Reimagining Reference in the 21st Century

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.

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