reference interviews, and help me understand why reference interviews have such a low success rate.

We reference the Beauchamp and Childress framework, but note its similarity to other ethical principles such as Belmont. While we have not found such basic principles applied to study patient attitudes (now explained on page 6), we have found them applied to information technology research (Menlo report, now described and referenced, page 4). We used this simple framework to cast a lens on the findings of our review, as a way of sorting and filtering through the complexity of public opinions. A stable and concise framework might enable policy makers and regulators to more efficiently apply stakeholder views to their decision making, thus facilitating securing a social license for research.

Many thanks for these suggestions which mirror recommendations from reviewer 1 and have helped us to strengthen the main messages of the paper. We have substantially rewritten the future directions section and the majority of the discussion. We have given more background information on the use of key ethical principles such as Beauchamp and Childress in the introduction, and have related these principles to social license theory throughout the paper.